Tag Archives: Loch Arkaig

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 Tuesday in Bird World

14 June 2022

I want to start this newsletter off with something wonderful! At the Redding California Bald Eagle nest, Sentry and Star are both on a high branch of the tree. Sentry has found his way home to Liberty, Guardian and Star who has yet to fledge. This is fabulous news!!!!!!!!

The weather in California is beautiful.

The bad weather returned to the Canadian Prairies and thus, also, to the MN-DNR nest of Nancy and E1. The tree is twisting around in the heavy winds at the moment and rain is pouring down.

There are floods in Montana and, we should check on Iris and her nest at Missoula. Iris did not spend the night on the perch or the nest that I could see. There is a wee bird that has made its home and nest under Iris’s big one. Can you see it?

The waters in the Clark Fork River are said to be rising. There are floods in various parts of Montana which means that it is difficult for the Osprey to catch fish. No wonder Iris did not want to share her fabulous catch yesterday with an intruder. Iris is simply amazing. There she is holding that precious fish and fighting off the intruder at the same time! Bless her heart.

The weather is quite bad at the Charlo Montana platform. (For Ospreys but occupied in March by geese…and not aware of current occupants, if any).

There are birds singing at Dunrovin!

Harriet continues to sit on her eggs even though they are well past the day to hatch. Swoop is supporting her. We wonder as do the folks at Dunrovin when they will quit hoping for their miracle.

Why do eggs not hatch? Dunrovin in their newsletter listed the following causes: cold weather, high humidity, lack of food, lack of egg fertilization. They noted that like many places it has been a very cold and wet spring in Montana.

The camera is still down at the ND-LEEF nest. It is 96 degrees at the nest – perhaps more higher up. Thoughts go to Little Bit 17 who desperately needs food (as do the other two but less so than 17).

The tea time feeding at the Loch of the Lowes left Middle and Big with gigantic crops. There was clearly enough fish for three. But we need fish for four – Mum has to eat, too.

Before Little Bob at the Loch of the Lowes was fish begging to Blue NC0 before she tucked them all in for the night. He first looked to see if Big Bob was in a food coma. He was. Little Bob is smart.

It would have been the perfect time for a fish to arrive. Little Bit would have had his fill along with Blue NC0! Sadly it was not to be.

Blue NC0 stood waiting and waiting for a delivery. Finally, everyone is in bed.

They are a beautiful couple – CJ7 and Blue 022 at the Poole Harbour Osprey Platform. Blue 022 brought in a nice big fish for CJ7 and the three Bobs at 21:08. These are first time parents making history in Poole Harbour. There have been no ospreys hatched in Poole Harbour for 200 years.

Know what? They are doing a fantastic job!!!!!!!!!

All is well at the nest of Idris and Telyn in Wales near the River Dyfi. Bobs are well fed and sound asleep. Another great Osprey couple. This is good news…we need all the good news we can muster. Good night Telyn. Good night Bobs. Good night wherever you are, Idris.

Gracious. Look at the crop on Mrs G!

Louis delivered a real whopper to Dorcha and the two surviving chicks at Loch Arkaig. What a monster. Everyone is going to eat well – a good time for it to come on the nest. Hopefully the weather will start giving this nest a break.

Middle Bob looks sassy!

The sheep are bleating. Aran is on his perch and the kids are asleep. It looks like Mrs G is going to go into food coma, too!

Notice the grass growing in the nest. In Finland they have noticed that grass growing in the Osprey nests actually helps hide the chicks from predators. Quite interesting.

At Rutland, the three osplets are fast asleep and Maya is going to take some time to enjoy some fish before lights out, too. Looking forward seeing these three ringed any day now.

The Bobs are still quite small compared to those at the Loch of the Lowes but everything at RSPB Loch Garten with Mr and Mrs AX6 and chicks seems fine.

It is 21:30 at the Llyn Clywedog nest in Wales – the nest of Dylan and Seren and the three Bobs. Seren is giving Dylan grief and telling him to go and get some more fish. Meanwhile the Bobs have eaten very well today. It takes a lot more fish to feed these fast growing large Bobs – and Mum.

Did you know that there are less than 1500 ospreys in the whole of the UK? That includes juveniles, too. There are a little less than 100,000 in the US. I hope to find out the distribution in the US. There are many in the US and the Cape area in the NE area of the US.

At the Manchester NH Peregrine falcon scrape, Clem was returned this morning. It looked like she wasn’t going anywhere for some time and then – she fludged again.

Colum, one of the males, is at the nest now. Little Colby fludged too but photos of him doing well have been posted on the groups FB page.

Lindsay and Grinnell Jr were ‘loafing’ earlier this morning and now I can only find one of them playing hide and seek. Fledge watch is on.

Alden is doing some ‘loafing’ too. Once those two chicks fledge he is going to be even more busy! So glad he signed up for all of this. You are fantastic, Alden.

Gosh. Do you remember when Alden had no idea how to feed a chick? maybe he had never seen one! – most likely.

Both fledgling ospreys from the UFlorida-Gainesville nest were having a fish dinner at 18:00! Lovely. These two have figured it out perfectly. Fly and get your wings strong. Learn about landings and take offs. Fly to the nest and be fed by Mum and Dad. When you are ready, 60 million years of knowledge will have you catching fish without realizing it….if there are fish to be caught.

They are gorgeous!

Oh, those three Black storklets of Jan and Janika are doing fabulous in rehab care at the Vet Clinic. The plastic decoy mother fell into the nest and the chicks were delighted!

Notice also that a couple of times they work to stand on their feet not walk on the ankles. It will not be long til they are standing and walking. Lovely crops. So healthy!

Today has had some really good news. We will continue to watch the Loch of the Lowes nest as well as wait for word of the ND-LEEF nest and Little Bit 17. Did I saw it was 96 degrees on the ground at the nest – hotter above! I hope 17 got some food.

