17 May 2024
Good Morning Everyone,
The Girls and I hope that you have had a wonderful week. We are so grateful that you are here with us and for your Leo and care for the wildlife – and all the animals – that grace our lives. Today is a bit of a hodgepodge. I mention Cal Falcons early on and then later bring them in again…my mind was a bit wandering! Most of all I would like to continue to convey my gratitude towards those that care for ospreys on platforms or trees and who are mindful of the dangers to their lives and take preventative action.
We are in the midst of the biggest downpour of the year. The thunder clapping and lighting sent Hugo Yugo running out of the conservatory in sheer fright! That has stopped and she is back with everyone except for Baby Hope who much prefers to nap on my bed during the day. Calico and Missey have called a truce with one on the hassock and the other on the back of the sofa pillows. They seem non-phased by the rain hitting the glass roof.
There was a beautiful rainbow when the sun finally began coming out!
‘H’ and I continue and will continue to monitor Little at Lake Murray, although it breaks my heart to know that predator-fish grids – could have been installed to protect these young from the resident GHO and were not put in place. It is hard cheering a little one on when it gets fed and smiling at its big crop when you know the outcome could be that it will be lunch for an owlet. Cowlitz PUD had great success with their simple placement of fish grates on opposite sides of their osprey platform. They are happy to share that information and everyone that has an osprey nest should install these. It might also work with goshawk predation.
H reports: “Kenny delivered a small whole fish at 1220. Little had the perfect positioning again… on Lucy’s left side, with the older sibs to Lucy’s right. Little was fed 20 bites of fish before Lucy moved, and exposed Little, and he was beaked. It was only an 11 minute feeding. Little managed to get two more bites of fish, for 22 bites at this meal.”
I note that Little was shut out of the afternoon fish until Kenny came in with a third back-to-back one and Little got in a good position and ate almost all of the fish.
Then great dad Kenny brought in so many fish back to back that Little got the majority of the 17:29 and all of the 1811! Way to go Little. The two big ones did not even bother standing up for the last fish they were so full from the earlier deliveries.
This family is working so hard they really do deserve protection from those owls. I am shattered that this was not done in the offseason. If money was an issue, try a CrowdFunder. The cost of two fish grates and welding could not be that much compared to the price of setting up an osprey platform or to the lives of the birds.
Others are keeping an eye on Lake Murray and I am grateful for MM’s morning observations: “dad brought a small fish in at 5:56 am which mom and number 3 ate most of except for a few bites to number 1. I think #3 got beaked one time other than that it was a quiet breakfast. At 7:46 am dad brought in what appeared to be just the head of a fish. #3 lucked up for the first few minutes and was on the far side of mom out of the eyes of the other two and recieved about 24 bites before mom changed her position and blew 3s cover at which time it was beaked away from the table. Feeding ended pretty soon after since it was only the head. So overall #3 has ate a decent morning as far as food goes.”
And even ‘A’ who doesn’t watch osprey nests has fallen in love with Lake Murray’s Little Bob. She adds, “
I am amazed by the third hatch at Lake Murray. It is simply incredible. Lining up right next to its fearsome siblings, reaching across in front of them to take bites. This is one brave little osplet. I think his older, larger siblings are actually slightly in awe at his daring. Why else do they allow him to get away with it? But the key point is, he is brave. He is prepared to take risks to get fed, and I honestly do believe Lucy has made that choice we often see mums make in these situations. This one has earned the right to a chance, and Lucy is giving him that chance. I could be wrong – I have only been watching the nest closely for three or four days, but that is certainly my impression.
I must also say that pretty much every time I’ve turned to the stream, the three osplets all have very noticeable crops (including the smallest). I have on several occasions watched the youngest crop drop several times in order to continue eating more and more. He is definitely getting plenty of food!
Whether or not this nest has turned a corner, it is way too early to say that because the level of aggression is still very scary on occasions. It may be that the two older osplets are now more interested in each other than in their youngest sibling – it certainly seems that way. Yes, they do intimidate the youngest, but as long as he takes the appropriate action and displays suitably respectful behaviours, they seem to be threatening him, looming over him, but then leaving him alone. Watch him feeding around 04:13 yesterday afternoon (16 May). Let’s hope, having put the oily teenage phase behind them, they will now learn to get along nicely, as we have often seen before on osprey nests. Talons crossed.
