I thought everyone would be excited to see that our dear Little Bit 17 made the news paper as the ‘Little Eagle that Could’! We knew he was very special from the moment he hatched. It is nice that everyone else sees that, too!
Kim Weiniger posted some images on the Notre Dame Eagles page. I am attaching one in the hope that she will not mind since it was on FB. 17 is looking so well.
Thank you so much for joining me. See you soon.
Thank you to the Notre Dame Eagles FB page for their continuing coverage of the eagles and, in particular, Little Bit 17.
I cannot thank the boots on the ground near the St Joseph River for keeping us informed about Little Bit 17. Without his tale tale tonsure, we might never know that it is him. I know that many of you are not members of FB so I took a couple of screen captures but, if you are members go over to Notre Dame Eagles and see the latest posting by Doreen Taylor. There are some great videos of 17 soaring as well as one of the parents.
The St Joseph River where Little Bit is perching and soaring. One of the adults flying over the nest tree. Note the white head.A capture from the video of Little Bit 17 perched preening.
Just seeing him out in the wild living his life – thank you Humane Wildlife Indiana. Tears.
There has been some discussion about whether or not a chick – not sure which one – had fledged or not. Our ‘osprey eyed reader ‘H’ kept questioning this. Today after watching one osplet on that nest move around all day and not fly, it has been confirmed that only 2 of the osplets from Boat House have fledged! Thank you ‘H’.
And there the osplet is…stuffed with fish, flying no where soon. With the camera off for 2-3 weeks it was really difficult to even identify which osplet was which – not sure it has been done yet!
Keep your most positive thoughts for Dad at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge. Mum and Dad are into hard incubation of the three eggs. Let us hope that he does not have another ‘spell’.
Beautiful Mum.Dad comes to give Mum a break.
Last. SE30 is doing great. He is flapping his wings and crawling out of the egg cup. Don’t tell 29 but 30 is figuring out how to get up to Lady and get the first of the fish!!!!!!!!
Sea eagles have wide and long wings. The pin feathers coming in so nicely on the part of the wing closest to the body in image 1 are the secondaries. They have 15 secondary feathers and 10 primaries – the ten closest to the wing tip. You can get a glimpse of those coming in.
As you can see SE29 is moving around the nest keeping balance using those wings! You can feathers appearing slightly on the shoulders (as black dots) and back of 29 in subsequent images. They will start to flap those wings more.
We are getting ready for the biggest plumage and development changes during the next two weeks. They will go from mostly being a fluffy chick to looking more and more like an eaglet. They will stand on their two feet and begin to make efforts to self-feed. So lots of exciting things to come!
‘B’ sent me a note after the images of Lancer appeared in yesterday’s blog. He reminded me that Dr Sharpe had saved so many eaglets this past season including Lancer who clung to the side of the cliff. Yes, Lancer also had a second chance at life! Thanks Dr Sharpe.
Thank you for being with me. I knew you would want to hear about Little Bit. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their FB posts and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Doreen Taylor and the Notre Dame Eagles FB, Audubon Explore and ‘H’, Port Lincoln Osprey, and Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park.
The presentation about Eagles Dying of Electrocution: What Can be Done? was quite informative. A number of topics were covered including why it is important for utility companies to not have wildlife incidents. Because they boost of having reliable electricity they cannot afford to have too many power outages due to wildlife electrocutions (squirrels, raptors, etc). So while wildlife is not their primary concern, if an eagle gets electrocuted it does impact their goal of ‘reliable’ transmission of power and it is actually in their best interests that their poles are safe. It is also good for their public image.
A PDF of a very large study done in 2006 was mentioned several times. It studied different birds in different countries with various configurations of hydro poles and how electrocution might be mitigated. Christian stated that the solutions are still solid examples. Here is a copy of that large study:
One interesting note in the mitigation is that you simply cannot install insulators or insulated cables. You must also deal with the transmitters.
A question or statement by one of the chatters for the presentation had to do with the lack of responsibility in this situation. If the first electrocution for an eaglet from the Gabriola Nest was accidental, isn’t the second one intentional? Many power companies will immediately move to fix the poles if they know there has been an incident. Florida has so many big raptors and it was mentioned that the power companies are pro-active in protecting the large birds.
An example from Belgium was shown. That is a perch for the eagle that is higher than the pole. The perch is not dangerous to the eagle. To mitigate further, the pointed triangle on the left has been installed making it impossible to create a connection also. Fantastic.
An example of good spacing and bad spacing in terms of wildlife.
Here is the presentation link in case you missed it or would like to listen again. It is about 50 minutes long.
Yvonne Roll Peterson posted the following image on the Notre Dame Eagles page. She carefully took the time to mark out who was where. You can’t see ND16, she is on the nest (of course). ND15 is on one branch and our Little Bit 17 is on another branch behind some leaves. Smile.
My eyes are on the Osoyoos Osprey nest where temperatures are climbing getting hotter and hotter. Olsen brought in a nice sized fish but it has been more than four hours ago. Hopefully they will get another. Soo is doing the best she can to try and keep her panting chicks shaded.
After the presentation on the Eagles and electrocution, I spent some time observing SE29 and SE30. SE30 did two ‘ps’ – one at 0634 and the other at 0713. Both were good. I did manage to capture one. Look carefully below.
Dad brought in what appeared to be a bird – possibly a Silver Gull chick? for the next feeding. Neither chick was that enthusiastic about eating at either feeding.
SE29 did hover but, there were no violent attacks at either the 0634 feeding or the later one right after 0715 ish. After SE30 did his ‘ps’ he did eat some bites.
Lady may have lots of prey items under the leaves. It is hard to tell but I did not see the piles of fish like I did when these two first hatched. So two good ‘ps’ to indicate that SE30 has been eating and its plumbing is working fine. Dad comes down to the nest and flies off – to go fishing from Lady and 29 & 30. Good luck!
At 0745 Dad returns with a large fish. SE29 did take exception when it appeared that 30 was going to get the first bites. In situations where the eldest sibling is trying to establish dominance, most of you will have seen them eating first and once they are full the second eats if there is prey left. It would appear that 29 is asserting that dominance.
It should be sorted out in a few days. Look for good ‘ps’ from 30. Lady continues to feed them almost every hour. All those little bites add up. In a week or a week and a bit, the feedings will show down because the eaglets will be eating more at each feeding.
Things remain really stable and good at the Boathouse Osprey nest in Maine. Dory is feeding the three chicks another good sized fish.
Every once in awhile you can catch one of the Ospreys at Mispillion Harbour on the perch today.
Duke has been bringing some really nice fish to the Barnegat Light Osprey nest in New Jersey. Daisy feeds the kids and winds up with a big crop herself. Oh, I would love to send that fish to Osoyoos! Wouldn’t you?
I have seen no news on the cause of Tom and Audrey’s chick suddenly dying at the Chesapeake Conservancy nest. Will continue to monitor. The adults have been on and off the nest.
Aran and Mrs G have been doing a lot of posing on the perches – sometimes with but today without the fledglings.
Notice the difference in size. Mrs G is at least one-third larger than Aran. Check out the difference in size in wings. — It is always good to remember, when watching a raptor nest, that the females require more food in order to grow to the larger size and to also grow all those additional feathers. Often the females are not the first to fledge either even if they hatched first.
The difference in size – where the females are larger than the males – is called reverse sex-size dimorphism.
I hope if you did not get to attend Christian Sasse’s presentation that you will take the chance to listen to it later. Some very good information with a lot of common sense when approaching utility companies. To all who wrote in, thank you.
Thank you for being with me this evening on this quick check. I am just watching two nests – Osoyoos and the Sea Eagles for stability. One for weather and the other for sibling rivalry. Fledge should be happening anytime at the Janakkalan Nest in Finland (or it has – have not checked today so if you know – send me a comment). Take care all. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their videos, FB postings, and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Christian Sasse, ND-LEEF, Osoyoos Ospreys, Sydney Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and the DDNR, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, and Audubon Explore.
Ah, the rain continues to fall and it is cold and damp. It sure looks like it is a beautiful day on the New Jersey shore where the Banegat Light Osplets of Daisy and Duke are now 6 weeks and 3 days old. Duke has brought in fish and then removed them must to the angst of the kids.
For those who missed it, Little Bit ND17’s blood work came back with a negative to the West Nile Virus. He is flying but is not yet steady on his take off and landing. More work will be done by the Humane Indiana Wildlife on this and getting his wings stronger for release back at the park where he hatched. It is then hoped that he will rejoin his family and be taught to hunt his own prey. I am very grateful that Humane Indiana Wildlife were able to pick up and take Little Bit into care and get him this far into returning to the wild. I wish they had a way to train him to catch his own prey and a prey rich area to release him. That said, not all facilities can undertake that level of rehabilitation. We all wish ND17 a super successful life. He certainly deserves it.
Little Bit’s tail feathers have grown with all that good food and care.
Eyes have been on the Janakkdan Osprey nest in Finland since the female was observed having a difficult time swallowing and feeding her chicks. I have been alerted by ‘S’ in Finland that there is some concern that the female may have contracted Trichomonosis. This is a parasite that can come from contaminated water or transfer from bird to bird. Feeding chicks could spread the disease so it is good that the chicks are self-feeding more now!
Here is an article explaining this disease. You will note that this disease can impact all species of birds. It is highly contagious and could impact all manner of birds in the area sharing the same water source.
Today, Mum has observed her chicks trying to self-feed. One chick is better than the other who wants to be fed. We hope that her health will improve and that these little ones, who are nearing independence, will continue to master their feeding skills and do not catch the disease — if that is what is plaguing this female.
One chick is eating well while the other is calling at Mum to feed it. There are two fish on the nest that I can see.
The chicks have been ringed at nest #5 in Finland!
Here is the video showing this momentous occasion in the chick’s lives. Thank you so much for sending me this link, ‘S’. It is much appreciated.
I am always interested in the human intervention that helps our feathered friends. Several have sent me the most delightful stories and I am going through them so that I can show them to you. They are delightful. Since we have been looking at the Finnish nests I would like to share with you today a story from Finland sent to me by ‘S’. The story is my words based on what ‘S’ told me. If it is inaccurate – blame me!
In 2020, there was a lot happening at Finnish Osprey nest #3. The female described as both funny, timid, and hassling) Helmi thought that her time off caring for her chicks was finished and she left for migration (or was injured/killed) and did not return to the nest. The big female chicks on nest #3 managed to self-feed quite nicely and entered into a fierce competition of who was now the boss of the nest! Then all of a sudden fish deliveries waned because of poor weather. People on the chat got hysterical as they believed the chicks would starve to death. The cameras were turned off. And….as is sometimes the case, humans came to the rescue with a delivery of fish on the nest for the chicks. And all was well. It is like a fairy tale for Ospreys –fish falling from the sky into the nest!
There are several new videos out from some of our favourite nests. The first one features Mr President and Takoda and a fish!
In this one, we get to see great views of Cal Falcons Lindsay:
Intervention was called for with Manitoba’s own peregrine falcons…a second chance at a full life is granted! Our Manitoba Peregrine Falcons are gorgeous…don’t you think?
Also in Manitoba, one Mum taking all the ducklings to swim!
In the Glaslyn Valley, fledge watch has begun for Blue 497 who is 49 days old today. In the UK the Ospreys fledge from 40 to 53 days old. Males normally fledge earlier because they are smaller and have less growth and plumage development to undertaken before flying than females. At the nest of Aran and Mrs G, the average time for males to fledge is 52.5 days and females at 54 days. Blue 498 is only one day younger so who will go first?
Beautiful family portrait with Aran on the perch. Proud parents of three lovely osplets.
At the Dyfi Nest of Idris and Telyn, the oldest of the three females, Pedran, is 50 days old today. She is officially in fledge watch but, these are all females. The earliest male to fledge at Glaslyn was Tywi in 2020 at 48.7 days and the oldest was Leri, a female in 2011, at 57.3 days. Let’s keep an eye on this nest in 2-3 days for a fledge because the average fledge age between all is 52.8 days.
We are waiting for the second osplet at the Mispillion Harbour nest to fledge. Gorgeous image of Mum with her remaining ‘nestling’. By the way, ‘H’ alerted me to the fact that Mum has now found her favourite yellow metal object and returned it to the nest!!!!!!! The yellow matt is hiding under nesting materials. Is yellow the state colour of Delaware?
Looks like Mum on the perch. It will not be long til both siblings are flying around the nest and the harbour. Looks like some duct tape cam on to the nest….if I say that anyone hosting a streaming cam or knowing of a nest should get permission after breeding season to clean it will I sound like a broken record?
The Woodland Trust is wanting name suggestions for Louis and Dorcha’s two chicks for the 2022 season. If you would like to join in, here is the announcement. Suggestions end Monday and you must vote on The Woodland Trust’s FB page.
And last a quick look in at the Boathouse Ospreys on Hog Island. Dory and Skiff are doing an amazing job – simply amazing with three and Dory a first time Mum.
Dory is feeding the two little ones…Slipjack and Sloop.
Look at that crop on Schooner! Lovely.
Thank you so much for joining me today. There are lots of birds that need your good wishes. We wait to hear what they can determine is causing Victor’s illness and we hope that the two osplets in Finland stay well. Take care all. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Audubon and Explore.org, The Woodland Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Banegat Light Ospreys, Humane Indiana Wildlife, Finnish Osprey Foundation, NADC-AEF, Cal Falcons, Manitoba Birding, Bird and Wildlife Photography, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and the DDNR.
Good morning everyone. It is a day that is cloudy and cool and it is looking like rain on the Canadian Prairies. Indeed, the phone says we will have more rain in 22 minutes. We have certainly seen the benefits of having moisture – the trees all around me have added at least 30% to their height this year. Seriously, I am not joking. The nice thing is that the squirrels and Blue Jays have spread seeds and no one is cutting these trees down – they are letting them grow. It is beginning to feel like we live in a bit of a forest.
Well, the burning news this morning is Little Bit ND17. This is the posting from Humane Indiana Wildlife. Thank you to ‘H’ for sending me over to their site right away!
Just look at Little Bit fly!
I am thrilled that Little Bit 17 is flying and getting his landings and take offs in order. a shout out to everyone who got him to this stage.
I am sad, however, that he has not been trained to hunt prey. We saw this with WBSE 27 and she had to return for a long time in care to heal because she was attacked by other birds and she could not get her own food. It is entirely possible that Humane Indiana Wildlife do not have the facilities or staff to undertake this long term training. Best wishes that Little Bit thrives when he is released.
Positive thoughts for our darling Little Bit 17 that this will not be the case with him!
Thank you to Humane Indiana Wildlife for their care for Little Bit and for their FB page where I took this screen capture.
What a busy day in Bird World and sadly, another entry on ‘that list’.
I want to start by thanking one of our readers, ‘AM’. She left her home and pushed through all kinds of Canada Celebrations and a parade for an hour to get to the Osoyoos Osprey Nest the minute she learned of the chick’s fall. Sadly, the little one did not survive. ‘AM’ found a quiet restful place for him near the nest. Thank you ‘AM’. I also want to add that she went prepared with all the things needed to drive him to a rehabber – gloves, towels, a box, etc. Fantastic.
It is always tragic to find a wee one dead or badly injured. It was a big fall and unlike goslings or ducklings, osplets just don’t have the bounce. Sadly, we cannot stop the ospreys from bringing material to the nest but, we can urge farmers to use best practices and different baling materials. Dr Ericke Green at Montana Raptors (Iris) has been studying this problem for a long time and has found a different material for baling that is less problematic for the Ospreys — if farmers would only use it.
I am very thrilled to see all of the donations and thank you’s to Humane Wildlife Indiana. For all of you that pushed the staff at St Patrick’s Park to get help – through your e-mails, phone calls, and in chat, thank you. It takes an army of people to get help and you are a great army.
If you want to send a direct thank you to Delilah Ruiz, here is the e-mail: druiz@humaneindiana.org
Our beautiful Little Bit in care, thankfully. Tears.
There is, however, some really super news in Bird World. It comes from Cal Falcons. Annie and Alden were doing a courtship ritual in the scrape box. Alden proved himself to us over and over again as being very capable of taking good care of Annie and any chicks but – Annie had to really make that decision. Alden passed – and Annie and Alden are a couple. Yes.
Alden figured out how to overcome a physical limitation and he now has Annie and the best territory in San Francisco. I hope that their lives together are long and productive.
Looks like we are going to see the chicks doing a lot of moth chasing and loafing just like Lindsay did today! Isn’t she gorgeous? Look at those eyes and those feathers. I hope that we see Little Bit 17 get his feathers into good condition now that he has regular food.
You know. Human animals should watch some bird cams before they have children so they learn that everything one does makes an impression on children.
Other good news is coming out of Cornell. Here is today’s update on L3 who was taken into care a week ago.
“We received a brief update from the Wildlife Hospital today, reaffirming that L3 continues to do very well. The veterinarians will be performing additional radiographs in another 1-2 weeks to check up on the fractured coracoid bone, at which point they should be able to better predict a future timeline for continued healing and rehabilitation. They also shared that, based on body weight, L3 is likely a female. We will plan to post another update following the next set of radiographs — thanks for sharing all of your concerns about L3’s continued healing!” Thank you ‘SAH’ for seeing that L3 was found and was in care quickly.
Dylan has just brought in the last fish for the day to Seren and the three Bobs.
The three at Llyn Clywedog have been ringed. They are 553 a big female weighing 1710 grams at 40 days, 554 a male weighing 1485 at 40 days and 555 another male weighing 1410 at 37 days old.
The parents lose weight when they are busy raising chicks. Just look at how small Maya looks compared to the three big gals that her and Blue 33 have been feeding. Maya lost about 33% of her body weight taking the great care she did of her chicks.
Idris brought in another whopper to the Dyfi nest despite the rainy weather. Him and Telyn (Maya’s daughter) are feeding three girls, too.
It hasn’t all been rosy with the four Black storklets in the nest of Karl II and Kaia. At first Bonus was hissing at Kaia. That got better. Then the biological storklets were biting Bonus’s legs. Karl II has brought in a meal a few hours ago and things look good. Urmas needs to observe the nest closely so that the biological osplets do not get in a position of not having enough fish due to the size of Bonus.
Fingers crossed that all of this gets worked out. The biological three are looking for more fish and there is Bonus busting his crop.
I intended to include more but a kestrel has a broken wing about an hour and a half away and needs to get to Wildlife Haven – so I am off!
Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me. Donate if you can – even $5 for Little Bit. Every $ helps. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and FB pages: Eagle Club of Estonia, Humane Wildlife Indiana, CarnyXWild, LRWT, Dyfi Osprey Nest, Cornell Bird Lab and Cal Falcons.
I want to thank everyone who wrote, yelled, hollered, screamed, prayed and continued to tell the folks at St Patrick’s County Park that he needed to be in care. Your fight for him made the difference in his life or death.
Please read the information from the wildlife rehabber carefully and be grateful that they were ‘finally’ called as Little Bit would have been dead if he had been left in the bushes much longer. He was not being fed and he could not fly!
Please thank the Humane Wildlife Clinic for all they are doing for Little Bit 17. Go to their FB page or send them an e-mail at druiz2humaneindiana.org
There is always a lot of disinformation when an event occurs and I am guilty for spreading some today. My sincerest apologies! Little Bit ND17 fell off the Bald Eagle nest in St Patrick’s County Park in South Bend Indiana at 15:45:12. Whether it was an accident or precipitated by Little Bit wanting to move after 16 (who returned to the nest today) pecked its neck is not known – and never will be.
Little Bit was found near the base of the tree. Park staff state that 17 is standing and appears alert. Earlier reports of him eating the fish appear to be false. Lindsay Grossman said she looked for that fish because she was going to give it to him but could not find it. A wild life rehabber in Elkhart, Indiana who works with raptors has been notified. The DNR staff were not present, just park staff. Park staff said that they would check Little Bit 17 in about an hour giving him some space.
It is about a 35 minute drive from the rehabbers in Elkhart to St. Patrick’s Park.
According to a chatter the FB page for the nest states, “Rehabber and DNR have been contacted but cannot say at this time what if anything that will happen going forward. “
The wildlife rehabber in Elkhart has COVID. There is another Raptor specialist in Valpo but they are off today. Valpo is a little further away but the park staff say that should become an option tomorrow.
Send all good wishes to Little Bit 17. He is a fighter – always has been! Do you remember when? It is April 24. There is Little Bit 17 right up in front.
At 10:03 this morning.
So what is Little Bit’s challenge if he is on the ground? Lindsay Grossman says, “Yes, coyote is the biggest concern at this time. He does have some weapons at his disposal to fight back with though….” I have seen eaglets this age attacked – roughly 12 weeks – and they did not use their talons to fight. They were surprised and became dinner. Little Bit 17 is also quite small. No one wants him to become dinner.
I am a great believer in intervention when it is warranted and when it can be done with a reasonable hope for success. That would seem to be the state we are in with Little Bit 17. It is unclear whether or not he can fly – he could be bruised and sore, he could have a small fracture in a shoulder—— we do not know and won’t until he is in the care of a wildlife rehabilitation facility. My hope is that either Little Bit is taken into care before dark or that people are there with him (at a safe distance for all) so that he is protected over night. Little Bit is certainly loved.
I do wish someone would bring Little Bit a fish. He has not eaten today. Will the parents? We will find out.
In one incident with a grounded forced fledged Osprey, the bird was discovered by someone that knew a little bit about raptors. The Osprey was placed on his arm and encouraged to fly off. After awhile and much up and down motion of the arm, the bird took off. It is possible that if picked up Little Bit 17 would, indeed, fly. Still, there is the issue of the nest that is not capable of having 3 eaglets on it and sometimes 3 eaglets and a parent. It is a very tricky situation.
Someone asked if Little Bit can catch his own meal? Fledgling eagles learn how to fly. The parents provide them with food on the nest or at an off nest location until their flying is strong. It is then that they teach them how to hunt. The parents provide for them. A good example is the Southwest Florida nest where M16 and Harriet provide prey on the nest and gradually, when the fledglings flying is better, the fledglings begin to get their own prey often in the pond adjacent to the nest. This is usually close to when they leave to find their own territory.
These parents are good at keeping their fledglings fed and enticing them with food to return to the nest. That is how we got in this pickle. It is entirely possible that the parents will get prey and entice Little Bit to fly to another spot. He needs to get off the ground. We wait.
Pictures posted of Little Bit 17 in the brush by Lindsay Grossman on Notre Dame Eagles FB page. Thank you, Lindsay! So nice to see you Little Bit. You are quite beautiful or should we say handsome?
He is a lovely bird.
The one good thing for Little Bit is that the people at St Patrick’s County Park love their eagles and they will do everything that they possibly can to keep Little Bit 17 safe and sound!
Our little sweetheart. Stay safe Little 17!
Thank you for bearing with me today. This nest has been a focus for a long, long time – almost from the moment Little Bit hatched. He is so loved and so many people are wishing hard for his success. Certainly of all the eaglets I have watched he certainly deserves a life. Take care everyone. I hope to have updates tomorrow morning.
Thanks again to ‘H’ for alerting me to the fall the second it happened, to Lindsay Grossman for allowing us to post the images of 17 and to the ND-LEED streaming and chat.
I really wish that I could send Louis and Dorcha some of our fine weather. This nest gas endured treacherous weather – horrific weather. Weather that you would never wish on your worst enemy. The only thing they haven’t had is _ _ _ _. Starts with an ‘S’ and ends with a ‘W’. I am not going to say it in case it happens. (I think they had that early on but not recently). Poor thing. Dorcha can hardly hold on and she is trying so hard to protect those precious babies.
You can’t see it in the image but the rain is pelting down and the wind is gale force. Not just blowing hard. Gale force.
The pounding rain has stopped for now at Loch Arkaig. I can hardly believe it – Louis has brought in a fish just after 0500. I hope the wind does not blow Dorcha off the nest like it has done on another occasion. She is trying hard to feed the Bobs and have some fish herself. Gracious.
Someone said they need to move to the other nest where it is more protected. Maybe they will after this year at this one!
Laddie LM12 brought in a super nice fish for Blue NC0 and the two osplets. It is early, early in the morning and this is brilliant. The day is starting off just great at the Loch of the Lowes.
Oh, it is such a nasty Saturday morning at the Dfyi nest. Idris hasn’t even left to go fishing yet. Everyone is wet – Telyn and the chicks are hoping the promised rain will not happen! It sure is beautiful and green but I would not want to visit western Scotland and Wales in June – all that rain and cold down to the bone.
Aran is away fishing. Mrs G is flying off for a break and the trio are sort of waking up. There is a fish already on the nest.
Dylan has brought Seren a fish for the family’s breakfast. It looks like it is a really rainy cold day at Llyn Clywedog. Sun please!!!!
Maya and the three Bobs at Rutland are waiting for Blue 33 to deliver breakfast! The question on everyone’s mind is: when will they ring the Bobs? Oldest Bob is 40 days old today. Ringing needs to take place before 45 days if it is just the Darvic Ring. If it is a satellite pack too, then from 40-45 days. Will they ring them on Monday?
There is good parenting DNA running through CJ7 and Blue 022. First time parents. Blue 022 shows up at 04:22 to give CJ7 a break and then he is off to get the breakfast fish. What a beautiful couple. I should note that it is incredibly foggy at Poole Harbour this morning.
The fog is lifting. Let us hope that Dad gets a fish soon.
It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Port Lincoln, Australia. Both Mum and Dad are on the barge. Does anyone think that they might actually lay their eggs earlier than last year? We will wait to see.
So why do you think that Lindsay doesn’t want Grinnell Jr looking out the stone work?!!!
You see Lindsay wanted to fledge first —— and that is precisely what she did! Lindsay landed on top of the library!!!!!
There was a lot of activity on the ND-LEEF nest this morning and one incident, right at the start of the morning, made all of us just drop for a few minutes. A prey delivery came in at 08:09:22. The adult flies into Little Bit in the middle of the nest and then ND16? lands on Little Bit. All of that caused me to hold my breath for a moment ——along with anyone else watching closely at that time.
Little Bit was just minding his own business on the nest with 16 over at the rim and 15 up higher in the branches.
Adult arrives. You can see Little Bit behind and under the left wing and chest of the adult.
That is 16 on top of Little Bit. That little yellow foot on the right under 16 belongs to Little Bit.
Just look. Little Bit’s entire wing has been pulled over. Oh, gosh. My heart is sinking by now.
Gosh. Little Bit seems to have had everything that could happen – happen – to him. Here he is out sniffing around wanting to make that steal!
Little Bit gets that prey item and is still working on it when at 10:06:50 a fish is delivered. 16 gets it but walks away. 15 doesn’t even come down to eat and 17 takes that fish!
16 left the fish to moved up to the parent like it wanted the adult to feed it. Can you imagine when Little Bit looked over and saw that whole fish!!!!!!!! It is at the bottom right of the ‘1 Foot’ indicator.
Little Bit ate almost the entire fish. He walked away with a little left that 16 took.
I would say that Little Bit deserved that fish after what happened with the first delivery. He also deserved it because he has worked so bloody hard eating all the scraps off the nest and dried fish and Raccoon. What an amazing eaglet he is –so glad that he was not injured earlier.
At the Cornell Red-tail Hawk nest, L4 is on the fledge ledge. It is windy.
L4 is really getting some air.
Ospreys have been arriving and one has been moving sticks around the Cape Henlopen State Park nest that say the adults dead or disappear and the three chicks starve last weekend.
Everything looks good at the Glacier Gardens nest of Liberty and Freedom. the wee ones had their breakfast and are napping with Mum.
There was some excitement at the Redding nest of Liberty and Guardian. It ‘appeared’ that Star had fledged but later it was confirmed that it was Sentry flying off and then he returns chasing Liberty who arrives with a fish.
At the National Arboretum nest of Mr President and Lotus, one of the adults is keeping a close eye on Takoda who is running up and down the branch on the right hand side. It is windy. Will today be the day for Takoda to fly?
Ahote and Sky are on the natal nest this morning at the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta. The adults will know where Kana’kini is and they will often now deliver prey off the nest to the fledglings if they are elsewhere.
Sky has been doing some great hovering but has yet to take that first flight.
If you haven’t voted for Richmond and Rosie’s two 2022 hatches, here is the announcement. You have 2 days to do so and it is free. Join in!
The little hawklet living with the Bald Eagles on Gabriola Island has branched! Well done!
There are so many nests to cover but that is it for this morning. We could see some more fledges Saturday afternoon. Congratulations to everyone at Cal Falcons – to Annie, Alden, an Grinnell – and to Lindsay for her first flight. It is OK to fly now Junior!!!!!
Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care all. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: GROWLS, Cornell RTH, Cal Falcons, LD-NEEF, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Explore.org, SF Ospreys, NADC-AEF, Glacier Gardens, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Friends of Redding Eagles, Poole Harbour, LRWT, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dfyi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Postcode Lottery, and the Woodland Trust.
Oh, it is simply a gorgeous day on the Canadian Prairies. The wind is blowing gently and the temperature is perfect. The tyres in the bikes are topped off and they have had a good wash in anticipation of a ride along the trails this evening. Did I say Canadians love being outside once the snow melts? The ground is still water logged and the flooded areas are drying up.
In the garden. I have seen Dyson a couple of times. The leaves are so thick that I only catch his tail as he weaves in and out. Little Red appears to have found himself a new home in a near by tree!!! Thank goodness. The new rabbit continues to come. The little plants that he likes are under the frame that will hold the sunroom —– where I can ‘spy’ on all of them much better. I will transfer those plants for the bunny to another area of the garden. The real break through has come with Mr Crow. Two years ago I was ‘mad’ at him. He would go to the Grackles nest and take out one of their fluffy chicks and sit so I could see him wolfing it down. Not pleased. It has taken him two years to forgive me and trust me again. Several weeks now have seen him coming for nice Italian bread, cheese, and sausage with cheese in the middle – a sandwich – around 1700. He began calling me at a distance when the food was gone. Now he will come within 2 metres or 6 feet of me. I show him his dinner and walk away. Prior to yesterday he would wait a considerable time to fly down and eat. Now he knows that I am not going to hurt him so he drops down almost immediately.
He likes the little mess that has been created by Dyson & Co with the seeds!
Mr Crow has eaten the cheese first, then the bread, and now he is after the Polish sausage with the cheese in the middle. He will eat the cheese first, take a couple of bites of the sausage, and return to the pile to get another sausage.
Mr Crow has figured out that he can take two sausage pieces together to his nest. Are there babies? Maybe. Last evening a murder of Crows were together and not happy. It appears the GHOW was in the neighbourhood and it is one of their main predators.
He’s got them!
The last thing I want to share with you from the garden is a picture of the tea roses. These wild rose bushes were here when we bought the house. But they were ‘ragged’. Two plantings survived from the former 1902 house on the property – the tea climbing roses and the peony bush. So slowly, ever so slow, they have been cleared out and staked and with all the rain this year they have really taken off. I wish I could bottle the scent for everyone!
I often try to imagine the woman who planted these two flowers. Hopefully they will be here in another 120 years!
There is a really nice article about the fledging of the Pittsburgh-Hayes trio. Publicity and streaming cams along with those fabulous on line discussions educate people and hopefully, the more they know about the wildlife, the more they will respect it and its needs.
One of the skills that Little Bit 17 (ND17) from the Notre-Dame nest has learned is how to eat carrion! Thank goodness for those poor raccoons that have been road kill because they have literally kept this wee third hatch alive on that nest. And they will keep him alive after he fledges!!!!! Just think. We are all talking about 17 branching before 16!!!!!! Remember those times when we ached with worry that he would not live another day? He has and he is going to fledge! Yesterday when I was watching with the chatters, 17 had one foot on the nest and one on the branch. If 15 would have moved, Little Bit would have easily branched before 16. Easily.
So today has been another Raccoon day on the nest. It arrived around 13:04. At 14:18 Little Bit 17 gets it. Two minutes later 16 takes it. Little Bit stole it again and around 14:46 Little Bit has it and is eating away.
At 14:17 Little Bit is looking at that Raccoon again and he wants it!
At 14:17:42 Little Bit has the raccoon.
The big sibling will give him a few minutes and then 16 will take it. (I think it is 16).
At 14:45 Little Bit is ready to go back and get some more raccoon. This time he let the older sibling open it up for him instead of doing all that work for them to get the benefit. That is how he will survive!
At 14:46:12, Little Bit has it again!!!!!! Way to go 17.
Little Bit is still eating on the meat of the Raccoon thirty minutes later. Oh, wow. He is going to get some good nourishment from that road kill.
At 15:22, Little Bit appears to be finished. There is not a lot left on that prey item. What are all the words we could use to describe this amazing third hatch? My money is on 17 being a survivor. He has all the skills to live out in the real world, all of them. Wouldn’t just love to set a couple of big fish right in front of him with no other eaglets around? He certainly does deserve them.
Give it up for Little Bit 17 again!!!!!! Big cheers. Adult flew in with what appeared to be a small fish at 17:53:53. Three captures. Adult in, 17 pounches on delivery, 17 horks delivery ——- right in front of 16. Way to go 17, ‘the King of the Snatch and Grab’.
Little Bit is having a rest on the nest – raccoon and a fish with the fish taken before 16 could even think about it. Sweet Eagle nap dreams, 17.
Birds are soooooooo intelligent. Tiger Mozone posted this BBC video on our FB group today and I hope that he doesn’t mind if I put it here. I want to add that there are other notorious birds that have done precisely what Henry did – Stanley, Iris’s mate, for one! I knew that but Tiger added that both Oden smashed the eggs and Red 8T just kicked them to the side of the nest. What I also found interesting was that EJ went missing for 9 days from Loch Garten in 2005 and Henry had to go get her and take her home – and when they got there, there was another couple on the nest! I continue to say that watching bird cams is much more interesting than much of what is on the streaming movie stations!!
Don’t miss watching this one. It is delightful. The BBC presenter says it is a tale of ‘revenge, jealousy, and murder’ worthy of any soap opera. Absolutely.
In total, Henry kicked out 8 eggs of EJ’s – four in 2005 and 4 again in 2007.
I want to do a couple of quick nest checks. The Loch of the Lowes lost a chick when the oldest prevented it from eating and then killed it a few days ago. How is that nest doing today?
Both had a good feed at tea time.
Dylan delivered such a large trout to Seren to feed the three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog that she was still feeding the trio an hour later!!!!!!! Those kids are going to sleep with sweet Osprey dreams for sure.
Despite the gale force winds at Loch Arkaig, Louis has been bringing in fish for Dorcha and the two chicks. Meanwhile, she tried to cover them with moss and keep hunkered down. Then they got a break. Oh, I hope they get more some good weather -nice sun and no rain – and no wind.
Louis delivered a whole trout and everyone had a really good feed. Just lovely. Time: 22:25.
Blue 33 and Maya have three big osplets!!!!!! When will they ring them?
It has been a good day at the UK Osprey nests – and it was a good day for Little Bit 17.
The White storklets at the Mlade Buky nest of Betty and Bukacek are doing marvellous. Mum Betty looks down as they wrestle with a single large fish. Then Betty gives them lots of smaller fish! All is well on this nest now. I do not believe there will be another elimination.
As I write this, Lindsay and Grinnell Jr have not flown and neither has RTH L4 at Cornell. Those are both a relief.
Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone. Smile – Little Bit is going to bed tonight quite full. So happy! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages: Capi Mlade Buky Storks, LRWT, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, CarnyXWild, Tiger Mozone and BBC.
