On Thursday, 19 August, 2021 the nestling Osprey, Malin, had a forced fledge.
Malin hatched either the 16th or the 18th of June. His parents were Collins and Marsha. The smallest chick died on 28 June and the larger of the two surviving died on 14 July. The body of that bird was not removed so the cause was never determined.
For the three weeks prior to Malin’s forced fledge, so much had improved on this nest. The heat of June had dissipated. The tiny fish that came to the nest were slightly larger. The deliveries became more frequent. They were so frequent that Malin often turned away from being fed he was so full. Malin began to grow. He stood and walked more and was flapping his wings. This is a video from 9 August of little Malin exercising:
Still Malin’s development was behind. His tail had just grown to reveal six dark bands on the day of the forced fledge. The earlier concern over his missing or delayed feathers was disappearing. There was great hope, because of the food deliveries, that Malin would fledge successfully. He just needed additional time and he would also require no less than a month on the nest to hone his skills while the parents provided him with food. Then an intruder enters the air space of the nest on top of the fire watch tower, 120 feet up, on 19 August in the late afternoon.
Some claim that this was a perfect first fledge. But Osprey experts who have worked for more than 50 years in the field say it is anything but. This was a forced fledge. In normal fledges, the bird goes a short distance. The bird returns to the nest. The fledgling will be lured back to the nest with food – just as Collins and Marsha tried with Malin. This is what is happening with Kindness, the Bald Eagle fledgling up in Glacier Gardens. The fledglings spend, on average, 36 days being fed on the nest while taking flights, getting its wings stronger. It is well known that if there is a forced fledge then the bird needs assistance. It will be on the ground. Time is of the essence!
This is Malin on 14 August. Oh what a beautiful bird.
It is with a very heavy heart that I confirm that our beautiful Malin died. The circumstances of Malin’s death are not clear but I believe that he was alive until the time when the parents quit going to the nest. Their last visit was in the afternoon of the 21st.
My concern is always the bird. When there is a forced fledge it is imperative that individuals in charge act immediately. An excellent example is when ‘Silo Chick’ fell off the Patuxent Osprey Nest #2. The park had closed but help was notified and they responded quickly. The chick was saved and back on the nest within 2 hours. That chick is alive today because two people who were off work for the weekend got their canoe and drove out to the park and found the chick. It really is that simple.
I want to thank each and every one of you for caring for this little Osprey. I have received so many notes from you telling me how much Malin meant to you. Malin will always be our strong little warrior.
Malin’s soul is soaring.
My screen shots and video clips were taken from the Collins Marsh Streaming Cam.
I reported earlier today that Malin, the Osprey chick on the Collins Marsh Nature Centre’s nest, had fledged. Malin flew off the nest at 3:42 pm.
We use the term ‘fludge’ when a bird accidentally falls out of the nest and flies. But what do you call it when a nestling is scared off their nest and flies?
For several minutes before Malin flew, his mother, Marsha, had been on the nest. She was watching and alerting. There was an intruder. Marsha even ducked on occasion. When Mom flew off the nest something happened to spook Malin. He had been pancaked. Malin had done this before. But this time, the intruder must have come near enough to the nest that it spooked Malin. Without thinking and scared out of his wits, Malin flew.
Here is a video clip. You can see the shadow of a bird flying at 10 o’clock – it is impossible to know who it was – at the end.
Malin was not prepared to leave the nest. He had been exercising his wings but he had never hovered. He really needed another couple of weeks to work his wings. His feathers were continuing to grow and he was catching up for his age but he was still behind. Today, Malin was 2 months old and a day – we think. He is the only one of three hatches to survive and it is not clear which hatch he was.
Mom immediately returned to the nest looking for Malin.
Collins, the dad, came in later with a nice piece of fish hoping to entice his son to the top of the tower. Collins did look over in the area of the trees and I am hoping he knew that Malin was there.
The nest is 120 feet up and I am told that flying up is much more difficult for a bird than down. Malin is not a sophisticated flier – could he make it to the top of the tower? Collins seems to think so. I hope he is right. Indeed, I hope that Malin is unharmed and makes his way home so that he can benefit from more food and more wing exercises.