I didn’t intend to become involved in an osprey nest, especially one with three osplets and a siblicide threat hanging over it. Unfortunately, due to your blog, I happened to stumble across the live stream and instantly fell in love with Little Bob. He is just so cute and so very brave and clever, I couldn’t help it. You just have to root for the chicks like this one. And like others before him, I think, he is going to learn so much from all this bullying that he will fledge as a smart, resourceful juvenile with a great chance of survival as a wild osprey. “
Dixie fledged on Thursday morning at Superbeaks just like Mason did!
In case you missed it, here are some banding day highlights form Cal Falcons. Two boys and 2 girls and they need names.
Poor Annie gets it right in the face!
I am always touched by the kindness of humans to our wildlife friends that we share our planet. It is so timely that this edition found its way to my inbox. Yesterday I sat and chatted with my allergy doctor (I don’t have allergies but I do have Nonallergic vasomotor rhinitis which causes my sinuses to cause my nose to run like a water hydrant on a hot day in the summer. He lives in the country. People have taken to letting their children use bee bee guns to shoot squirrels. He builds homes for the squirrels! Or to sit on their porch with shot guns looking for a coyote to kill. It made us both sick and I sighed that living in the country was no different than in the middle of a large urban city. Some will care for our wildlife friends and others are so ignorant and cruel – best ignore them and do what we can.
This story of how one family dealt with nests at the doorway will melt your heart. It is from Orion Magazine.
Tracking data indicates that those amazing Sandhill Cranes that migrate through Nebraska and come up to Canada travel as far as NE Asia in their winter migration!
A Tree Pipit visits Dorcha and Louis’s nest at Loch Arkaig. If you don’t know how large ospreys are, this will give you a good idea.
The weather at the PSEG Patchogue nest has been torrential rains. Mum and Dad have been doing heroics to keep the chicks dry and warm. Weather like this is always troubling as the chicks can get ‘colds’ and not thrive. Let’s hope for sunshine and some fish!
I often talk about the lack of siblicide in the Peregrine Falcon and Hawk populations. It does occur. It is extremely rare. Even the smallest hatch normally survives. I did find a short letter with some good information in it on one exception.
The second egg has been laid at Dunrovin on May 16 in the morning. Congratulations Winnie and Swoop.
Precious baby. Rutland. Grateful for the quick intervention on Wednesday. Rutland Water is to to be praised. This baby tried hard to get out of those cot rails and back to its mother. Blue 33 brings in some really big fish and despite eating their head they are sometimes still alive and flapping. So glad this little one, their only one, survived.
Sometimes people listen when we make loud noises for things that will protect the raptors. Well done!
And Geemeff reminds me that even The Woodland Trust that has a non-intervention policy has placed Pine Marten baffles around the two trees at Loch Arkaig that are occupied by the ospreys. Before it is too late, those osprey nests under threat by predation should have metal grids placed opposite one another, as at Cowlitz PUD Osprey platform, for the bird’s protection.
What has caught the attention of Louis and Dorcha?
There are now two Golden Eaglets in the Bucovina nest in Romania. Without exception, the eldest will kill and eat the second hatchling. Please be advised of this historical practice of this species if you are watching this streaming cam.
The precise term is “mandatory/obligatory cainism”. The oldest has no choice. Looduskalender published one of the most concise definitions: “The killing is done by pushing away from food and / or by direct attacks. Usually the dead body is not eaten, but it is often fed by the parent birds. While with many species of birds the nest killing of siblings during malnutrition is common, the act of killing is independent of the food situation in species with obligatory cainism. Mandatory cainism is similar to the inherent nest clearing behaviour of the Cuckoo and can be also triggered experimentally, for example by presenting a white cloth ball to the young bird. The attacks of the older towards the younger siblings usually begin with the day of hatching of the latter. Most of the younger birds survive only a few days. The parents do not hamper these attacks, it has been repeatedly observed that the older young bird continued his attacks even when a parent bird would feed him. The roles of “Cain” and “Abel” are determined solely by the sequence of hatch, in experimental transposition of “Abel” to a younger sibling, this “Abel” immediately took over the role of “Cain” and attacked the younger nestling. In further experiments on Verreaux’s eagle eagles, the aggressiveness of the siblings lasted at least until the completion of the major plumage growth. The nest of the species with obligatory cainism usually consists of two eggs. That’s why if both eggs hatch, only the older nestling survives.” (June 18, 2013).
