Tag Archives: Kielder Forest Ospreys

Thursday in Bird World

25 May 2023

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope that you have had a fabulous first half of the week. It is the end of May. The lilacs are blooming and the garden is so fragrant. The Baltimore and Orchard Orioles ‘flew the coop’. I have not seen one in the garden since late Monday evening. The Cowbirds are gone and the Grackles have arrived. Mr Crow was here for peanuts along with his mates and Mr Blue Jay, Dyson and family but, other than those, it was rather quiet. And cooler. Down to 11 C tonight – Melbourne weather. It feels cold.

I wish I could send a big bouquet to everyone. The lilacs were planted 24 years ago. They were just sticks that autumn. Now they are so tall – of course, the big bunches of blossoms are at the top. These are lovely, and a tiny little sprig in the conservatory makes the entire space smell grand.

As I am writing this, Bobby Horvath of WINORR who cared for Pale Male in his last hours, told me he would happily go and clean up the Patchogue nest if a bucket truck can be obtained. People are willing to help. Let us hope that permits come through. Bobby said, “It’s a matter of resources. A bucket truck capable of reaching the site and if there’s live electric involved or not. Then permission is a whole other issue. If a truck can be secured I offer my assistance removing any material I can.” I am so grateful, and there are others..it is getting all of this in place that is the issue. Fingers crossed. Thanks, Bobby!——— The power company is telling callers that they ‘will take care of it’…..let’s hope that someone does. I have to say that I worry about that little osplet but so far so good. Look at them lined up like so nicely having fish…is it possible that they are all males like Bazza, Falkey, and Ervie and this Mini will survive? One day at a time. One day at a time. I live with hope. Bib Bob is at least six times the size of Mini and the older two are just entering the Reptilian Phase. It makes monsters out of them for a short time…not sure why. Would love to see the hormone levels in their blood – the aggressive ones.

Thank you to everyone who reached out to get help to this nest. You are fantastic.

Mini-Bob looks unwell this morning and may be dying/dead. It is difficult to tell – deep sleep. Mum has been looking curiously at the poor little thing while she was also trying to remove some rubbish earlier.

This should put a big smile on your face! Wonderful, generous people really made a difference to this wildlife rehab sanctuary.

What does it mean when people donate even the tiniest things? This! Thank you to everyone who reached out for Murphy and his eaglet…this is amazing news. Windfalls like this do not happen all the time. Murphy got a lot of publicity. Just remember that every wildlife sanctuary requires items from clean used towels and sheets to those unused power tools in your garage. Go out and look. See what you have. Offer it locally!

Read all of the lines…your help for a year and more. See what is there that is needed – and then keep your eyes open for anything on this list. Is someone moving and clearing out their space? Are they leaving laundry supplies? See if they will donate them!

Gosh. I almost need ear plugs – Rosa, Zephyr, and Luna are sooooo very loud. Lewis goes running when he hears them…he is frightened.

Gorgeous Mum Annie leaves the kids to the prey – good idea, self-preservation.

In case you are missing little fluff balls starting to get rather loud, check out this feeding at Cromer Peregrine Falcons.

WRDC has announced that both of Ron and Rita’s eaglets this year are males. No surprise there! They were a delight all year, very civil…Thanks, ‘H’.

Oh, it is so nice when a fish delivery comes in and your big sibling is out flying around seeing the world. That is what happened to Middle at the Achieva Osprey nest on Wednesday morning at 0745.

Little Bob at Severna Park can be seen to get right in there when there is fish despite the huge size difference. Another nest of three that we are keeping tabs on…with hope.

Lucy flew to her nest at Lake Murray and was making the tiniest little cheeping sounds. To go to sleep and wake up and find that your only surviving chick is gone…where did it go? who took it? what happened? My heart aches for her. She lost her entire family.

Bridgette has confirmed what ‘H’ reported to me that the third chick was dead when it hatched or shortly after and Harriet consumed it. “Unfortunately #3 was not alive and was eaten up by Harriet at 5:30 a.m. Yes, that’s how it is in nature. Let’s hope for a healthy development for #1 and #2.

All is well at the RTH nest of Big Red and Arthur in Ithaca, New York. No one is hungry, no one is injured, no one has fallen out of the nest and there are no predators around those babies.

Arthur bringing in another delivery! The deliveries keep flowing. Big Red is now leaving the chicks for longer on the nest and taking breaks at a nearby light stand where she can ‘sun’ herself. She is within a quick distance if there are any problems at the nest.

Come on, have another bite! I know you are hungry! LOL. No one is ever hungry on Big Red’s nest.

Everything is good with Angel and Tom and RTH5. Tom continues to deliver, Angel picks up and feeds RTH5 who is growing fast just like Big Red and Arthur’s chicks. Remember those Blue Jays dive-bombing Angel, Tom and the nest? Well, RTH5 had a Jay nestling today. That is why they were so upset!

Both chicks at the Dahlgren Osprey platform of Jack and Diane in Virginia seem to be doing fine. There is such a difference in size. We wait and hope…

There was a second hatch at the Carthage TN Osprey platform in the early morning Wednesday the 24th.

Will there be only two little osplets for Idris and Telyn this year. We wait to see. This is what Dyfi thinks..as you look at that image I want you to remember that in four months or less, this baby will be flying alone to West Africa where we hope that H5N1 has been contained and eliminated as much as possible.

No shortage of fish for only Bob at Dyfi! Will there be another hatch tomorrow?

The first hatch for Mr and Mrs 69 at Kielder Forest hatched on the 23rd and was alert on the 24th ready for a fish feed!

Everything is going well at the Rutland Manton Bay nest of Blue 33 and Maya. The little ones can get into mischief but they are thriving. Late Wednesday Blue brought in another of his whoppers and Little Bob got its head stuck under it. He made it right…thankfully. While these big fish really do feed a lot of chicks, they are incredibly dangerous.

The baby took a whack. Let us hope it is alright. The others are up eating what would typically be either the last or penultimate meal of the day. Oh, yes, it is moving up to the food line. Lots of fish there. Mum will eat and all three will be stuffed.

It has been a rough year for many nests. Laddie and Blue NCO didn’t lose their first hatch but there have been so many intruders and it is having an impact on fish delivery. Blue NC0 had to fight off an intruder for over an hour. Imagine with two little babies under her. Brave Mum.

https://youtu.be/TkVbmAJNMfI

At Llyn Clywedog there was an intruder trying to land on its Mum, Seren Blue 5F. It was Blue 469! The big male from 2021. I don’t think Mum is too excited to see her big boy with two little ones under her!!!!!!!!!

A video has been posted of River taking the fish off the nest at Dale Hollow and presumably providing it to DH17 who you can hear squeeing in the background.

https://youtu.be/KzIt0Rl-nKg

There are no breeding pairs of Ospreys in Ireland. There are ospreys that stop for a bit or others flying by but now the plans to reintroduce to our favourite raptor are in place.

https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2023/0523/1385185-ospreys-ireland/

Dr Sharpe and Amber continue to band all of the 2023 eaglets they can on the Channel Islands. You might recall the rescue of the largest one at Bald Canyon. All ringed today.

The three at PA Farm Country have done very well, indeed. I have not checked on them in so long. Just look.

Beloved E22 is still at the nest with M15. This is the longest that any fledgling has remained…aren’t we fortunate?

The latest news on the situation at Dale Hollow that I have seen.

The Raven came and took the third egg of Iris at her nest on the grounds of the Riverview Clinic in Missoula, Montana. Fingers crossed that she can now relax and enjoy her summer.

The Sydney Sea Eagles are getting busy on their nest.

A Place Called Hope is one of the wildlife rehabbers on my list to be cared for if I were found. They are telling a story and appealing to everyone in Connecticut to get back to the politicians on these much-designed rodenticides. Most of you do not live in Connecticut, but I want you to read this narrative anyway. Then, when you have the time, get on to your politicians (a sad lot to be handling something so dangerous – I hate when things become ‘political’) and find out what is happening where you are! Help..secondary poisoning is very real. You will know if you have a pet that dies from this in great agony. I did. Her name was Duncan, after my Dad. Thank you! We have to educate ourselves.

Recycled Plastic. More harmful than the original? The key is to not use plastic – ban it from your life, whenever you can, just like you would rodenticide!

“But … the toxicity of plastic actually increases with recycling. Plastics have no place in a circular economy and it’s clear that the only real solution to ending plastic pollution is to massively reduce plastic production.”

“Recycled plastics, the report says, often contain higher levels of chemicals such as toxic flame retardants, benzene and other carcinogens, environmental pollutants including brominated and chlorinated dioxins, and numerous endocrine disruptors that can cause changes to the body’s natural hormone levels.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/24/recycled-plastic-more-toxic-no-fix-pollution-greenpeace-warns?CMP=share_btn_link

And now for some good news…don’t plant! Just leave nature to take over and do what is necessary!

“Forestry doesn’t get everything right,” he says. “But with huge areas to work with we can experiment – a bit of local disruption can supercharge an ecosystem. Scrape back here, block a watercourse there, or we can suspend planting and just step back. It might take decades to see the benefits, but fine. Foresters are used to long cycles.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/23/country-diary-a-boggy-untouched-paradise-for-wildlife?CMP=share_btn_link

Congratulations Chris Packham!

Geemeff reports that the Crowdfunder to assist in the clean up in The Gambia of the HPAI birds met is goal. Congratulations Conservation without Borders!

Thank you so very much for being with me today. I am off and running this morning so the blog is finishing up at midnight. There will, no doubt, be lots of osprey news happening in the UK while I am sleeping! It will not make it in for tomorrow…so please check to see if there are any more hatches! Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, tweets, videos, posts, and streaming cams that helped to make up my blog today: ‘A’, Geemeff, ‘H’, Patchogue Ospreys, SK Hideaways and Cal Falcons, World Bird Sanctuary, Cromer Peregrine Falcon Cam, WRDC, Achieva Credit Union, Severna Park Ospreys, LMO, Dahlgren Ospreys, Cornell RTH, Window to Wildlife, Dalhgren Ospreys, DTC Osprey Cam, Dyfi Osprey Project, Kielder Forest, LRWT, LOTL, CarnyXWild, RTE.ie, Gracie Shepherd and Raptors of the World, Sara MacDonald and PA Country Farm Eagle Cam, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Celia Aliengirl and Dale Hollow Eagle Cam, Sydney Sea Eagle Cam, A Place Called Hope, The Guardian, Conservation without Borders and Crowdfunder, and @RSPCAChris.

Late Thursday in Bird World

30 June 2022

UPDATE ON LITTLE BIT 17: Message from Humane Indiana Wildlife. ” Hello! We will post an update on ND17 tomorrow. Today was stressful for him, as you can imagine, but he is doing well and receiving much needed care.”

I am feeling some comfort in the news that Little Bit ND17 was taken to Valpo to the Humane Indiana Wildlife clinic for a thorough examination and assessment at 11:40 this morning. This is the best news Bird World has had in a couple of weeks. ——–And in the update ‘much needed care’ indicates that getting him to the clinic was the right decision.

I know that the St Patrick’s County Parks staff could never have foreseen the events that would transpire at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest this season. There is an expectation of stability – business as usual – but as many know, we live in very unstable times. And so it was with the nest. The second hatch ND16 took exception to Little Bit’s existence. The aggression, the deterioration of the nest, and then Little Bit’s 60 foot drop to the ground would never have entered the minds of park staff as spring arrived in South Bend, Indiana. But, it did happen. I am grateful that they were able to get Little Bit 17 removed from the bushes and taken to the Valpo clinic. IDNR has stated that not all rehabbers will take birds now because of Avian Flu – so thank you Humane Wildlife Indiana, too.

We wait to hear how our little eaglet is doing tomorrow!

The Dyfi Osprey Project has published all the information on the ringing along with the video of the ringing and weighing and another earlier one of nest aggression attributed to the fact that all three were females. There is a map showing the rivers and a pronunciation guide to the chick’s names after those rivers. It is a good read. Have a look. This is the kind of information that becomes so useful about the nests. Here is that link:

https://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/blog/emyr-mwt/bendigedig-ringing-2022?fbclid=IwAR2OAkzY88lJjf-QaZNhY8Tyvx1AfH_NW6U15ayNz_tvyLlU50BYQhVJdQo

The ringing video is a really good one to watch. They are so careful and the chicks just pancake and stay still. It takes no time. Those colour Darvic rings with their numbers tell us so much information about these amazing birds and their life journeys.

There is also images and information on the ringing of nest 1A at Kielder. This nest had four babies ——yes, I did not get that wrong – 4. I did not mention it but once because I was so afraid that something would happen to little 4. There is a picture of him in there at 1000 grams. His big sister is 50% heavier at 1560. The other two were males. The ringers could not determine the gender of little 4 because he is so small for his age. I hope he proves mighty.

https://kielderospreys.wpcomstaging.com/2022/06/30/nest-1a-ringing-2022/?fbclid=IwAR1k5BqXKzx0ui1ww5i7TaDypDK7LdZfyxad4tF2NHnJMx0GEG7TGVq7PA4

I have been working on and off on a couple of stories about wildlife rehabilitation clinics. They are our go-to when it comes to getting care for our wildlife in need. Each is special in its own way. Some specialize in certain animals and will not take birds. Because of the spread of H5N1 Avian Flu this year, many will not take our feathered friends. So, a bit of a shout out to Valpo for taking Little Bit. They need your support whether it is with your time, volunteering, with a few dollars or a truck load. Every bit is appreciated. Believe it or not, old clean towels are always wanted!!!! So, while we wait to hear about Little Bit 17, I will spend a little time showing you what I did today.

This afternoon was a day to spend at our own rehabilitation clinic. It is the only wildlife clinic in Manitoba with a full time vet, operating room and diagnostic equipment and it is run entirely by donations and volunteers.

Wildlife Haven is not unique. Every facility – those that many of you know by their names – CROW, The Audubon Centre, A Place Called Hope – operate entirely on donations and the generous time offered by volunteers.

I have been working on a blog about 2 other wildlife centres that I will finish up shortly. I was moved to tell you a little bit about our facility because the first thing the Rehabilitation Manager said was, “99% of the injuries to wildlife are human caused.” Everything that we do has the potential to harm the animals that share this planet with us – it can range from kidnapping bunnies from their Mum, to road accidents, taking wildlife in our houses where they imprint on humans, to wind turbines, sticky or glue traps – the list as you know is endless. I am grateful that there is a big campaign to let people know that fishing line is dangerous. It is that time of year when people should be using non-lead fishing tackle, barbless hooks, and helping to clean up the shores as well as taking care of their own area where they fish. I had no idea that so many bunnies arrive at the care facility. Over 900 right now!

Tip regarding rabbits. If you see a brown circle on your lawn and remove the grass covering and see bunnies, do not think that their mother has abandoned them. Take 2 thin sticks and criss-cross them over the top. Go back in 24 hours. If the sticks are moved, the Mum has been in to feed the babies. If the sticks have not been moved, then take the babies to a wildlife rehabber. Put a towel in a box with a lid and holes for air and carefully transport them to the closest facility.

Our centre has been in existence since 1984 but it has only recently been able to have full vet facilities. The amount of rehabilitation work that they are able to do has increased with generous donations for flight and hunting training. That requires trained staff and intense dedication and it is precisely what Little Bit 17 will require. He is missing that by not being with Mum, Dad, 15 and 16. So he is like WBSE28. We want Little Bit kept so that he is able to successfully live in the wild and what I have learned from our local team is that this is a long slow process. It doesn’t happen in weeks. 6 months or more for some birds.

Our wildlife facility, Wildlife Haven, is determined to educate the public through open house days as well as taking the ambassadors to the schools. Start young, teach the children to love and care for the welfare of animals. So every week on Friday they will have what is called a Raptor Rendezvous Day. It was fantastic to see so many people with children at the first event. They also sponsor Open Houses and try hard to let people know how much effort there is in caring for the wildlife patients. From 5 am to 7pm, songbirds are fed every half hour. They constantly need volunteers to do this. The middle of the summer is the most crucial time. Some volunteers are trained in ways to enrich the lives of the raptors that will spend all their lives in the centre. Eagles get bored, too!

So today they introduced three of the ambassadors that help educate the public on how to respect wildlife and what to do if they find an injured animal. They were a Swainsons’ Hawk, a Great Horned Owl, and a Great Gray Owl. The Great Grey Owl is the provincial bird of Manitoba.

This is Avro. He is a light morph Swainson’s Hawk. He was hit by a car. The accident caused him to be blind in his right eye. Losing that one eye meant that Avro is unable to hunt and provide for himself in the wild.

There are lots of Swainson’s Hawks that come to the southern part of our province to breed in the summer. They migrate to Argentina in the winter. Avro is 18 years old now.

Uma is a very small Great Horned Owl. Uma’s nest was in the yard of a family that watched. They noticed that Uma was much smaller than the other owlets and it appeared ‘different’ to the other siblings. It was determined that Uma was under developed due to a lack of food — just like Little Bit 17. Uma was also missing an eye and its beak was out of alignment. Uma would never be able to survive in the wild.

Great Horned Owls are very plentiful and they adapt to all manner of environments from the forests of northern Manitoba to the deserts of Southwest United States and beyond. They have excellent hearing – a kind of shallow disk or satellite-shaped face. The tufts on their heads are neither ears or horns. The ears are on the side of the head, like all raptors, and they are covered with feathers. The tufts are feathers. You can see that Una lost his right eye. He is fed rats every day. He can fly and has a enclosure that is large enough for him to do that. Owls hunt from dawn to dusk and mostly within an hour of each of those times of day. They will hunt during the day time to feed their young, if necessary.

You can see the misalignment of the beak in the image below. Imagine trying to tear into a squirrel with that beak.

This is Zoe with Una. She gave an amazing presentation and answered every question and more.

The last ambassador today was Ash the Great Gray Owl. Ash was orphaned and his rescuers took him home to live with them. As a result he imprinted on humans and not owls. This means that Ash believes she is human, not owl. Despite Ash being in excellent health he will never be able to live in the wild and know what it is like to fly free and hunt.

With its excellent hearing, a Great Gray Owl can detect a mouse under 60 cm or 2 feet of snow. Incredible. In the image below you can see the fur covered legs and talons that help the Great Gray in our cold winters.

It was a great afternoon and came on a day to really think about the important work that these people do.

What can you do? Well you can volunteer or you can donate. Want to do something else? Talk to people about caring for the wildlife on our planet. Let them understand how important it is to get them to care quickly if it is needed. Put on window strips to stop bird strike. Talk to people about putting poison on their lawns. Have that chat about fishing line with people you know and the need for lead free equipment. Take a shovel in your car. When you see road kill, pull over. Of course, be careful but move the road kill off the road and away from it. Vultures, hawks, eagles, and all manner of wildlife will find it and it will be cleared down to the bone within a few hours. Put out bird feeders and water…..lobby for protective wind turbine blades…the list is, sadly, endless. Educate yourself and talk to the experts at your local wildlife clinic.

Several of the streaming cams are set to go offline today. One of those is UFlorida-Gainesville. We will look forward to joining Mum and Dad in the new year! Big and Middle are doing exceptionally well.

Tomorrow is Canada Day. I will be posting a short blog in the morning. I hope that some news of Little Bit will be available. I will also try to check on other nests that we are watching closely including Osoyoos, Boathouse, and FortisExshaw that have wee ones in the nest.

Thank you for joining me. Thank you to everyone who cares for our much loved feather friends and to everyone who worked hard and believed that Little Bit 17 needed to be assessed. It is a bit world out there with many polarizing opinions and intervention is one of those. Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to Dyfi and Kielder for their ringing updates on their blog that I included here today – and to Wildlife Haven for all they do.