Thank you so much for being with me. Lots of fledge watches – Star at Redding, Star at West End, the Cal Falcons, L4 at Cornell, National Arboretum, etc. The list is long! Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I grabbed my screen captures, for their FB postings and for the videos uploaded: Liz M and EMU, Peregrine Networks, Cal Falcons, Friends of Redding Eagles, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Friends of Redding Eagles, MN-DNR, Montana Osprey Project, Owl Research Project Explore.org, Dunrovin, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, LRWT, RSPB Loch Garten, Scottish Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch Arkaig and People’s Post Code Lottery, and CarnyXWild.

More tragic news in Bird World

12 June 2022

UPDATE: BOTH PARENTS AT THE CAPE HENLOPEN STATE PARK OSPREY NEST ARE MISSING. THE ADULT ON THE NEST IS AN INTRUDER. INTRUDERS WERE AROUND FIGHTING WITH MUM ON FRIDAY. THEY HAVE TAKEN OVER THE NEST AND REFUSED TO FEED THE CHICKS. THE THREE CHICKS, THUS, DIED OF STARVATION.

I did not expect to be writing another post today but there has been another tragedy today.

The youngest chick, Little Bob, of Louis and Dorcha at the Loch Arkaig nest has died of hypothermia (best guess). After a really good feeding Little Bob went over to the rim of the nest and it appears he got his foot caught. Dorcha called. Little Bob did not – could not – get free to get under her in the very cold wet weather. He died several hours later. So very sad. Little Bob was healthy and had really eaten his fill at that 11:44 feeding. Condolences to all at Loch Arkaig and to Louis and Dorcha.

Dorcha had taken the opportunity in a break in the weather to feed the wee chicks. There is Little Bob with his light grey head on the far right.

It turned rain and miserable right after the feeding and remains so. Send all your positive wishes to this family. Let us hope the other two osplets stay safe and thrive.

At the Redding Eagle nest of Liberty and Guardian, Sentry fledged yesterday, Saturday, at 19:42. Sentry has not been seen since the fledge. He was 84 days old. Ground crews are searching for him. Not seeing him does not imply in any way that there is anything wrong. With all of the foliage it is difficult to see birds – even ones a metre tall!!!!!!!

Meanwhile, Star continues to branch and has been eating a fish brought into the nest.

Another nest to send your positive wishes for so that they find Sentry and he is OK or he flies right back into the nest!

Gosh, Star is such a gorgeous eaglet. Is it my imagination or the colour settings on the camera that Star and Sentry both appear to have the most beautiful ebony plumage especially on their heads? Star will be fledging soon. She will be 84 days old next Wednesday, the 15th of June.

Takoda has now branched as high as his dad, Mr President! All of these nearly ready to fledge eaglets are so beautiful. You can imagine that the adult is keeping a close eye on Takoda!

There is good news in Estonia at the Veterinary School at the University of Life Sciences. The three Black Storklets are eating and acting the same way that they would in the wild – grabbing fish from one another and being very lively! Very grateful to Urmas and Dr. Leivitis for their care of these young vulnerable storklets.

If you wish to send Dr Madis Leivitis a thank you note for what they are doing, this is his e-mail. I am certain he would appreciate hearing from you and for the moral support of the international community. Here it is: mleivits@gmail.com

The three of the West End nest of Thunder and Aketcheta. The fledglings Ahote and Kana’kini – and soon to be fledgling Sky – on the nest wanting fish!!!!

The latest image of fledgling Kana’kini below the transmitter. Look hard. She really blends into the landscape. Ahote has been on the nest and I believe he had an entire fish to himself! Way to go Ahote!

The Mum at the Cape Helopen State Park Osprey nest appears to be in shock. She comes and goes, always with little quiet cries. I wonder if she will bring in some material to cover the osplets like Dad did at the Captiva Osprey nest when Big died? Will continue to monitor but please if you see anything, let me know. I just feel so bad for her – and I wish that attitudes would change so that help would be forthcoming. No one in Estonia has ever taken Black Storklets into care but Dr Madis Leivitis did and is hoping that he can show that they can thrive in care and fledge to live a normal life in the wild. And dear Smedley lived at the Audubon Centre in Florida for 28 years and he was an Osprey. I am afraid I am long passed the statement that ‘Ospreys do not do well in care’. Who first said that? When did they say it? Is it a statement that has been passed down as fact for decades? Maybe it is time to try it again. We have an opportunity to help and we should be trying. Sorry for the rant. — Osplets could have been taken into care or fish could have been provided. — Even if the osplets died in care at least we could walk away and say we tried.

It is late in the day and the sun is just starting to go down. It looks like Mum with that beautiful necklace has tried fishing. Her head is still wet and slick. I do hope she was successful. Keep her in your most positive thoughts. We know her mate was 20 years old and was at this nest since 2006. We do not know how old Mum is or how long they were together (I can’t find it but if you know, please tell me). It is difficult to know what grief looks like. Unlike the other Osprey Mums this year who had other chicks to care for when tragedy hit, this Mum has lost her entire family.

A study in Scientific American printed in 2013 discussed grief in birds. Ducks have drowned themselves after the loss of a mate, a swan did the same thing, Crows and other Covids have roadside funerals. Magpies cover their departed with grass. Of course, there are other examples. You have seen many yourself. Shock would be the best way that I could describe this Mum’s behaviour. It is so sad and as one reader pointed out – “so entirely unnecessary!”

At the ND-LEEF nest, Little Bit 17 has eaten well today. Dad has delivered what appears to be another raccoon and Little Bit is keeping back but waiting to see if pecking sibling 16 leaves anything. Fingers crossed.

Little Bit moves up closer giving the hint that he would like some of that Raccoon. Little Bit has become quite the raccoon specialist these days.

Little Bit 17 hurried over to the porch area around 18:16. Did he find something?

Little Bit is around and back and up and at 18:56 he is at the top of the nest eating ‘something’.

Good luck, Little Bit 17!!!!!!!!! You are our inspiration.

Thank you for joining me for this update. It has been a tough year but let’s look to the survivors – and the ones like Little Bit 17 who have struggled to live – and be thankful they are still with us.

Take care everyone.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: EMS, ND-LEEF, Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey Cam, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery, and Woodland Trust, NADC-AEF, and Friends of Redding Eagles.

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.

Late Friday and early Saturday in Bird World

10-11 June 2022

Oh, it is Saturday. I hope everyone is doing well. In Winnipeg we had a huge unexpected treat. At least 100 Canada Geese in a single formation flew over the City at 1930 heading north. Are these late arrivals due to the flood? I also saw two other smaller V formations with about 39 geese in each. What a treat. It was mesmerizing and they were so high up you could barely hear their honks. No pictures other than the extraordinary one emblazoned in my mind.

Orion, Martin and Rosa’s eaglet, fledged from the Dulles Greenway nest on the 3rd of June. What a beautiful flight it was! Since this he has been perfecting his take off and landings at the nest. What a gorgeous fledgling.

‘L’ sent me two links to the Osprey cams at Patuxent River Park. One nest has one nicely chubby but hot osplet and the other has three. It looks like the river is covered with lily or lotus pads.

Looking at those images reminds me of the fostered osplet placed on nest 2 last year and it falling off the edge into the water! What a scramble it was to find someone to help because the park office had just shut down. Thankfully the chick was saved by a dedicated staff member who listened to all the messages and took her canoe and partner out to find the little one. So grateful.

Kana’kini fledged on the 10th of June. She is currently above the nest on a stone cliff. It looks like an excellent place for a prey drop from either Thunder or Akecheta – or will they want her to return to the nest?

Here is a video of Kana’kini’s fledge and her return:

Oh, wow. Lancer, Chase and Cholyn’s eaglet is now 9 weeks and 3 days old on the 11th of June. Or in days – 66 days old. We have a little while to go before fledge but not long.

There could be a fledge by Star or Sentry at Liberty and Guardian’s Bald Eagle nest in Redding. Both eaglets are high up in the nest tree looking out even though an adult is on the nest.

Spirit is doing what all eagle fledglings should do – return to the nest for food provided by the parents. Spirit flies in several times a day. She eats, sometimes she sleeps duckling style – flying has to be tiring. And sometimes she sits for a bit with one of her parents and sometimes both. How privileged we are to be able to watch that little check develop into this strong juvenile.

Three fish were delivered to Spirit today – wow. Way to go Jackie and Shadow. The last image shows Spirit with a huge crop.

Food is a great motivator and Spirit loves her dinner. Jackie and Shadow are very smart to keep feeding their big girl very well and keep her coming to the nest til she is really ready to leave. So grateful for their wisdom.

Mr President and Lotus’s eaglet has also branched and will be fledging soon. This reminds me. I had a question today about the adults feeding their eaglets. First, Takoda had a fish around 0600 on Friday the 10th. The adults will withhold food to teach the eaglets to eat everything and store it because they do not know when more food will be available. They also withhold food to encourage fledging. Likewise, they will feed an eaglet to full and bursting if they do not want them to fledge at that particular time. The adult eagles are very wise – they do what is necessary when using food as a motivator.

It is not the first time in British Columbia, Canada’s most western province, that a Bald Eagle took a hawklet into their nest for dinner and wound up raising it. The other hawklet was in a nest in Victoria. It fledged. David Hancock and Christian Sasse often presented video clips and discussions about this phenomena. That one could be seen catching and eating fish. This one is on Gabriola Island just off the coast of Vancouver Island a little north of Victoria. The hawklet has been in the nest for a week and is being fed by both the eagle adults.

The eagle is feeding the hawklet Saturday morning. Lovely.

Please note that there is no rewind. You can watch the action here:

http://www.growls.ca/eagle-nest-cam/?fbclid=IwAR1xUTd-2UO6cFQnR1ZA8HtcImZUmzNOf5EXhP4Tq7RmeNOR5uLtnAshmUg

Idris landed on the Dfyi nest at 04:19. Chicks just waking up – a little earlier today – ready for breakfast.

Lots for everyone. Big and Little are up front while Middle is going to sleep a bit longer.

The Dyfi are looking for name suggestions for the three osplets of Idris and Telyn this year. Here is the announcement:

There have been two more fledges at the Manchester Peregrine scrape. Both Cinquey and Blue flew out this morning. This leaves Colby – the baby – who isn’t such a baby anymore!

The three little storklets of Jan and Janika have been seen begging at the decoy mum. Amazing.

The weather is nasty up in Scotland. Louis did deliver a fish and now he is hunkering down with Dorcha and the kids on the Loch Arkaig nest. Let us hope this system goes through quickly. They are such wee babes. I hate this prolonged wet weather. It causes so many issues.

The bad weather has left the Loch of the Lowes. All that remains is the very strong winds. Laddie has brought in a fish and the two big ones were eating first with Little Bob hanging behind. He has now moved over as the older ones are getting fuller.

It has dried out for Seren and Dylan and the three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog. They have also been fed and all is well. Everyone is growing – even the little one.

It has been windy at Glaslyn and Aran has been fishing. Mrs G might not like flounder but the osplets don’t care!

Meanwhile down in Rutland it is a gorgeous day. Blue 33 has just delivered another fish to May and the osplets.

Both fledglings at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest continue to return happily to the nest to be fed. They are really honing their flying skills and getting those wing muscles strong. Fantastic to see them both doing so well.

The two chicks of Richmond and Rosie in SF Bay are certainly not ready to fledge but they are becoming more and more interested in what is happening around them at the Richmond Shipping docks. They are 25 and 24 days old.

Lady and Dad have their second and final egg at the White-Bellied Sea Eagle cam in the Sydney Olympic Forest. I have not seen an official time posted but it appeared to be laid around 01:12 on 12 June nest time. Now the long wait during incubation!

Other nest news: If you are a fan of Loch Garten Ospreys, there was a hatch this morning! And for those that follow the Royal Albatross, OGK has been confirmed to have returned to feed QT chick. Fantastic news. Little Bit 17 is waiting with the two older sibling for more food deliveries. Dad brought in a fish around 08:20. He did get some raccoon yesterday which he ate on the porch side. Fingers crossed for some big fish today for all of them! At the Decorah North Bald Eagle nest, DN15 fledged. Mr President and Lotus were on the branches at the National Arboretum nest where Takoda had a nice fish very early this morning – around 0559.

Quite a busy Saturday.

Thank you so much for joining me today. It is a beautiful day in Winnipeg with the promise of rain tomorrow. The wee bunny is still visiting the garden – it is safe and away from houses that have dogs or cats. It is wonderful to see him eating away at the grass. Dyson has been seen along with Scraggles but it is difficult to get photos because the lilacs are simply full of leaves. It is a real forest out there for them this time of year!

The Hibiscus are also blooming. Thankfully all of the critters leave the flowers alone so that the butterflies and bees can enjoy them.

Take care everyone. See you tomorrow! Have a fabulous Saturday wherever you are!!!!!!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or video clips, FB posts where I took my screen captures: Dulles Greenway, Patuxent River Park, Explore.org and The Institute for Wildlife Studies, Friends of Redding Eagles, FOBBV, NADC-AEF, GROWLS, Dyfi Osprey Project, Peregrine Networks, Eagle Club of Estonia, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery, and the Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, LRWT, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, SF Bay Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, and the Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre.

http://www.growls.ca/eagle-nest-cam/?fbclid=IwAR1xUTd-2UO6cFQnR1ZA8HtcImZUmzNOf5EXhP4Tq7RmeNOR5uLtnAshmUg

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.

Late Friday and early Saturday in Bird World

3 June 2022

If you have been watching the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest you might be wondering why so much fish are coming to the nest today. When I was learning about hawks, the female stuffed the kids all one afternoon. At the time I could not figure out why. I was told by a respected falconer, Laura Culley, that the raptors will feed their chicks full to the brim and more to prevent them from flying when the weather is not good. They know that that the chicks do not have enough skill in their flying to deal with torrential rains and wind. Smart!

‘R’ confirmed that there will lots of rain coming to the area of the nest. Gainsville is just north of the northern most dark green band in the centre of Florida. The nest is not currently in the areas of higher winds. Thankfully. This can change.

Both Big and Middle slept on the nest tonight. Fantastic. If the rains start early, they will both stay on the nest as well. It is the safest place for them to be.

The Tropical Storm tracked more south! The nest did not get the heavy rain predicted.

Mum brought a nice chunk of fish to the nest Saturday morning. It looks like Big got it first. They are so civil these two! Then Middle had some and then Mum is feeding Big.

There is bad weather coming to the Black Stork nests in Estonia tomorrow. Janika left the chicks overnight in the nest in Jegdova County in the southern part of the country. The temperature is 8-10 degrees C – too cool for the chicks who really need to be brooded by their mother. They should be 22-25 C now til they get their other feathers. But Janika had to make a choice. She has no mate. Jan has now been missing for well over 50 hours. She needs to feed herself and her chicks. Does she leave them in the rain and cold tomorrow to hunt? or tonight when it is cooler but not raining? It is very, very challenging for these parents. They make the best decision that they can. She does not know that Urmas will bring fish.

It is 0300 and the birds in the forest are singing. The chicks are sleeping. Janika is not home yet.

The morning is coming to the forest. The chicks are waking up. They must be very, very cold. I hope that they all made it through the night. It is possible that Janika will abandon the nest. Black Storks are entirely different than White Storks. The White Storks in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic, did not mind the human intervention but Black Storks could be very different.

Saturday morning and Janika has returned and fed her storklets. There was also fish remaining on the nest from Urmas. All four ate. Janika has been aerating the nest and preening the chicks. It is not believed she has found the pond with the fish basket set up by Urmas which is less than 1 km from the nest. I hope she does!

Images of Janika aerating and preening.

This is the fish basket that Urmas has placed in the small pond of water with the decoy trying to lure Janika so she does not have to travel so far for food.

There is also a note in the Forum that Urmas may take the chicks to the Vet Clinic at the University of Life Sciences. They will be watching the nest closely. Fortunately the bad weather predicted did not happen but it was terribly cold for the little ones last night.

If you would like to follow this nest, here is the link.

There has been much sadness at the Latvian and Estonian nests. To my knowledge, Grafs and Grafiene did not return to their nest this year in Latvia. With the problems at the Jegova County nest of Jan and Janika, I hope that Karl II and Kaia have all their chicks to fledge this year.

Karl II was brooding the chicks last night and he often got up to aerate the nest.

Talk about intruders. A Raccoon climbed the whirley crane to get to Rosie and Richmond’s osprey nest with their three osplets!!!!!!!!! Why are these raccoons becoming such a menace to the nests? Ospreys do not eat mammals!!!!!!

There is really good news at the West End Bald Eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta. Ahote who was the youngest and the eaglet that fledged has made it to the top of the rock near to the nest known as the Transmitter Rock. You can see him on the left and his siblings Kana’kini and Sky on the natal nest.

Thunder and Akecheta can lure him to the natal nest with food or deliver prey to him where he is. This is an amazing image and the camera that is providing it was just installed last year by Dr Sharpe.

Takoda at the National Arboretum Bald Eagle nest is enjoying a lovely fish. He began self feeding and then one of the adults (Mr President or Lotus) came in to feed him. Takoda has branched but not fledged (as far as I know). What a beautiful eaglet he is!

We are definitely on fledge watch for the three eaglets at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagle nest! I wonder if they will all go at once! They are all ready and maybe rivalry will step in. That would just be incredible – as long as each of them makes it home for dinner.

It is fledge watch for Liberty and Guardian’s two eaglets at the Redding, California nest, too.

Dylan came with a nice fish at 20:36 for Seren and the three Bobs at the Llyn Clywedog nest – before the rain. He offered her a piece of fish on arrival and then she feed the kids. The Welsh call the smallest chick, the third hatch, ‘Bobby Bach’ – and Bobby Bach certainly holds his own in this nest. No worries!

What a cutie. Right up there and getting a crop – not afraid of the older siblings now decidedly in their reptile phase.

Everyone got to eat well before the rain set in and night fell. That storm is brewing too. Hopefully the winds will not be too bad. Hold on everyone.

Idris also came in with fish for Telyn and the chicks. He even took some time to feed one of them! The winds really began howling during the wee hours of Saturday morning on their Dyfi nest in Wales.

Aran caught a fish and brought it to Mrs G at the Glaslyn Osprey nest. It had already started raining there and everyone was a bit soggy. Bobby Bach got himself up to the front – thank goodness he is so tiny compared to the others – and had some fish before bed.

Louis and Dorcha are a pretty good team. I admit to falling in love with Aila – this was the first nest I watched so many years ago now. But, I like Dorcha. Louis is so special. I wonder if she knows how lucky she was to land on his nest last year? Today he brought in three whoppers. Dorcha is just feeding the chicks the last of the fish before the sun sets on Loch Arkaig.

Blue NC0 was busy with the wee three at the Loch of the Lowes as the sun was setting. These nests are so regular you can know something is right – or wrong – by the feedings and fish deliveries.

Orion, the chick of Martin and Rosa at the Dulles-Greenway Bald Eagle nest fledged Friday. He returned for a nice fish dinner Friday night!

An adult brought in a fish to the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest at 08:15:48. One of the older siblings got it. It is unclear how much fish Little Bit 17 had or did not have. It did appear that Little Bit might have had a crop a little later. The issue, of course, is the camera position. We cannot see what happens on the porch.

There is a real nice write up about the little Peregrine Falcons, Grinnell Jr and Lindsay, today. They are soooooo big and healthy. Just look at those legs! and all those beautiful juvenile feathers coming underneath that white down.

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/06/03/uc-berkeley-falcon-chicks-named?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Berkeleyside&fbclid=IwAR2D4rTGlpKapV-olCBx9PmZ2-b2UxIw2Av0OIEmszDhWFQXw4pRrkyakp8

For all my fellow duckling and gosling lovers, have a look at these lovely babies taking the leap from a nest box in Japan!

Thank you so very much for joining me today. Take care everyone. Have a wonderful Saturday! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages: NOAA, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Eagle Club of Estonia, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Explore.org and Institute for Wildlife Studies, NADC-AEF, Pix Cams, Friends of Redding Eagles, CarnyXWild, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch Arkaig, Cal Falcons, Dulles-Greenway Bald Eagles, the People’s Post Code Lottery, and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

Feedings and Flying

1-2 June 2022


Wednesday was a positively beautiful day. Chilly enough for a jacket but the sun and blue sky were perfect. The water is so very, very high in the Red River (it is everywhere). Last year there were literally hundreds of American White Pelicans at the dam at Lockport, Manitoba getting fish. They were sleeping along the shore for the most part today.

These pelicans were in the water like a synchronized swimming team fishing.

And all back up again!

There were Canada Geese but not a gosling in sight.

What is it about watching a mother raptor feed her little ones? Blue NC0 is doing a much better job with the Three Bobs. Little Bob has also figured out ‘the way of the world’ and will let Big Bob eat, get full and pass out and move up front.

Look at Little Bob trying to stretch that long neck of his up so Mum will see him. Big Bob is already getting full.

Both Big and Middle bobs are full and it is Little’s turn. He has wiggled right up there in front so Blue NC0 won’t start feeding herself and forget about him.

Little Bob is quite the cheeky little one! He is also full.

Idris brought in another one of his monster Flounders at the Dyfi Nest. Telyn makes sure that all the Bobs are also full and feed. Gosh, can you imagine brooding three wiggly Bobs?

I would really like to ship that nice big Flounder to Little Bit 17. He has been eating off and on all day – a small fish and some road kill. When I went back to check on him he was still working on the raccoon – trying to hork the last wooly piece of it.

You can sort of see a fuzzy bit of fur in his beak in the image below.

Then Little Bit was really courageous! No one should ever think that Little Bit could not survive in the world. He is as fast as lightning when he does his Snatch and Grab! He knows to stay away from 16 and he also knows that 15 will not hurt him. Street Smart Kid. An adult brought a fish on the nest at 20:46:01.

One of the big siblings got it. But a couple of minutes later, the adult took the fish away from the big sibling. In the process a piece broke off and Little Bit, the ‘King of the Snatch and Grab’ went for it – straight to the adult beak and had a tug-o-war. Little Bit won his piece of fish!!!!!!! Brilliant.

It wasn’t an enormous piece of fish but Little Bit got it and ate it. The adult fed the two big siblings. Little Bit got up to the feeding spot to get 1 maybe 2 bites. Little Bit also looked over the floor of the nest for any other pieces and found some.

As the sun is setting, Little Bit had a small fish, some more bites of fish, and it looks like he might have finished off that Raccoon pelt along with some squirrel. Would we have liked him to have more? No doubt. It is still better to have had this food and to go to bed – not with a big crop – but at least not starving. Let’s think positive. Hoping the cool weather keeps up and that there are no storms to murk up the river. Let’s wish for fish for Thursday!

And the fish came. Little Bit pulled a fish out from under nesting material at 10:34:11. It had been brought in at 10:31 by an adult. It is very hard to say how much fish, if any, Little Bit got. He moved around the nest from place to place very uneasy. He had possession of the fish until 10:40. The nest is very restless today. Little Bit is hungry.

The West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta in the Channel Islands has the most beautiful sunsets! The profiles of Kana’kini, Ahota, and Sky just seem perfect up on that cliff.

The Osplets on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest at the practice field are getting ready to fledge. I wish I could tell you which one did all the hovering but I can’t. I believe, from a rough count of the dark bars on the tail, that it is Big Bob – . Big Bob hatched on 5 April followed by Middle Bob on the 6th. They are 57 and 56 days old. Western Ospreys fledge from 7-8 weeks or 49-56 days. They are ready to fly!!!!!!!!!

A shout out to ‘B’ who alerted me to the fact that Spirit and both of her parents, Jackie and Shadow, were on the nest tonight. This is just amazing. Jackie and Shadow are really going to prepare Spirit for a successful life in the wild. Another thing that will help Spirit is that the habitat is closed by the USFS so that Spirit will not be disturbed while she learns to fly.

A fish was delivered and Spirit that gorgeous daughter started going wheeee, wheeee for the fish! She had to figure out how to get down from the tree and to the fish. (Someone said it was Jackie that delivered the fish but this sure looks like Shadow to me in his tight jeans!)

Spirit was carefully fed just like she had been the night before. How sweet.

Spirit gets left to clean up the rest of the fish.

And then all of the family are on the nest. What a beautiful sight to see!!!!!

The sun is setting on another perfect day at the Big Bear Valley Eagle nest. Spirit flew off in the morning and returned, spent time with her parents, had a nice fish meal partially fed by Dad. She is going to sleep on the perch again and hopefully repeat this same day tomorrow until she can fly and find prey and live without parental support.

Spirit is a sweetie. In some ways she reminds me of Legacy at the NEFlorida nest of Samson and Gabby. I am not sure how but she does.

Oh, speaking of cutie pies. SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon made a compilation of Week 2 with the two osplets of Richmond and Rosie. They are so cute….Have a look!

Both of the chicks at the Cal Falcons scrape are now out and running about! No worries. They love their food and they will definitely come when either Annie or Alden has prey!!!!!!!! They will come screaming. Oh, just think. Friday we will get to call you by your names. Vote Everyone! Get your friends to vote – get these two cutie pies super names.

The three osplets at the Glaslyn nest continue to do well. You could not tell for an instant that Aran had an injury a year ago. He is really back in prime condition supplying Mrs G and the triplets with huge fish! Wonder if I could get them to adopt Little Bit?

Congratulations to Louis and Dorcha on their second hatch. Both chicks could be seen at 06:09 this morning.

It is clearly evident how much a headstart Maya and Blue 33 (11) have with their chicks. Just look at the difference!

Big Red and Arthur’s first hatch of the 2022 season at their Cornell Campus nest, L1, is checking out the fledge ledge! Fledge watch for L1 begins tomorrow!!!!!

And, last – there are now two little nestlings at the Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle nest in Alaska of Liberty and Freedom. They are three days apart. How cute!

When Charles Broley (The Eagle Man) studied and banded Bald Eagles, he was one of the first to note that the northern eagles are much larger than their southern counterparts. Alaskan eagles do not migrate. They stay and eat the salmon chum (dead salmon after laying eggs). It has been very plentiful.

It is cold and grey today. One beautiful warm day, one not so nice! I am just reading an article that is not making me very happy. It seems it has been going on for several years – the killing of Double-crested Cormorants in Newfoundland and Labrador with Parks Canada providing the justification. Are they serious? We take over their habitat and now we complain about their guano or that they are eating the fish!!!!! Are not Cormorants protected under Migrating Bird Laws? You would think but, not always. Apparently our provincial governments can also alter the laws about migrating birds. Who actually protects our wildlife?

Continue to wish for fish for Little Bit 17. I don’t think he got much of that fish this morning – I sure hope so but he is so nervous. 16 is a very, very nasty bird. The water level at the river where the adults fish at ND-LEEF is about a foot and a half or 45 cm higher than normal making it difficult for the adults to fish. It is going down but slowly. From seeing the high water around me and the opaque mucky colour, it is understandable that it is hard for the parents to fish. I imagine that they are also hungry.

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

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures and video clip: UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, ND-LEEF, Dyfi Osprey Project, Explore.org, FOBBV, Friends of Loch Arkaig and People’s Postcode Lottery, the Woodland Trust, Cal Falcons, LRWT, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Glacier Gardens, and Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn.

Late Tuesday in Bird World

31 May 2022

I wish I could tell you that ND 17 our very own Little Bit was stuffing its face with fish right now but, that is not what is happening. So far as I can tell only a small fish has come on the nest today. Hoping for more fish later!

They are not raptors but I adore the Black Storks (and White ones) and I like to mention them now and again. The Black Storks are extremely rare in Estonia and Latvia making their nests mostly in the southern areas of the countries. These countries are the northernmost areas for Black Storks to breed. They are, thus, very special. Jan and Janika started out with six storklets in their nest in Estonia – five have survived. All five are doing well. The fifth one is small but it is right up there with the others eating well so I am hopeful — if food is plentiful that all will fledge. That nest is going to get awfully small when they start jumping around and flapping those wings. Janika brought in a large meal for all five!

The weather around the MN-DNR is gusty and wet like it is here. They are getting this same system that has moved north and east from Colorado. Nancy is on the nest feeding E1, Harriet. There appears to be a sub-adult on the perch. Nancy appears to be ignoring it at the moment.

Nancy leaves after feeding E1. The visiting sub-adult remains on the perch.

Later, Nancy is gone and so is the visitor.

It was hard to see Spirit take her first flight this morning. Spirit loves her food and I am pretty certain that Jackie and Shadow will lure her with prey. We will see if it is to the nest or off nest – time will tell. Spirit is 88 days 12 hours and 35 minutes old when she flies off the nest.

Remember when? What a beautiful couple with their miracle baby, Spirit.

Deb S caught Spirit’s fledge in a really short video clip. Oh, what a fabulous first flight. Soar high Spirit, stay safe, wishing you lots of fish and a long, long life.

The first sighting of Spirit caught after her fledge:

The three eyases at the Spartan Stadium scrape at the University of Michigan are losing their baby feathers just like the ones at Cal Falcons scrape.

The five eyases at the Manchester New Hampshire are watching as Mum is flying in with lunch!

Are you a fan of Tom and Audrey at the Chesapeake Conservancy Osprey Nest? If so, there is reason to celebrate. Audrey laid her fist egg of her second clutch today!

The Ls are getting bigger and restless. L1 ventured out to the fledge ledge today and anyone watching probably needed a double handful of worry beads. The chicks will run up and down the grate, stand and look out at the field and the trees from the fledge ledge days before actually flying. Big Red has been going and sitting there showing them where to take off so this is a good thing. L1 has been trying to climb the light box – a bad idea. J2 did fledge from there in 2020 but it is much easier to take off from the grate! at the ends! or in the middle between the bars in front. Fledge watch opens for L1 on Friday!

Gosh, I know it is nice to have the freshest fish but goodness it is scary when a live flappy one comes on the nest. That just happened to Telyn when Idris brought in a Flounder. You can hear her little cheeps when she is looking at the fish breathing.

Louis and Dorcha at their Loch Arkaig nest.

The newest addition to the Louis and Dorcha family! What a sweet little bundle.

Every chick got fed – again – at the Loch of the Lowes. Little Bob is doing good, holding its own there in the middle of its two big siblings who, if you look at the back of their heads, are changing plumage.

Aran has been getting the fish to Mrs G who is busy feeding the little ones.

It is hard to see the babies at Glacier Gardens but you sure can see the cars driving by!!!!!!! Would love to get in the head space of the Bald Eagles when they pick the site for a new nest.

They are beautiful and they are the Pittsburgh-Hayes trio! All have branched and they are flapping those wings just like the Three Amigos at the West End. Fledge is approaching!

Need to keep an eye on the US Steel Eaglets too. They have just received a prey drop and one of the adults is out on the branch giving some hints.

Fledge watch is officially on for Liberty and Guardian’s Star and Sentry at the Redding California Bald Eagle nest. Fledge should be from 29 May – 15 June. I love the wide window. That is about the same for the Pennsylvania eaglets at Pittsburg-Hayes and US Steel, too. They are all beautiful birds and we can knock on wood – none had the Avian Flu. What a relief.

The chicks at Cal Falcons are almost out of the scrape following the shade. They are hot and panting in the California heat. Look at the bottom and please go and vote so they have two great names!!!!!!

And last, but never least – the two Osplets on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest. At one time I thought we might wind up with only one chick on this nest. Big Bob was quite the terror. Middle persisted and we now have two beautiful birds getting ready to fledge. I counted six plus dark bands on Big Bob today but it is Middle Bob that looked like he would take off if a gust came!

Gosh these are beautiful raptors! Just stunning.

That is it for today. I just checked. It is nearing evening at the Notre-Dame nest. I wish beyond anything that two big fish come on that nest tonight. If not, Little Bit is still OK. Tomorrow evening if no fish have come in – or other prey – I will start to fret.

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

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or their FB pages: The Eagle Club of Estonia, ND-LEEF, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Pix Cams, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Postcode Lottery, and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cal Falcons, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Friends of Redding Eagles, MN-DNR, Glacier Gardens, Explore.org, Peregrine Networks, and Spartan Stadium Peregrine Cam.

Late Sunday and early Monday in Bird World

29-30 May 2022

This has been the wettest year in Manitoba history. Today we are in another special weather situation with the expectation of 30-55 more mm of rain in a province and City where there is hardly room for water to go. There will certainly not be any wild fires we hope this year!

At 20:01:24 the adult at the ND-LEEF leaves the two larger siblings and moves over to where Little Bit 17 has been feeding. Both big sibs were left behind.

They do not take any prey with them. In my last post, I was certain that Little Bit was self-feeding on something while Mum fed the other two elsewhere. When Mum gets over to Little Bit she starts feeding. On occasion she gives the larger sibling a bite. So Little Bit 17 did feed itself some fish and then Mum came to help it keeping the other two back.

At 20:04:34 a big sibling reaches in and grabs the tail. It is possible then that Little Bit 17 for 6 or 7 minutes. Going from nothing to that – we will keep it and hope that there is more food tomorrow. It is very much apparent that the female is aware of what is going on – . I do love how she shut the two bigs ones out. They have eaten today.

I also got a chance to get some images of Little Bit’s had. 16 has definitely been pecking and pulling. More feathers are gone and there is also one beak hole. This is what E1 did to E2 at the MN-DNR nest. ND17 Little Bit can fly without its head feathers but we don’t want an infection.

A half day at a time. Deep breaths.

On Monday morning, Little Bit pulled a chipmunk over to eat it at 09:08:50. I thought – bonus – he can do this! But only a minute later he was attacked by 16. Today the eaglets on this nest are 60, 59, and Little Bit is 55 days old.

Later Little bit 17 played tug-o-war with 15 for the chipmunk. I know it is 15 because 17 and 15 get along well. 16 is the odd one out – the most viscous which leads me to believe that 16 is a female.

Continue to send your warm and positive wishes to this little one. At 55 days old and having gone through a period of 10 days of good eating, the issue is clearly the amount of prey delivered to this nest. It is quite insufficient. I know it is a holiday and it might not be quiet on the river and the trails around this nest. We live in hope that something good will happen. That good would be the Dad bringing in something for the older ones and the Mum arriving and getting Little Bit at the other end feeding it. This is a brave little eaglet and there is no reason for it to be in this condition other than lack of food deliveries.

Someone posted that there had been a ‘dust up’ (my wording) between a couple of the siblings at the Manton Bay nest of Blue 33 and Maya. This seemed interesting to me and I went to check. The time indicated was 17:33. Blue 33 had delivered a fish and it was alive. The fish flapped and hit Big Bob. She straightened up thinking that it was Middle Bob on the other side that had hit her!

That is a pretty big fish!

Notice that huge crop on the big sibling to the left of the fish and Maya.

Big Bob is startled by the flapping fish and pulls back.

He looks over to Middle Bob and tells him what for for hitting him. And then a tiny dust up??

No reason for any of the Bobs to fight on this nest. They are always full. I do imagine the itchy feathers add to them being slightly touchy especially if they think another sibling has hit them on purpose.

Maya has them all full and tucked. Angels. Little angels.

Richmond and Rosie would like you to help name their two chicks for this 2022 season! Here is the announcement and you must post on the SF Ospreys FB page thread.

Aran and Mrs G welcomed Little Bob today!

While Big and Middle were ready for their afternoon tea, Little Bob would rather sleep. Hatching takes a lot of energy and we all know that they have enough to eat from the egg for about 24 hours.

We are now waiting for Louis and Dorcha at Loch Arkaig and for CJ7 and Blue 022 at Poole Harbour!!!!!

It was raining earlier at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn. Looks like Flounder has been on the menu most of the day.

A Mullet just came in for the Bobs afternoon tea. No surprise. Big Bob is up at the table first!

All up at the table now.

At the Loch of the Lowes, everyone is up having their tea. You can see the difference in ages between Laddie and Blue NC0s little ones and Idris and Telyn’s. The oldest at the Loch of the Lowes is now changing plumage to go into the Reptile stage. Middle and Little Bobs are doing well.

Seren and Dylan continue to keep up with the fish and the three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog are up there for their tea. So cute!

CJ7 looking over the edge at Poole Harbour. Her and Blue 022 have been caught staring down at the nest. Can they hear the chicks now? Bets are being taken on when the first egg will hatch – many say today or at the latest tomorrow.

The other nest that is being watched closely is Loch Arkaig, the home of Louis and Dorcha. It could be a race between them and Poole Harbour on who has the first hatch of the two nests.

It is 37 days today for the first Poole Harbour egg. I am thinking tomorrow!

The Ls are restless. They want to flap and run and it is pretty crowded on the light stand nest of Big Red and Arthur at Cornell. Their lovely juvenile plumage is looking fabulous.

Big Red and Arthur are welcoming Monday morning by sitting on the light stand together while the chicks use up some of their energy flapping and running.

Just look at those cute Ls. So who is who? Bottom Row: L1 (left), L4 (right). You can still tell L4 because of the white head easily. Top Row: L2 (left) and L3 (right). These babies have the most beautiful peachy bibs and look at the rust coloured belly bands. Lovely.

Iris slept on her perch last night. She has really been bringing in some whoppers. What a great fisher she is. I am so thrilled that despite the eggs being gone Iris returns to the nest so we can see her. It is extremely reassuring.

‘S’ took some great screen captures of Iris on 25 May. I meant to share them with everyone that day and well – somehow they got a little down in the pile. Forever grateful for these great close up images to share. Thank you ‘S’.

Want to give a shout out to the Manitoba Peregrine Recovery Project for their great work. You can follow Pip and Ella and their three chicks on Twitter @mbperegrines

Ella is feeding three little chicks – imagine posted by Peregrine Chick on Twitter if you want to follow the action. Chick 1 and 2 are 24 hours apart and chick 3 is 36 hours apart. Nice and close!

This is Dad, Pip, in the scrape on top of one of our local hotels.

At the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest and Mum has been in and fed the kids. They are so gorgeous, so alert, and so civil. Oh, how I wish this for ND-LEEF.

Ironically she pulls that fish up and it seems as if by magic fish come out of the side of the nest.

Mum continues to feed until all of the fish is gone at 08:51 – both chicks are happy. She was with her two big babies feeding them for about an hour. Terrific.

The Peregrine Falcon chicks are being fed. What a noise inside the scrape at Manchester NH. You cannot see anything in there anymore the chicks are so big.

Eyases have been fed at the San Jose City Hall scrape and one of them is looking like a big Hulk.

Wow! Just look at the size of the Presidio Trust’s Red-tail Hawks in San Francisco. At one time we were concerned about the second hatch – no more. Great image of these two. you can see the tail very clearly (there are several smudges on this camera – ugh). Four clear dark bands. We have a bit to go til fledge.

We are on fledge watch for the Dulles-Greenaway chick of Martin and Rosa today.

We are also on fledge watch for Spirit at Big Bear. Spirit is picking and food crying at Jackie.

Shadow brings in breakfast and both parents and stay with their beautiful daughter while she eats. These moments must be bittersweet.

It will not be long til we are waiting for the Three Amigos at the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta to fledge.

Mr President has been in to feed DC9 at the National Arboretum nest in Washington, DC. Dad has done a great job being a single parent.

Lots to come, lots happening. Thank you for joining me this morning. Take care. Continue to send all your positive wishes to the ND-LEEF nest. Hopefully fish will come and Mum will feed Little Bit 17. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB or Twitter posts where I took my screen captures: Cornell Bird Lab RTH, LRWT, SF Ospreys, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Loch of the Lowes and Woodland Trust, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Lock Arkaig and People’s Post Code Lottery, Montana Osprey Project, MB Peregrine Network, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Dulles-Greenaway Eagles, FOBBV, San Jose City Hall Falcons, Presidio Trust, Explore.org, and NADC-AEF.