The aerial acrobats of the falcons at Cal’s The Campanile are going to continue to get impressive as Archie and Annie demonstrate and then teach the Fab Four how to survive in the wild.
A video encapsulation of the Cal Falcon eyases growth over the past weeks.
The news is worrisome for the fish at Captiva and the warm waters could be the reason that Ospreys have not had chicks late in the season in the Barrier Islands.
‘H’ reports: “It was another slow fishing day for Jack. The water of the small bay between the islands is warm, and the fish may have gone deeper.
The first feeding was not until 1119, and consisted of a small whole silver perch. CO7 intimidated CO8. CO7 ate, and later beaked CO8 at 1125 when s/he attempted to approach. It was only a 13 minute feeding, and CO8 had nothing to eat.
Meal number two was at 1217, a partial sheepshead. CO7 was in a position to be fed, and CO8 was intimidated a few times and stayed back. The feeding was over by1235. Nothing for CO8.
Jack brought in a whole hardhead catfish at 1549, and the third feeding started around 1551. With fewer fish, CO7 has been extra aggressive today. CO7 beaked CO8 on multiple occasions. At 1610 and 1614 CO7 seemed to be done eating for a while so CO8 made his move toward Edie, but CO7 beaked him and then ate some more each time. At 1617 CO8 attempted to move even further away from Edie, but was followed by CO7 and beaked. Finally, at 1620 CO7 moved away from Edie, and allowed CO8 to eat! CO8 ate for a full 10 minutes, and ate approximately 142 bites of catfish. At that point CO7 had returned to eat some more, until the fish was about finished. CO8 then ate at least 6 more bites while Edie was trying to pull some flesh off of a tough piece of skin. Oh, yes…CO8 had a nice crop!
Feeding four was at 1936. Edie had brought in a partial catfish at 1935 (strange that Edie did not have a crop). CO7 would not let CO8 eat. CO8 snuck one bite. At 1955 Eddie rushed off to chase Clive (the neighboring eagle), and she returned a few minutes later. Upon her return, she fed CO8 a few bits of the scraps remaining. CO8 had a total of 5 or 6 bites of fish.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better fishing day. It will take a lot of fish to calm CO7 down.”
Ildiko Pork got some good screen shots of Mum and the oldest and only surviving chick of three at the University of Florida-Gainesville osprey platform. It looks like the osplet is healthy and will survive. Stella is doing well providing for it and her after Talon’s disappearance.
Maria Marika reports that the four Bolewice storklets are doing well. Great news.
‘H’ reports that there is a second hatch at Outerbanks. “517, The earliest that I could see the second chick fully out of the shell was at 00:18.”
At the Netherlands Peregrine Falcon nest, watched closely by PB, she reports that the Smallie has gained some feathers and she is really hoping for its survival. With the good rate of success by the falcon nests, we will all be cheering this little one on.
And just look at Monty and Hartley’s four to put a smile on your day!
At the Loch of the Lowes, Blue NCO is getting acquainted with the ‘dark male’ that has appeared on the nest tree for a few days.
Tom and Audrey are not having any luck at Kent Island this year as ‘H’ reports.
Thank you for being with me this morning. Take care everyone. We wish you a ‘Rainbow’ of a day.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, observations, articles, and streaming cams that helped me write my post this morning: ‘A, Geemeff, H, MM, PB’, Lake Murray Ospreys, Heidi McGrue, SK Hideaways, Orion Magazine, Audubon, Geemeff, PSEG, Raptor Research Foundation, LRWT, Bald Eagles 101-Judy’s Post, Looduskalender, Wild Bucovina, Window to Wildlife, Ildiko Pork, Maria Marika, Outbanks 24/7, the Netherlands Falcon scrape, Chesapeake Conservancy, and The Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL).