Tag Archives: Karl II and Kaia

Little Bit ND17 is still the ‘King of the Snatch and Grab’ and other news in Bird World

15 June 2022

We needed some good news in Bird World after Big Bob plummeted Little Bob at the Loch of the Lowes to death earlier this morning. That nest, by the way, is not any happier. Laddie brought in what looked like a minnow. Blue NC0 and both chicks will be quite hungry. I wonder what is up?

But, never mind! At the ND-LEEF nest there were two fish brought in before 10:00. The first was a Sucker delivered by Mum and the second was a Blue Gill brought in by Dad.

At 05:53:51, the sucker arrives. Little Bit 17 gets it first. What did I tell you. Then he loses it. Then he steals it again — twice!

At 09:45:53 Dad brings in the Blue Gill. ND15 gets it. At 10:01:03, Little Bit 17 steals it. Boy is this kid good. He grabs it, does the most amazing turn around and runs to the porch to eat it!!!!!! Wow. Is happiness spelled fish???????? It is cooler – 78F. Yesterday it was 96 F at the nest. Let us hope more fish arrive if it is to be ultra hot later.

The sucker arrives at 05:53:51. Little Bit will get it first, lose it and steal it again twice!

Little Bit 17 is very clever. He has had to be to survive on this nest with two much larger siblings and often, little prey. His head shows that he has also paid for trying to steal food to live. So, he sits and watches 15. 15 is not hostile to Little Bit like 16 is.

Little Bit watches and listens and plans its attack.

When he sees the right opportunity – meaning he can see that he can grab the prey and get out – he goes for it. He grabs. Turns back to the right like a ballet dancer doing a pirouette. Then he moves quickly to his safe spot – the porch.

ND15 raises its wing. Little Bit 17 has the rest of the fish and is getting to the porch. What is really incredible is we are talking about an event that only took seconds.

This is thought to be ND16’s first branching – at 10:06. We don’t know what happened when the camera was off. This is good. 15 has already branched and maybe 16 will be more concerned with flying than with Little Bit.

The temperature has now jumped and it is hot. Thankfully – due to his great stealing skills – Little Bit 17 has had some food and hydration.

It is week 4 at the Osprey nest of Richmond and Rosie on the Whirley Crane. San Francisco Ospreys posted their weekly update video of the family. Do we have names for these? Not yet, in a few days. Should I mention that there is no problem with fish delivery at this nest?

Congratulations to Pittsburgh Hayes 18 who fledged this morning at around 11:17. (or is it a fludge?). Upper left branch – lots of leaves and flies off from there! Well done.

We are into day 2 of fledge watch at Cal Falcons. It is hard to believe that Grinnell Jr and Lindsay are really ready to fly!

They can look through the openings to see the world outside that will soon be theirs.

L4 was on the nest with L3 this morning. Beautiful little hawks of Big Red and Arthur. There is a storm coming in on Thursday so fingers crossed that L4 decides not to fledge! What a cutie pie.

The storklets of Jan and Janika had a good feed not that long ago. They are doing extremely well. The staff and all those involved must be terribly happy so far.

We now know that Betty at the Mlade Buky White Stork nest eliminated the youngest chick, the 5th, a couple of days ago. Now Kaia, the mate of Karl II, has tried to eliminate one of the storklets. They are all big! Everything is currently normal on this nest. Kaia might perceive that there is not enough food. She does not know that Karl II has been bringing in lots and lots of food. Let us hope that all stays normal with all the chicks! Send positive wishes.

Today there will be an on line presentation and Q & A about the Bald Eagles on Gabriola Island in British Columbia that have adopted the Red tail hawklet. It was brought in as prey on 4 June and is currently being fed and cared for by the eagles as if it is their own.

Go to this YouTube site to set the reminder if you wish to be part of this discussion. I cannot tell you the time in your zone as YT automatically sets the time remaining to my specific zone which is 15:00 CDT.

There is super news coming from the Glaslyn nest of Aran and Mrs G. Aran fed his three chicks of 2022 for the first time today.

It was pitching down rain at Loch Arkaig. Poor Dorcha and the two surviving chicks. Louis was able to bring in a fish as things began to clear. Please keep this nest in your thoughts.

Seren and Dylan on the perch together with the three Bobs in the nest below. What a gorgeous family portrait and what a beautiful site in Wales for an Osprey nest. All is well here.

Telyn and Idris have been keeping intruders away from the nest. Gosh these returning two year olds can be a nuisance that can also cause harm to a nest. Reminds me of the juveniles returning to Taiaroa Head when the chicks are on the nests alone and they dance and sky call and pick on the little ones.

There has been the osprey in the image below briefly visiting the Cape Henlopen Osprey nest. I cannot identify it other than it does not appear to be the Mum because her necklace was very faint. I could not see the feathering to tell if it was the intruder female that removed all of the osplets.

Spirit spent the night with Jackie at the Big Bear Valley nest in California. How reassuring is it to see these beautiful fledglings return home – safe and sound?

I really wanted to give you the good news about ND17 so I am posting much earlier than planned. While 17 didn’t get a whole fish – and it is getting hot – he did get food and he is definitely not lethargic like the Loch of the Lowes osplet.

It is the first sunny day we have had and rain is to come again at 1800. My plan is to be outside in the garden listening to the birds! Thank you so much for being with me today. I will be posting again on Thursday morning. Take care all.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Pix Cams, ND-LEEF, Cal Falcons, Cornell Bird RTH, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery, and the Woodland Trust, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, SF Bay Ospreys, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyXWild, GROWLS, and the Eagle Club of Estonia.

Late Sunday and early Monday in Bird World

12 June 2022

UPDATE: The smallest, the 5th hatch storklet, at the Mlade Buky nest of Betty and Bukacek was eliminated on Sunday. I had missed this.

It looks like it could be another rainy day on the Canadian Prairies. We are certainly making up with moisture this spring for 4-5 years of drought. Everything is green and beautiful.

Well, the weather is taking its toll on other nests in Scotland and Wales on Sunday. Those long, cold rainy days with a dip in fish deliveries are making some of the Bobs cranky – and aggressive. Big Bob on the Loch of the Lowes almost pushed both Middle and Little Bobs off the nest. Little Bob has also missed out on some meals. I sure hope this weather changes and these chicks settle down.

At tea time on Monday, Telyn went out of her way – finally – to make sure that Little Bob had fish. I was terribly happy to see this as the biggest Bob is working hard to exclude Little.

Idris and Telyn at the Dyfi nest made sure that all three of the Bobs were fed well before bedtime on Sunday. It has been a stinker of weather over in Wales, too.

Monday’s tea at Dyfi was a Sea Bass followed by the delivery of a mullet by Idris to Telyn and the kids. The weather had considerably improved.

My goodness. Aran caught one of his whoppers! He cleaned off the head before delivering it to Mrs G and the kids.

Mrs G fed herself and the kids. Big Bob is in food coma and Little and Middle are up at the table.

There was lots of fish left over when Mrs G finished so Aran decided to have a really good meal before he got on the perch. All appears to be good.

The wind is still blowing a bit on the Glaslyn nest at tea time. All of the chicks are wide awake. Look at how good Little Bob is doing. He is standing at the back.

We have learned that a good nest can change in the blink of an eye – or weather, intruders, lack of prey. So far the osplets on the nest of Blue 33 (11) and Maya are doing fantastic. They are now all at least five weeks old and they will be ringed soon. Ringing normally takes place between 35-43 days in the UK. Any later and the osplets could bolt and any earlier and the leg would still be growing.

The weather has improved at Loch Arkaig – thankfully. Louis has brought fish in and has covered up Little Bob with some sticks brought in and from the nest. The surviving two Bobs appear to be fine this morning. They benefited from being under Dorcha during the cold rain and winds.

The rain appears to have stopped at the Llyn Clywedog nest of Dylan and Seren. Dylan is on the nest and in the early afternoon there was a male intruder with a blue Darvic ring that was flying around the nest. He was quickly sent off.

The three storklets continue to thrive in the care of the Veterinary School. Forest sounds have been added to their environment.

A very good article has been translated and placed on Looduskalender with the Forum for the Black Stork nest of Karl II and Kaia. The information could be applied universally to nests that depend on fish for their main food item. The specific nest that they are talking about is, however, that of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest.

“Black Stork – Ciconia nigra

The older chicks hatched on 28 May and turned two weeks old today. The third chick is considerably smaller but hatched three days later than the older two.
Mother Kaia and father Karl are managing to feed their chicks well, despite the youngest being significantly smaller than the others. We know and have observed that Black Storks sometimes carry out infanticide, i.e. the parent birds remove the weakest chick from the nest. The main reason for this is a lack of food. Chicks must be very well fed because they will embark on a long and dangerous migration in August on their own, but this is how black storks do it. Less than a third of this year’s chicks will be alive in a year.
What are we not seeing on the webcam?
In Karula National Park, where this black storks nest is located, Kotkaklubi has been organising clean-up campaigns for many years to clear the banks of the brooks of the Koiva river basin of undergrowth so that the birds can access them. Small natural streams quickly become overgrown with vegetation, but black storks are happy to feed in such remote places. Adult birds will also look for food in ditches where fish can be found during the breeding season. Still, these ditches may dry up during both spring and summer droughts, threatening breeding success. Therefore the birds need to be able to visit different feeding areas. Adult BS also forage in meadows, catching frogs and occasionally rodents. We can see on the webcam that fish is their primary food.
In addition, Urmas Sellis has installed a fish basket with live fish in a stream about ten kilometres away from the nest, and a trail camera has recorded the visits of black storks there.

Today, 13 June, the chicks are respectively 16, 16 and 13 days old.

The three storklets of Karl II and Kaia are waking up to a whole new day!

PLEASE NOTE THAT ON SUNDAY, BETTY ELIMINATED THE 5TH STORKLET. It looks like another rainy mucky day for Bukacek and Betty and their five little white storklets in Mlade Buky. I cannot look at the adult standing there without thinking about the plastic decoy with the storklets of Jan and Janika. Looks just like that decoy!

The storklets are getting their juvenile feathers.

A prey item has been brought to the ND-LEEF nest at 08:36:54. ND 15 stole it from ND16 and at 08:57:49 Little Bit 17 steals it, eats some, and then 16 gets it. They are all hungry but Little Bit is right in there!

Little Bit 17 is still ‘the king of the snatch and grab’. Fingers crossed for a lot more prey today!

It is extremely sad to see the Cape Henlopen nest with the three dead osplets of the long bonded pair on an empty nest. It remains unclear what happened to the 20 year old Dad and Mum from the nest after the intruders took over late Friday. An entire family lost because of intruders? So sad.

Will the intruders return? We wait.

Both fledglings were on the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest this morning. Middle had control of the fish delivery. The parents have been excellent at bringing the two lots of fish during the day. They look to be in great health and their flying skills – and landing – are improving every day.

At 08:41 all four of Big Red and Arthur’s hawklets were on the nest. L2 fledged first followed by L1. L3 spent Sunday up on a higher level of the tower but it has yet to fledge along with the youngest L4.

L3 is 49 days old today and L4 is 46. The average of fledge at Big Red’s nest is 46.5 days. We could be looking at another two flying today or tomorrow.

Takoda is 69 days old today. On Sunday he had branched up to the height where Mr President normally perches. Early this morning he made it up to the cam which made for some lovely closeups just for us! Fledging is close at hand.

All eyes are on Star at the Redding Eagle nest. She is branching farther up and this early morning seems to have put out the sound on the streaming cam. As far as I know, there has been no sighting of Sentry since he fledged.

Could this be your day to fly Star?

Spirit is so beautiful. She is 3 months and 9 days old today. She hatched on 3 March and fledged on 31 May. She came down to visit the nest before taking off into the Big Bear Valley at 06:13. She might have been looking for breakfast!

There is one more fledge to go at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagles nest and that is H18. Both H16 and H17 fledged on the 10th of June within an hour and a half of one another (06:20 and 07:50). That third fledge could happen any time.

Both eaglets at the US Steel nest are considering branching! What a gorgeous view.

Ahote and Kana’kini were on the move this morning. What a beautiful camera view of both of them. Sky is still on the natal nest. The time is o7:03.

An early morning view of the San Jose City Hall Peregrine falcons.

At 03:58 Annie was sleeping in the scrape with Lindsay and Grinnell Jr. Precious moments. Fledge will come before we know it. Goodness. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Alden came into our lives???? It sure seems like it. Annie and Alden have been super parents and I am thrilled that these two chicks got a chance to make their own way in the world. It could have been dramatically different without Alden.

Fledge watch begins for Lindsay and Grinnell Jr tomorrow – 14 June!!!!!!

It is early morning on the Canadian Prairies. We have had so much rain that the landscape could be the green of Ireland! It is impossible to see the birds and squirrels and even the small bunny in the jungle that has grown. Birds can be seen flying in and out and the feeders are empty by noon so they are in there – just covered by all the branches and leaves.

There may be several fledges today. There are eyes on many, many nests!

I hope that your Monday is a good start to the week. Thank you for joining me. Take care!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or websites where I took my screen captures: Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Woodland Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, LRWT, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery and Scottish Wildlife Trust, CarnyXWild, Eagle Club of Estonia, LizM, Mlade Buky, ND-LEEF, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys Cam, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, NADE-AEF, Friends of Redding Eagles, Pix Cams, FOBBV, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, San Jose City Falcons, and Cal Falcons.

Henlopen Osplets die of starvation and other late Saturday and Sunday news in Bird World

11 June 2022

UPDATE: THE DEATHS OF THE THREE OSPLETS AT THE CAPE HENLOPEN STATE PARK NEST IN DELAWARE WAS CAUSED BY INTRUDERS TAKING OVER THE NEST. THE FEMALE WAS LAST SEEN ON THE NEST ON THE 10TH. ALL CHICKS WERE FINE. BOTH PARENTS ARE MISSING AND THE BIRD ON THE PLATFORM NEST IS NOT EITHER PARENT.

Oh, Saturday was just such a beautiful day. We all must treasure them and get outside and listen to the birds singing and smell the freshly mowed grass and the flowers. Our summers are so short in Canada that it is such a pleasure just sitting and listening, sometimes. Today the wee rabbit found itself underneath the square feeder by the lilacs. It was certainly enjoying those Black oil seeds and millet that had fallen to the ground. Mr and Mrs Grackle have fledglings and they are very noisy if you go anywhere near the lilac bushes – and then there is Mr Crow who arrives demanding bread, cheese, and sausages. It was quite the afternoon. I will try and take my phone out and get some photos another day for all of you. My big camera doesn’t quite understand that when it is set to CQ mode it is supposed to be ‘quiet’ and instead the noise frightens everyone within ear shot.

Saturday was not, however, a great day for Little Bit 17 at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest. But it was not all bad, either. In fact, there was so little food brought to the nest that for Little Bit to have a crop was a blessing. He spent various times through day working on a raccoon that had been brought into the nest. He started working on it once at 14:39 and was still eating on it at 14:58. It looks like he ate the entire head which would have had lots of meat and fat. There were two other times that he worked on it. A fish was brought in but the older siblings seem to have been fed all of it. At one time, 16 tried to hurt Little Bit 17. It is over and Little Bit is fine. Let us all hope that there is more prey tomorrow. The nest is really relying on road kill it seems. Perhaps the river is still too high with all of the rains and too murky for the eagles to fish. Last Sunday saw a lot of fish brought to the nest – will the same thing happen tomorrow?

16 (I think it was 16 because of their actions towards Little Bit) came up wanting some of the remaining raccoon.

Mum flew in and fed the two older siblings. Little Bit stood by the side rails hoping there would be a little left but, alas, no.

All spread out and sleeping with the turtle shells. Someone said that there are at least 50 of them somewhere in the nest. You can see Little Bit’s primaries growing and his tail. I wish his head feathers would grow back. Poor thing. Any sore spots seem to have healed, thankfully.

Wish for fish everyone!

And the fish came Sunday morning. Mom brought in a Walleye at 08:28:21. At 08:40:11 Little bit 17 steals that walleye from one of the older siblings! He takes it to the porch to eat it.

You can see Little Bit pulling that fish to the porch. There is no head and he is going to heat for several minutes (7 or 8) and then 16 is going to steal it back.

At 09:59:47 Dad brought in a Blue Gill. Little Bit 17 stole the whole fish. He took it to the porch and ate the entire thing!!!!!!!!!! All by himself. Can you believe this kid? Bravo Little Bit.

Little Bit ate all of the fish and returned to look out at the world while the older siblings are up on the branches. He flapped his wings – they are growing – and stopped. You can only get a sense of how big his crop is over by the edge but he is one happy full little eaglet this morning and I have tears rolling down my eyes. He has been super brave pulling that last fish right out from under the older sibling!!!!!!

Both fledglings at the UFlorida-Gainesville have been on and off the nest eating or hoping for a delivery. At one point it started raining (or was it hail?). Middle was trying to hover off the nest and was having difficulty – of course Middle you can’t fly in pouring down rain!!!!!!! Just look at those beautiful, beautiful wings! These osplets are simply gorgeous. The feathers are absolutely perfect. Oh, I wish Little Bit was as healthy as the two fledgling ospreys.

It is rainy and windy in Gainesville Sunday morning and Middle is on the nest thinking it is a good day to stay home.

Ferris Akel has wonderful Saturday bird tours around Montezuma, Sapsucker Woods and Ithaca. At the end of the tour today, everyone lucked out as the Ls and Big Red were quickly located. I cannot tell you which chick is which from these images – so just enjoy a basket of cute little hawks.

Big Red was over on the other light stand. An adult is always around close watching the hawklets. Arthur was not spotted. He was probably off hunting!

All of the storklets still remain on the nest of Bukacek and Betty in Mlade Buky. They are growing and growing. While there is a significant difference in the size between the oldest (front right) with the youngest (back left), each is holding their own and as I have mentioned several times, there appears to be no effort to do any brood reduction by the adults. Fish must be plentiful – wonderful news!!!!!

It was a feeding fest Sunday morning in Mlade Buky. Watch how the two little ones get in there to get those fish.

Karl II and Kaia’s storklets are also growing and are being very well fed. There appears to be plenty of fish at their source in the Karula National Park in Estonia.

Kaia has fish and is getting ready to regurgitate them on the moss so the storklets can eat.

They are grabbing them with their little beaks.

Just look at the little fish in their bills. So sweet. The moss nest keeps these babies so nice and white compared to the red iron soil of Mlade Buky. The eaglets are always looking a little dirty there.

Bywyd Bwyllt Glaslyn posted some information on the osplets of Aran and Mrs G today on their FB feed. Little Bob is certainly smaller than Big Bob at the front!

There is much sadness at the Henlopen State Park Osprey Nest. One of the osplets appears to have died. I did not see it move at all today. The other osplets are weak and very hungry. Mum came in with a tiny fish. I thought she would feed the other two and they did too but, she didn’t. I fear that all will die.

It is a tiny fish. In raptors, it seems that their first priority is the protection of their territory, then to keep themselves fed and alive, and lastly the offspring. Mum has to be strong enough to fish. I do not know what if any was delivered after the 8th in terms of fish til this morning. It was not enough to keep the osplets alive and the two surviving have very concave chests.

On Sunday all three of the osplets have died. What a tragedy. The poor Mum – she lost her mate and all her lovely once healthy chicks in a few days. Incredibly sad.

There appears to be no attempt by anyone to provide a fish table for this family. Just sayin’. Most of the issues related to getting fish or other prey to the nest including those at the ND-LEEF nest can be attributed to human interference in some way or another. Changing weather patterns causing torrential rains, floods, and mudslides is impacting the rivers so that the Bald Eagles and Ospreys cannot ‘see’ to fish. Most of you are very much aware of the impact that we have had whether it is habitat destruction, rising sea temperatures due to a heating planet, etc. There isn’t much that we haven’t caused so I will not accept the answer that it is ‘just nature’ not to help out these lovely raptors.

In contrast, we have the surviving three Black Storklets in Estonia. They are being well fed and taken care of and every aspect of their future well being has been considered. Please note that they do not see ‘human animals’ very often – just the decoy mother, the step-father who feeds, and themselves. This is so they will not imprint on others.

The smallest chick even had a private feeding to ensure that it gets enough to eat with the two much larger siblings. Just like at the size of its crop when it is returned!

Everyone has been talking about the Bald Eagles raising the hawklet in their nest on Gabriola Island. Here is a delightful discussion of another Bald Eagle adopting a Red-tail hawklet a couple of years ago. Here is the complete story from beginning to successful end. Please listen. This is such an informative discussion with live footage in the nest showing the eagles and the hawklet.

The Dyfi Osprey Project posted an excellent bit of information on their FB site this morning about Osprey growth.

These are the osplets that Dyfi is referring to – the three of Idris and Telyn. We should know their names soon! Over 200 suggestions – wow.

I often wonder if the change of the plumage and the itching makes the osplets crankier during the Reptile phase that then causes them to start pecking one another????

It has been very windy up in Alaska at the nest of Liberty and Freedom. The two little eaglets don’t seem to even notice! They are having a nice meal.

The winds are raging at Loch of the Lowes too. The wee chicks are calling for food as Blue NC0 waits to see if Laddie will have some luck fishing Sunday afternoon.

Dylan brought in a perch at 16:04 at Llyn Clywedog and Seren is happily feeding all of the Bobs. The weather does not look as windy – thank goodness. This nest in the Cambrian area of Wales has been wet for several days now.

The third hatch, Little Bob, at Glaslyn is really starting to catch up. Aran is bringing in lots of fish. No one is hungry. There is even a fish sitting on the nest waiting for the next feeding. That is Little Bob by the side of Mrs G.

Poor Dorcha. The Loch Arkaig nest seems to be getting all of the bad weather. It is rainy and windy. Louis, thankfully, prevails in getting fish on this nest in the most dire of times. He is literally amazing.

I want to leave you with something beautiful. Andris has come to the nest and he is feeding the small eaglet! Mostly the males do not do this so it is very special. Oh, such a sweet little fluff ball. Andris and Anna have their Lesser Spotted Eagle’s nest in Zemgale, Latvia.

Anna is feeding the wee eaglet later. Oh, how precious.

Grinnell Jr and Lindsay are sure keeping Annie and Alden busy at the UCalifornia-Berkeley scrape. They are running all over the place chasing any adult food begging – even if they are full – and are beginning to self feed. Adorable. Being the pests they are meant to be!

Grinnell Jr has a blue band and Lindsay has a gold one.

Last but the falcons are never least, the wee little peregrine at the Manchester New Hampshire nest, Colby, woke up watching everyone fly around. At 06:52:49, Colby fludged just like Clem. I am certain the volunteers will be out to make sure he is OK and perhaps he will be returned to the nest with Clem tomorrow!

The weather certainly changed on the Canadian Prairies. We had thunderstorms all during the night and much more rain. My garden is beginning to look like a thick forest – which is what I have wanted for years – a forest in the city! The sadness at Henlopen weighs heavy today.

Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me today. See you tomorrow!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, FB posts and video clips: ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Ferris Akel Tours, Mlade Buky, Eagle Club of Estonia, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Christian Sasse, Dyfi Osprey Projects, Glacier Gardens Bald Eagles, Loch of the Lowes and the Woodland Trust, CarnyXWild, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery and Scottish Wildlife Trust, Cal Falcons, Peregrine Network, and the Latvian Fund for Nature.

Early Friday in Bird World

10 June 2022

One of the nicest things about living on the Canadian Prairies this time of year are the lilacs and the flowering fruit trees. The scent of the lilacs fills the entire garden. There are two other really good things. The second is that the mosquitoes have yet to arrive. Third is – a new bunny is in the garden. It is ever so tiny and sweet. He would fit in your pocket. He is loving those creepers that are just coming up. Nice and tender! They are just slightly different poses. It is so nice to see a new bunny coming to eat the plants!

At 08:40:03, the first hatch, Kana’kini, of Thunder and Akecheta fledged off the West End nest in the Channel Islands. She landed near the transmitter just like Ahote, her youngest brother did. Congratulations!!!!!!!

There she goes!!!!!!!! Ahote and Sky watch as their big sister takes flight. What a wonderful sight.

There is an update on the Black storklets of Jan and Janika’s. It is nothing short of excellent news and is simply brilliant. Urmas and Dr Leivits at the Veterinary School have set up a Black stork decoy that stays with the storklets all the time – like a Mum. Then a ‘step-father’ called Toru comes in at regular times to feed the storklets. You will notice both of these in the images below. The storklets are eating much larger fish now. They are also preening. Just tears! This is the first time that Black storklets have been removed and raised off the nest. I wish Urmas and Dr Leivits all the best – it is wonderful to see these three little ones getting a chance to survive.

Just look at the size of the crops on those chicks!!!!! Every one of them, including the wee baby is doing so well.

The Golden Eaglet, Margit, is adorable. Nothing sort of a real cutie-pie. Margit is the chick of Kalju and Helju. Margit hatched on the 25th of April and today she is 46 days old. The adults have brought in pine boughs and Margit has been playing with them – life on a nest needs some enrichment and some pest control. The pine offers both!

Notice the ear behind the eye and that beautiful black beak with the yellow cere and legs. Take in that deep rich yellow. This is a very healthy eaglet. The down is gone from the head and the juvenile feathers are coming in around the neck and will by next week, I think, be appearing more on the head. Such a beautiful eaglet.

Kaia has just finished feeding the three Black Storklets at the Karula National Park nest she shares with her mate, Karl II. Look at the little one – such a nice crop. They are all doing well. Once in awhile Kaia rolls the fourth egg but nothing more.

Karl II has brought lunch in and the little one did a cute tog-o-war.

I am so grateful to ‘EJ’ for sending me the video link to Dad Kestrels eyases – the last – fledging. This has been a beautiful success story – a collaboration between a human and a raptor – to make sure that the hatched eyases thrived to fledge. Congratulations to Mr Kes and to Robert Fuller.

There are times when you really do wonder if those crops will not pop! Richmond and Rosie are keeping both of these osplets full and fuller at their nest on that WWII crane in the Richmond Shipping Yards.

Iris was on the nest for a few minutes on Thursday. It is always nice to see her! Always.

Last year I discovered that there are ten osprey nests in Finland. The image of the first nest is known as #3. It is located in the West of Finland and in area known as Satakunta. The nests is man-made. It was rebuilt in 2016. The male is Ahti. Him and his former mate, Helmi, fledged two chicks in 2020. Helmi sadly did not return from migration in 2021. Ahti has a new mate named Nuppu. She is four years old having hatched in 2018. The couple have three eggs in their nest for this season.

This is the link to their Ahti and Nuppu’s streaming cam

The SF Ospreys would like you to vote on the final combinations of names for Richmond and Rosie’s two osplets for 2022. Here is the information. It is free. You can only vote once. Why not join in? You will need to cute and paste the URL if it does not work by just clicking.

Port Lincoln Osprey Project put up a beautiful nesting platform on Turnby Island. Ospreys have been breeding there for a long, long time but they have had to make their nests on the ground. This has meant that there has been predation by foxes that go over from the mainland when the tide is low. This new high rise platform is meant to halt the ability of the foxes to eat the eggs! Here are some more images of that magnificent effort by PLO. And it only took the resident ospreys, Marrum and Partney, who have already made some decorating additions and have mated! Sounds like a huge success!

The platform is lowered into position by the helicopter.

The old nest – as much as was possible – was taken onto the new platform for the Ospreys.

Nest accepted by Marrum and Partney!!!!!!

Middle was waiting on the light stand calling loudly. A beautiful fished arrived at the UFlorida-Gainesville nest at 11:21. Just lovely. Both of the fledglings are returning to be fed by the parents while they get much better at flying and landing.

So far there has been no prey deliveries at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest but sadly, something did happen. ND15 – Little Bit’s friend on the nest – branched early this morning. 15 has since returned to the nest and I caught s/he allopreening Little Bit 17. Wish for fish!!!!!!!

What a beautiful site – all five of the White Storklets on the nest beside their Mum, Betty! Bukacek and Betty are doing a heroic job of keeping these five fed and —— I continue to say – with no brood reduction. The wee one is growing well. Fingers crossed.

The wind is blowing up a storm in Wales this morning. Telyn is keeping all of the chicks on the nest and has managed to give them all a good feed! Well done Idris for fishing in that strong wind!!!

The bad winds were also up in Scotland accompanied by rain. No one thought Laddie would be able to get a fish in but he did. Bless his heart.

These male ospreys really impress me. Aran has been out fishing in the strong Welsh winds and has a meal on the nest for Mrs G and the three.

Hats off to Dylan up at Llyn Clywedog! He has been bringing in the fish for Seren and the three. It is rainy and wet and miserable there, too. Check out the crops on Little Bob!!!!!!! This is so nice to see. It appears that the earlier aggression on this nest has calmed down.

It is really bright at Rutland Water. Maya has fed the three Bobs and – look at how much of the nest they are taking up now. There are those beautiful juvenile feathers coming in. 5 weeks old. Gorgeous.

The three eaglets of Marko and Miina are still scuffling and the oldest and middle Bob go at it once in awhile. The nest is in Southern Estonia and there is a fish farm and a river near by. There have been intruders but the couple seem to keep them at bay.

Little Bob may be anxious but he has learned to wait his turn – and then all is well!

Little Bob’s turn!!!!!!!! Being in the back means you don’t get beaked. Smart.

The second peregrine falcon at the Manchester, NH scrape fledged. Congratulations Colum! The time was 05:49:49. In other news, the first fledge, Clem, was picked up by Maria Colby. Clem is said to have just eaten a quail all to himself. Colby is expecting to put Clem back in the nest box on Monday so he can get a proper fledge when it is time.

There is Colum at the end of the perch.

Flapping his wings!

So much happening this morning! The activity on the nests just seems to be amping it up the last few days.

Thank you so much for joining me this morning. Take care all – and have a wonderful day. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and their FB pages where I took my screen captures: Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, Mlade Buky Storks, ND-LEEF, Montana Ospreys, SF Ospreys, Saaksilve 3, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Peregrine Networks, UFlorida-Gainesville, Rutland Water, LRWT, Friends of Loch Arkaig and Woodland Trust, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Ospreys, CarnyXWild, Robert Fuller Wildlife, and Dr Leivites.

Wednesday Morning in Bird World

8 June 2022

It is mornings like this when there is a beautiful blue sky and the sun is pouring down that you wish the birds would just pause but, they don’t! Everything is happening at once!

L2 has fledged at the Cornell Red-tail Hawk nest on the Fernow Light Stand. Big Red and Arthur – congratulations for your first fledge of the 2022 season. The unexpected flight caused many to think it was L1. It wasn’t. However, L2 flew like a pro right over to the Rice Building where later prey was delivered. Well done! L1 will no doubt follow soon!

L1 is over by the fledge ledge. L3 and L4 are ducklings sleeping in the nest.

This is the earliest that Lady has laid her egg on the White-Bellied Sea Eagle (WBSE) nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest. That time was 1737 on 8 June. Dad was on the nest giving Lady support. Congratulations!

There has been a fludge at the Manchester NH Peregrine Falcon scrape. Clem had been flapping her wings and slipped off the edge at 0600:21. She has been located outside the gym at the BS Tower. I wonder if she will be picked up and put back into the nest??

Izzi – the 2020 hatch of Diamond and Xavier at Orange, Australia – was placed back in the scrape by Cilla Kinross, the researcher at Charles Sturt University.

The two Cal Falcons are growing and growing and far too soon they will be fludging or fledging. Here is a short video clip of the morning feeding.

Then a pigeon meal arrives. Check out the size of these chicks as they run to get fed.

The three Black Storklets in the nest of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest in Estonia are doing great. The third hatch is getting stronger and the parents seem to always make sure that it gets fish! Today it even ate a large one. The 4th egg did not hatch.

Ah, Kaia is so lovely.

All storklets accounted for at the Mlade Buky nest in The Czech Republic of Bukacek and Betty.

Many have wondered (or worried) that fish were not being delivered to the West End nest and that Ahote is hungry. In fact, Thunder and Akecheta delivered 9 fish to the nest yesterday and Ahote had his fill. All of the eaglets are fine. Ahote took another flight and returned to the nest.

At the University of Florida-Gainesville Middle has been taking the prey before Big could get to it! Growing, growing confidence. At least two big fish meals have arrived at the nest before 0830. Middle ate the first one and was more interested in what was happening off the nest when the second arrived and Big took it. Right now, Middle is still on the nest and has not taken its first flight.

Things continue to go well for ND17 at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest. Three fish had been delivered by 1024. Little was stealing bites and then took the fish tail from 15 at 09:43:46 and ate it. The day is starting off wonderfully. Fingers crossed. I really hope that yesterday was a transition and that the parents will make sure Little Bit gets food.

Little Bit looks under the tail of 15.

Then Little Bit moves around 15.

Little Bit – as fast as Lightning (would be a good name for him) steals the fish tail!

As quick as he stole it, he gets back to his safe spot on the porch! Well done Little Bit 17.

The day is going to get busier. It just feels like half a dozen or more birds could fledge. I owe you some image of the ducklings and goslings and will try and get those up later today or tomorrow.

Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures – and for the videos they post: Cal Falcons, ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Mlade Buky White Storks, Eagle Club of Estonia, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, Cornell RTH, and the Peregrine Networks.

Late Monday and early Tuesday in Bird World

6-7 June 2022

‘R’ sent me a lovely note. She had trouble with the link that I provided for the fundraising by the Eagle Club of Estonia for the three surviving storklets of Jan and Janika. If you had difficulties, too, please try this link that ‘R’ sent to me:

https://www.leetchi.com/c/kotkaklubi

There is good news coming from Robert Fuller. The first of the six kestrels raised by Papa Kestrel fledged on 6 June. Oh, what a joyous day! No one knew what would happen when Mum Kestrel did not return. The males are so tuned in to providing prey and security that feeding and brooding chicks can be problematic. Imagine trying to be both Mum and Dad to six fast growing Kestrels. You might recall that Robert Fuller removed the youngest and smallest three. They were kept warm and fed regularly to give them a good start when they would be returned to the nest with their bigger siblings. Father Kestrel learned how to feed his chicks and brood them. The first flight of one of the six really shows how working together -humans and raptors – success can be achieved.

Here is a quick video of that first fledge:

So far, Bukacek and Betty are still feeding five White Storklets on their nest in Mlade Buky. No brood reduction has taken place yet despite the youngest being substantially smaller than the others.

Bukacek has returned to the nest allowing Betty to go for a break and to get some food while he feeds the storklets and broods them.

Here is another feeding. You can see just how quickly the little storklets grow – and it is so nice that the sun is shining and the nest has dried out.

Karl II and Kaia have all their storklets as well. Karl arrived and fed the storklets an enormous feed! You would almost think he found Urmas’s fish basket! Notice how yellow the beaks are. It is a sign of a healthy storklet.

Liberty and Freedom seem to be liking their new nest in Glacier Gardens in Alaska. Didn’t we just get news of a pip and then a hatch and now – . Well. GG7 is named Love and s/he is 8 days old. GG8 is called Peace and s/he is 5 days old. Both are doing well. Gosh, I really appreciate those names. The world could seriously use much more ‘love’ and ‘peace’. Very appropriate for the times we live in. Oh, so delicate. Look at that teeny little flake of fish being held by that huge beak. So cute.

Takota is 70 days old. Mr President and Lotus have been busy bringing in food to their bouncy branching eaglet at the National Arboretum nest in Washington, DC.

The fledge times for Bald Eagles is normally 10-12 weeks so Takota is right at the beginning of that range. Males normally fledge earlier than females. Takota has really been working those wings! They are getting stronger and stronger.

Was it a fludge? or a fledge? When Ahote took off from the West End nest and wound up on Transmitter Hill? Ahote returned to the natal nest and to his siblings, Kana’kini and Sky on Monday after being off nest for 4 days. He stayed 7 hours before taking off again. Don’t blink. The video is short but it shows Ahote totally in command of his flying. Well done, Ahote!

A fish was delivered and Ahote took it so he has eaten -. Well done. You might well notice that the parents do not always fly right in with the kids after fledge. The fledglings are as large as their parents – actually slightly larger – and could injure them in the transfer of prey items. The adults are, thus, very cautious.

It looks like it could be a fledge for L1 today at the nest of Big Red and Arthur in Ithaca, New York. The little red-tail hawk has been antsy for days. The winds are strong. She has been up on the rails doing cute faces to the camera and on and off the fledge ledge all morning.

Just look at that face – sweet. And that beautiful peach plumage. Red-tail hawklets are gorgeous! (OK. They all are!).

So far, Middle has not fledged at the UFlorida-Gainesville nest since all the hovering and flapping activity yesterday. It rained heavy and the nest is soaking. Middle did get the fish off of Big this morning that was delivered at 11:11:01. This is the second day in a row that Middle’s confidence is up and he is taking what he wants.

R2 paid a visit to the nest of his parents Ron and Rita at the Miami Zoo. Normally a parent would fly in with food. R2 waited but nothing was delivered.

Grinnell Jr and Lindsay are losing their baby down quickly. Breakfast came at 0533 and the morning was spent flapping and running and exploring around the scrape. Annie and Alden have done a super job with these two.

Grinnell Jr has the blue leg ring.

It could be building up to be an exciting day with so many set to fledge. It is not clear if Little Bit 17 at the ND-LEEF has had any food. There is the possibility of some when 15 got the fish this morning. The lack of camera coverage on the porch area means that we just don’t know for certain when the little one gets food – or not. Hoping for fish, lots of fish.

Thank you so much for joining me. Have a lovely day! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: The Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky Storks, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, WRDC, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cal Falcons, Glacier Gardens, and the NADC-AEF.

Sunday Afternoon in Bird World

5 June 2022

It was another beautiful weekend day. Great for those that are working all during the week. One of the parks was so full of people and politicians and well…I went somewhere else. At the end of the day, my normal walking route was the best. Word to self: If you want to go up north to check on ducklings and goslings or waterfowl, do it in the middle of the week! Six goslings. Red-wing Blackbirds. Goldfinches.

You had to look twice. The American Goldfinch at the feeder is just like the one on the identification board at the Songbird feeding station.

There were three goslings with their parents. This little one wanted to get the food under the feeders!

It was, however, wonderful to come home to find that Dad had flown into the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest and had fed Little Bit 17.

Before I went out, Little Bit had successfully snatched and grabbed a couple of prey deliveries only to have them taken away. It felt really good to see this little one with a crop! Well deserved feeding by Dad before 15 took the rest.

The surviving storklets at the Jegova Black Stork nest of Janika were taken into care this morning. This ends Janika trying to feed them and not being able to provide security or brood them to keep them warm. It rained on the four yesterday and they were cold during the night. One died. I hope the storklets thrive in care. Certainly Urmas and everyone at the Vet School love the stork families and will do whatever they can to create a success.

Janika did the best that she could in bad circumstances. It is impossible – if the chicks are this young – to be both Dad and Mum. It is unfortunate that she did not find the fish basket provided for her. It might have helped keep her brooding at night when it gets cold.

The deceased chick along with the survivors was placed in a basket and lowered.

All storklets safe and sound in the basket.

The storklets will now be raised by a veterinarians – this is not different than them being taken into care by wildlife rehabbers in North America. They will be fed and will be kept warm. No doubt there will be controversy. I hope we get to see the wee ones when they are bigger!

Everything is fine at the nest of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. This Black Stork couple have three very healthy storklets in their nest. There is one egg and it looks like it is not viable. That is fine. Three is good! it might mean that even though the small storklet is small it will not suffer brood reduction.

There is also an Osprey nest in Estonia on a streaming cam. It is the nest of Marko and Miina. I have watched them at their nest in the force in southern Estonia at Vorumaa. There is a fish farm very near as well as a river running through the area so the ability to get fish is excellent. Three chicks hatched but the little one did not make it. There are two healthy chicks on the nest.

Below the camera screen on YouTube there is a link to the English language forum for this nest. Here is the link to their camera:

Middle and Big have been fed and are both doing fine in the warm sun of north-central Florida at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest.

Mom brought in fish and fed them.

Richmond brought four huge fish in to the Whirley Crane nest for Rosie and the kids in as many hours yesterday. Richmond is a crazy fisher for his family. More came in later but just look at how big their two chicks are.

A pile of Bobs at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn. Idris brought in an enormous trout for everyone earlier. They are all sound asleep waiting for Monday to come.

It was still a little wet when that pile of Bobs woke up and had breakfast. You can see the size difference better in the shot below. These chicks are all doing fine. Telyn and Idris are experienced parents. Sadly, if you were following the Llyn Brenig nest, the youngest one that just hatched has died. They have had bad weather – that coupled with inexperience could have caused it. This is not a concern for Idris and Telyn unless that Welsh weather stays cold and damp.

Aran has made sure that there is plenty of fish on the nest for Mrs G and the three bobs.

It was an absolutely wet – very soggy – day for Seren and Dylan and the three Bobs. I sure hope it dries up for them.

I haven’t checked on the northeastern Osprey nests in the US. It looks like all is well at the nest of Duke and Daisy and their two chicks at Barnegat Light.

Grinnell and Lindsay continue to be nothing short and adorable at the scrape of Cal Falcons in The Campanile on the grounds of UCalifornia at Berkeley.

Kana’kini and Sky remain on the West End Bald eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta. Ahote, the youngest was the first to fledge. There has been a lot of conflicting information on where he is. It remains unclear whether or not Ahote has been fed by either Thunder or Akecheta.

This is the latest from the IWS: “Ahote has never gotten closer than 30-40 meters from the nest since he fledged. Where you’ve seen him fly to or walk to is still on the transmitter hill. The whole ridge down to the nest is hidden.”

Thank you so very much for joining me on this late Sunday afternoon. I hope each and every reader has had a lovely day. Stay safe. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures or video clips: ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Eagle Club of Estonia, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Explore.org, Cal Falcons, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dfyi Osprey Project, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon.

Late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Bird World

31 May – 1 June 2022

Oh, it is absolutely perfect at the Big Valley nest of Jackie and Shadow. Spirit fledged early Tuesday morning and she is back home being fed by Shadow at 16:46 the same day. You could hear Spirit squeeeeeeeeing on the nest cam. Dad flew in with a big fish and ate a bit and in flies Spirit. This is excellent. She will return to the nest – she knows where it is – and the parents will continue to feed her for a period of time until she is catching her own fish. She will perfect her flying and she will be a success.

Shadow arrives on the nest with a nice big fish.

Spirit arrives not long after. Oh, it is so sweet that Spirit wants to be fed ——-and fantastic of Shadow to want to feed his Spirit!

When dinner was over, Dad and his little girl sat and looked out at their world together.

Spirit remains at the nest. I hope she stays all night. It is so wonderful seeing her back on the nest, eating, and in good shape. She knows where ‘home’ is!

Spirit spent the night on the nest branch. This is just fantastic. Hopefully she will fly and get her wings strong and come home to eat and spend the night in the nest tree so we can see she is alright!

Gosh, it is hard waiting for parents to bring in food to a nest that really needs it. The lull at the ND-LEEF nest gave me an opportunity to ‘look at’ Little Bit 17 a little closer.

The Middle sibling ND16 has been the one ‘plucking’ Little Bit’s feathers from his head. When she gets aggressive about the food or lack of food, she goes for the head. It appears to me that she has pulled out more feathers today than on Sunday or Saturday. It looks like a red spot on the back but no big infected areas. To my knowledge, the eldest sibling 15 has not attacked Little Bit 17, only 16. So she is getting agitated when food is not coming on the nest.

Besides the missing head feathers, you will notice that Little Bit’s flight feathers are growing and showing.

This is a horrific viscous attack by an older sibling.

The image below was taken two days ago on the 29th. It offers some comparison with the loss of feathers on the head.

This is May 28 – three days ago. From this image I have to conclude that 16 is getting more and more aggressive towards Little Bit 17.

So is this a big problem? Yes and yes and no. The feathers on the head do not impact Little Bit 17’s ability to fly. That is the good point. Are they going to grow back quickly? No. It looks like the older sibling has pulled out the hair follicle completely. When bird’s molt (typically once a year), the loss of that feather stimulates the growth of the new feather. If Little Bit 17 found itself in a rehab centre they would probably be applying antiseptic ointment to its head. The other issue is that growing feathers is known as being ‘nutritionally intensive’. It takes a lot of calories along with vitamins and minerals to get feather regrowth. Some of you may have birds and know this. You can purchase products from your vet to help with regrowth. Some nervous birds can pluck out their own feathers. Sadly, we cannot get a vet up to the nest with these supplements nor can we fly in fish — and believe me, I wish I could put three big beauties on that nest!

Some people on the chat thought that Little Bit 17 had a bit of a crop.

It looks like it from this image below. Did he go into his stash on the porch and find some food? It is unknown.

At 20:31:21 an adult landed on the nest with a prey item. It was taken immediately by an older sibling.

Little Bit 17 stayed out of the way.

It is unclear what happened on the morning of 1 June on the ND-LEEF nest. I cannot see any prey delivered before a squirrel arrives around noon. 16 got it, then 15 stole it, and 17 is lurking hoping that 15 will leave it something. All are, of course, hungry.

17 is getting closer to 15. I am certain 17 would eat the tail if that was all that was left.

Hard to tell what will happen. 16 has moved over between 17 and 15 and is more concerned about 17 than anything. I really hope he does not pluck any more of 17’s head feathers. That is just crazy.


There is still squirrel left. You can see it when 15 pulls hard. He almost goes backwards out of the nest with that squirrel. Oh, I hope 17 gets a chance and 16 is not going to grab the prey.

16 wants to steal it. 17 is staying out of the way of 16. We need a huge fish to arrive right now. Leave 16 with the squirrel and 15 and 17 get fed by Mum!

Well, the San Francisco nest of Richmond and Rosie could offer to send some of their spare fish to ND! Today Rosie went fishing and brought in a nice whopper for the two osplets. Shortly after Richmond arrives with an equally large fish! And the kids already had big crops. Of course, there seem to be always intruders about wanting to steal the fish Richmond and/or Rosie bring to the nest on the Whirley Crane. Location, location, location! Some nests have great territory and prey and others don’t. Richmond and Rosie have a gold one – along with Arthur and Big Red at Cornell.

What lucky little osplets these two are – hatched at this nest with these two incredibly hard working parents. You will notice that Rosie is fishing, too, and delivering food. Her babies are just entering the Reptilian Phase. Some of the females pull more than their weight to ensure the success of their brood.

No one is going to be hungry today!

It is 0440 Wednesday morning at the Dyfi nest of Telyn and Idris and the three Bobs. They are having a nice breakfast of last night’s Mullet. Super chicks.

Little Bob got a nice piece of fish. Most of the time everything is fine at Dyfi. Big Bob does like to be a bit of a bully but that will pass. There is regular food on this nest.

The Three Bobs had breakfast at Loch of the Lowes, too. Laddie had a great fish and everyone is eating. Bites all around. The trio are growing and starting to get their dark wooly plumage. Reptiles next!

Louis and Dorcha have been feeding their first hatch regularly. Louis has kept the nest nicely supplied — like he always does! They are going to zoom the camera in so that we can see the chicks better. This will be left for about a week. Thank you Woodland Trust!

History was made again today in Poole Harbour when the first osprey chick hatched! Congratulations CJ7 and Blue 022!!!!!!!!!! The nest and camera are positioned so that we can only see CJ7 bring up the egg shell, removing it from the nest cup. How thrilling. There will be parties in the south of England and in the homes of all who were a part of this great relocation project. It is a success.

There are three at the Glaslyn nest of Aran and Mrs G now. All their hatching is now finished. Lots of fish – and some of it is flounder. Mrs G doesn’t like it but hey ——we know a lot of eagles and ospreys that wouldn’t care what species of fish it was! The third chick hatched on 30 May.

I continue to watch and forget to report on the Golden Eagles in Estonia. The parents are Kalju (Dad) and Helju (Mum) and their chick Margit. So cute. There nest is in the Sooma National Park in the southwestern part of Estonia.

Golden Eagles often hunt as a couple. They are known to dive down to their prey (called quarry) at speeds of 150 mph. They have great maneuverability and they can see clearly and in colour for a very long distance. One eagle might dive and drive the prey out for the other. They also hunt alone catching rabbits, squirrels, Pine Martens, foxes, and even deer. They will also eat carrion if fresh prey is low. Unlike the Black Stork, Golden Eagles are fairly common in Estonia.

Margit is a little cutie.

Here is the link to their camera:

Karl II and Kaia’s three Black Storklets in the Karula National Forest in Estonia are also doing very well. There is one egg remaining in the nest which was laid on 1 May. If it is to hatch it will be soon.

Karl II has the transmitter on his leg and he is on the nest now. Both parents are active in fishing and bringing food to the nest for the chicks who have incredible appetites.

The five storklets of Jan and Janika, also in Estonia, are doing really well. The parents have not done any sorting out of the smaller ones. This is incredible. There must be lots of food for everyone this year.

While we wait for the official names of the two chicks, Alden continues to bring in prey items for the eyases who are growing and getting interested in the world outside the scrape. What a quick hand over! Off for more!!!!!!!

Alden is also doing a fantastic job of feeding the two eyases.

The Great Spirit Bluff eyases continue to grow and are changing their plumage just like the chicks at Cal Falcon’s scrape.

There was bad weather in South Australia on the 29th of May. That is the last log in and report on Ervie. Port Lincoln says he managed to stay out of the wind and rain by staying close to the silos. Here is his map of that day. Sure miss seeing him at the barge!

And to put a smile on everyone’s face, a Dove has decided to make her nest on a palm frond at my son’s house in the West Indies. The couple will incubate their eggs for 12-14 days. The chicks will be born with their eyes closed and will be covered with a soft grey down. They will remain in the nest being fed by their parents for about 11 days before fledging.

It looks like a Common Ground Dove. They are very common across the Eastern Caribbean and can grow to 15-18 cm or 6 to 7 inches or about the same size as a large House Sparrow. They lay 1-3 eggs. They eat seeds and insects.

It is sunny today and no rain. I am heading out to enjoy this beautiful day and hopefully see some American White Pelicans and some ducks. Hopefully a few other Waterfowl surprises. Take care everyone. Thank you for being here with me in Bird World. Wish for fish to land on the ND-LEEF nest! Nasty 16 is busy eating the rest of the squirrel so hopefully 17 can have some lunch if something comes in! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: fOBBV, ND-LEEF, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Dyfi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Wildlife Trust, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Friends of Loch Arkaig, the Woodland Trust and the People’s Post Code Lottery, Eagle Club of Estonia, Cal Falcons, Port Lincoln Osprey Project FB page, and Explore.org

Late Saturday and early Sunday in Bird World

28-29 May 2022

Saturday was an incredible day for a long walk at the nature centre. Thankfully individuals have donated benches in their loved one’s names and they are scattered about the trails. Much of Ft Whyte has been covered with water and there are areas that are more wetlands than anything else. Those are the interesting places. The Red-winged Blackbirds and the Yellow-rumped Warblers seemed to love eating the seeds? of the bull rushes. It was a fascinating day. Way across the lake were two adult Double-breasted Cormorants and nine juveniles. The Cormorants make their nests on islands or in the tops of trees or platforms. Normally there are 5-7 eggs that are incubated for 25-59 days. This couple seems to have hatched 9!

They were at a great distance and the sky was getting very dark. Not touched up but a lovely scene.

The usuals were around – beautiful Yellow Warblers, American Goldfinches, the Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Downy and a Hairy Woodpecker.

What a striking difference between the male Red-winged Blackbird and their female mates, below. She is having a wonderful time gleaning for insects and seeds on the ground.

This female American Redstart flitted around the Cattail branches. She was very difficult to photograph! She was hovering around the pools of water foraging for insects.

The Canada Geese are still incubating. No one seems to know when the eggs are due to hatch at Ft Whyte! (or not anyone that I could find).

You often see evidence of the woodpeckers presence but, most times, you do not actually see them. So to see both a Hairy and a Downy over by the songbird feeding station was quite a treat.

A female Hairy Woodpecker.

The female Downy Woodpecker.

In fact, today was a fun day because so many of the female birds were out feeding. What a joy!

I had hoped to head out today, Sunday, but right now it is raining. The birds in the garden are not happy! Hopefully the sun will come out later for them and they can dry off and I can go for my walk.

Sadly, Saturday was not a good day on the ND-LEEF nest. The lack of prey coming to this nest is becoming highly problematic. The two older siblings have figured out how to self-feed. Little Middle 17 had an advantage when they didn’t know how to do this! There was someone on chat that made a comment that Little Bit 17 had some food from Dad last evening – a heron?? I did not see it. Perhaps some of you did. My notes indicate 48 hours without substantial food. Let us hope that the fish get on the nest tomorrow and are plentiful. In fact, one of the older siblings – I do think it is the Middle one 16 – attacked Little Bit today and Mum flew down from the branch and intervened. We need fish on this nest quickly. Send all positive thoughts to Little Bit 17.

Two fish have so far come to the ND-LEEF nest on Sunday morning. The second one right before 10:58 when Mum flies down and feeds 17. Originally the fish was left on the nest but no takers and Little Bit seemed reluctant to eat it. He is staying back in the part beyond the camera. After a few minutes Mum comes down and takes the fish. Little Bit eats. Then in a few minutes 16 steals the fish. How much did Little Bit get? It isn’t clear but when 16 stole the fish, there was only about half of it left. I know Little Bit can eat fast – he has had to. Let us hope he got enough and that another fish comes and then another. We need to get out of this bad loop on this nest. 16 continues to attack Little Bit. 16 is one nasty bird.

If you are at all sensitive, I would not watch this nest for a few days. Let it sort itself out. I am very concerned about the level of hunger and the attacks by 16 on Little Bit.

The eyases on the Red-tail Hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur are changing by the day. Those juvenile feathers continue to grow and grow. Watch their tails. It is best if they have 5 or more dark tail bands for fledging.

That is little L4 showing off his beautiful wings. Big sister is in front. It is awhile til fledge from the look of the tails!

At the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest, Middle was busy eating a really nice fish. And guess what? He did not share!

This nest is so civilized now. If you just tuned in you could never imagine that the third hatch died from siblicide or that the Middle chick had been beaked and stopped from eating. It is a lovely nest to watch.

Middle was making some headway 9 minutes later. It is hard for the osplets to figure out how to hold the fish down and unzip it at the same time. They need to watch Mum carefully when she digs her beak into the skin and pulls hard!

Both of the osplets have been eating on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest Sunday morning. Each has had a turn at a fish and there are fish on the nest if you look closely – well, pieces of them. These two are healthy and doing so well.

As the sun went down on a beautiful Saturday at the Loch of the Lowes, Blue NC0 was feeding the three nestlings. I am cautiously hopeful for this third hatch. It is a nice strong little one.

It was so windy earlier in the day that Blue NC0 was literally blown off the nest.

It is Sunday morning and Blue NC0 and the trio of Bobs are waiting for Laddie to deliver a fish!

Laddie came through – of course, he did! They have all eaten well and Little Bob felt like he wanted to start a fight. He is a little toughie. LOL. You can see the plumage changing on Big Bob.

Telyn had gone for a break at 0503 and Idris flew in with the breakfast fish two minutes later. He thought he was going to get to feed the Three Bobs but, no. Telyn had a different idea. Gosh, they are so cute…I wish they would stay this soft grey downy chick for awhile longer before becoming a Reptile-Dinosaur showing their DNA chick.

It is quite amazing how quickly they get stronger. Adorable. Nice dark bands around those eyes.

The Dyfi Osprey Project created a video log of the hatching.

Aran and Mrs G now have two Bobs at the Glaslyn Valley Osprey nest. One more egg to go!

These two look like they will be a hand full.

CJ7 and Blue 022 have already made history by laying the first osprey eggs in a nest at Poole Harbour in more than 200 years. The eggs were laid on 23, 26, and 29th of April. That means that the first egg is 36 days old now. I am thinking pip watch in a couple of days?? This morning CJ7 ate her fish off the nest so no hatch yet! Gosh this is going to be a difficult nest to see those historical hatches!

Oh, those three Bobs on the Manton Bay nest of Blue 22 and Maya are getting huge. It seems it was only yesterday that we were worrying that the flapping Perch had killed one or both of the nestlings. It was 13 days ago!

This is such a good nest. A fish is right there when Maya gets the chicks up in the morning. It must surely help to have a stocked lake that is free from leisure vehicles and people.

You can almost hear Maya saying, “Oh, please, just have one more bite.”

Maya looks like she is in shock as Blue 33 arrives with a fish.

And what a fish that was!!!!!!!!!! Oh, gosh, is it going to land on the chicks?

All lined up like the Osprey lads at Port Lincoln last season. No need to fight over food on this nest – everyone is fed regularly til they are full. Would love to send this fish to Little Bit 17.

Blue 33 also brought in some nesting materials this morning and dropped them over the chicks. The look on Maya’s face was priceless!

After Blue flies off, Maya turns and looks at the camera. My goodness she is a beauty.

I haven’t mentioned them for awhile – shame on me. There are three osplets in the Osprey platform at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware. They are doing fine and from their heads you can see they are now moving into the Reptilian phase.

Bukachek and Betty have five White Storks this morning in their nest in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic. Everyone is so excited. There is one more egg to hatch.

Here is an adorable video of the six storklets at the nest of Jan and Janika!

There are wee ones on the nest of Karl II and Kaia, too. With all the nesting material it is hard to see how many.

It is rainy and blowing at the MN-DNR nest. Nancy has gotten food on the nest and E1, Harriet, continues to do very well. Hopefully Nancy will have a new mate next year. So many of us still miss Harry. What a real shame to lose him – he was only 5 years old. Just starting his life really as an adult. And what a wonderful mate he was while he was with Nancy!

There are way too many nests! And too many things happening. There is Annie looking up at us at 05:53 this morning in San Francisco. She is asking you to pick ‘nice’ names for the two chicks that her and Alden have raised. Suggestions stop and then there will be a vote…it seems that there will not need to be a run off for the name of the male. Grinnell is running away with the numbers! How could it not be Grinnell, seriously?

To suggest a name go to https://calfalcons.berkeley.edu and click on the Facebook tag. Scroll down a few entries and put in your desire names. Suggestions end on the 30th with voting starting immediately for the finalists once they are listed. They are giving us a short time so do not delay choosing your favourites of the short listed. I will try and remind everyone, too.

Take care everyone. Have an absolutely fabulous Sunday. Thank you for joining me today. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Cal Falcons, MN-DNR, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky White Storks, Osprey Webcam for Cape Henlopen State Park, LRWT, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Brwyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab RTH cam, and ND-LEEF.

Late Sunday and early Monday in Bird World

22-23 May 20

I have been holding my breath and sitting on my hands. In an earlier blog I wrote and attached screen captures of Dale Hollow’s Middle – we call Warrior – going up the branch. Dale Hollow posted that Warrior had fludged – meaning he fell off that branch. Indeed, there was a video posted of that fall. Well, someone has now spent some time looking at that footage and has captured Warrior fledging from a lower branch. This is a relief. It is not nice worrying that they are grounded.

The parents continue to leave fish on the nest but so far neither DH14 or DH15 have returned and it is also reported that they have yet to be seen.

There is also news coming in of a Peregrine Falcon couple who are using the chimney of a thermal power plant in Japan for their scrape! I wish they would put a streaming cam up there for all of us that love falcons!!!!!!!

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220520/p2a/00m/0li/032000c?fbclid=IwAR1fx8O4Dp_C_7w4jfIHPTatm7eIY5ma1UWZKD9QtYRpK_24gNLK9qRacII

I love Kakapo – even though they are not raptors. The news coming from the Kakapo Recovery is pretty good. Sadly, one of this years hatches has died in the Dunedin Veterinary Hospital since yesterday.

I want everyone to give a quiet applause for Little Bit 17 at the Notre Dame – LEEF nest. Look what that wee one did this morning!!!!!!!! It doesn’t get much better than this.

The adult arrives and leaves the fish on the nest. Little Bit has its head turned to the rim of the nest listening and turning around watching. The parent does not feed the bigger chicks – it flies up to a higher branch.

Between the arrival of the fish and 0702, Little Bit 17 pulls the fish over to ‘its area’. This is actually Little Bit’s stash or prey kitchen where he keeps things for later. Mum has found it but the older siblings do not root around there. Little Bit is busy eating on that fish and is already getting a bit of a crop. One of the elder siblings is nibbling and watching. No dominance tactics are noted.

Still eating. Other sibling is curious. Little Bit just keeps eating.

One of the older siblings is touching Little Bit’s beak wanting it to feed it! (or alternatively it is trying to get the fish out of Little Bit’s beak)

Little Bit has an enormous crop by now. You can see the fish piece over at the side of the nest.

When Little Bit was finished the older siblings pulled the leftover piece to the edge and started feeding.

One big sibling on the rim and the other down in the nest with Little Bit doing beak kisses again.

That is Little Bit 17. Look at those nice wings this morning. He has energy to spare. What a wonderful way to start the day!!!!!!!!!

The University of Florida Osprey nest at their Gainesville camera had issues with their streaming cam this morning and it was off line. The students of the Wildlife Conservancy course did post the winning names (by public vote). Big sibling is Breezy. Middle sibling is Windy. Mum is Stella while Dad is Talon. There was a tie for the name of the nest – Cheep Seats or Home Plate.

A lovely image of Blue 35 at the Foulshaw Moss nest in Cumbria feeding the eldest chick just after the second one hatched.

The four eyases in the Dolina Baryczy Peregrine Falcon nest in Poland near Lodz are really filling up the nest! Dad has just delivered a prey item for them.

The five Peregrine Falcons are not as big as those in Poland. They are losing the down around their eyes and the beautiful wing and tail feathers are coming in. Everyone had a good breakfast this morning in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Cal Falcons has posted that the banding of the chicks will take place on the 27th of May at 1400 Pacific Time.

All of the eggs have hatched at the Black Stork nest of Grafs and Grafiene in Jogdeva County, Estonia. There were six eggs and the moderator of the chat says there has been no elimination of any chicks this year so far. So this is a historic moment in the history of the Black Storks in the Balkans and in Estonia – six chicks! Fingers crossed that there is enough food for all of them.

We are waiting for the eggs to hatch for Karl II and Kaia at the Karula National Forest nest, also in Estonia. Their last egg was laid on 1 May.

We are also waiting for Bukacheck and Betty’s eggs to begin hatching in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic.

If we blink they turn into hawks not little nestlings. Look at the feather growth and that gorgeous peach on the breast of Big Red and Arthur’s eyases on the Cornell RTH nest! Gracious. Fledge is what? 2 or 3 weeks away. I will have to do the calculations but they should have fledged by the middle of June. Hard to believe. L4 still has a lot of feather development needed and one rule of thumb is that it is better the more dark bars they have on their tails – 5 is the minimum, preferably 6 at fledge.

Thank you so very much for joining me today. I hope that each of you has a wonderful Monday. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: ND-LEEF, Kakapo Recovery, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, Mlade Buky White Storks, Eagle Club of Estonia, DHEC, Cal Falcons, Dolina Baryczy, Peregrine Netrworks, and the Cumbria Wildlife Trust.