This situation has heightened my call for all streaming cams to have emergency contact numbers immediately after the name of the site and before any historical or current information about the nest. That is so the numbers can be found quickly and easily. The minute this situation happened, the office at the Nature Centre was called. The message went to voice mail. At that instant a flurry of e-mails went out from the US and Canada to try and find someone who could go and look for Malin on the ground. FB Messages were sent. Luckily ‘S’ found the wildlife rehabber for the area, living 25 minutes away. By this time more than thirty minutes had passed, possibly 45. This individual listened to what had happened and got in their car and went to check on Malin. By the time they arrived it was getting dark. They reported that it was quiet around the marsh. Tomorrow this person will return and is hoping that Malin will be close by or food crying. Of course, it would be even better if Malin were sitting up on the nest or sleeping duckling style from all the activity. The three of us that named Malin are hoping that he lives up to the name he was given, ‘Mighty Little Warrior.’ Tonight we are anxious and fearful – all we can do is hope and wait. It will be a very long night.
For the past year I have been requesting that individuals responsible for streaming cams ensure that there is emergency information so that the community of birders watching these nests can contact someone – a responsible person who will provide assistance to the bird or animal – immediately. I realize that individuals do not wish to give out their private phone numbers. The park or nature centre with the streaming cam could have two dedicated cell phones only for emergency calls. Those could be provided to those in charge. Then they would not have to have their own numbers or phones used. The person at the end of that phone line would have their own list of specialists to contact for the specific emergency. It really is that simple.
The alternative is to have a 24/7 chat room with moderators who have emergency numbers. Moderators are volunteers. They do it because they love the birds. That is actually the simplest and cheapest way to handle emergencies.
The vast majority of individuals who watch the nests are bird lovers. If they see a tiny leg tangled in fishing line they want that bird to get help. If they hear a chick fall off a nest into water, they want to help. If they notice nestlings behaving strange, having tremors, refusing to eat, they want to fine someone who will listen and help. This year all of these things have happened, some many times, and it was thanks to the community birders that help came. Sometimes people did not listen to the alarms set off by fifty or more persons watching two eaglets on a nest in Florida. They were behaving poorly. One died. Then the second. The person who set off the first alarm said ‘rodenticide’ – and they were correct. Community birders are not quacks. Many have watched nests for more than a decade. They are informed and they want to help. They do not want to waste anyone’s time.
Thank you for sending your prayers and your warm wishes to Malin and to the boots on the ground who are trying to find him and care for him. Thank you for listening to my call for a solution so that help can come to the birds immediately when something happens. If you are in charge of a streaming cam or know someone who is, please talk to them about having emergency numbers or 24/7 moderators on the chat who can get in touch with the right person if something comes up. It is really important. Thank you!
Thank you to the Collins Marsh Nature Centre and the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest for their streaming cams where I took my screen shotsand my video clip.
I plan to bring an updated report on the Black Storks in Latvia and Estonia later tomorrow. There is still someone who can pull at my heart strings even when I am so worried about Malin and that is Tiny Little! It is 6:30 on her nest in Cumbria and there she is having her breakfast fish compliments of White YW. Thank you, dad. Thank you, Tiny Little. You give me hope for Malin tonight.
It is a gorgeous day on the Canadian Prairies. The extreme heat of the past has dissipated and the sun is shining. There is no wind, every leaf is still. The only thing moving in the garden are the little songbirds waiting for the feeders to be filled. No wind means there is no smoke from the wildfires farther north. It is a nice change. We are all hoping for big downpours and, if the weather report is correct, that will come at the weekend.
A serious lump came in my throat this morning when I went to check on Tiny Little at the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest. No one was there this morning (nest time) and now the crows are picking at the nest. Normally, at this time of day, Tiny Little would be on the nest waiting for a fish drop. There appear to be no birds in the parent tree in the background. The Crows are a reminder that the days of seeing our Ospreys are precious ones.
I returned to the Foulshaw Moss nest several times. The last visit revealed Blue 464 – the first of White YW and Blue 35’s chicks to fledge – on the nest food calling. You could see the shadow of another bird on the camera at times.
There are some ‘late’ nests and some just starting in case you are having empty nest syndrome.
One of those nests is at the Collins Marsh Nature Centre in Wisconsin. So as not to confuse everyone, the constant watchers got together. Each felt the chick needed a name, even if it was just for us. ‘S’ from Hawaii suggested Malin which means ‘strong little warrior.’ It fit perfectly for this small chick. Voted for unanimously amongst our small but caring group! So from now on I will refer to him or her as Malin, just so you know.
The female was not on the Collins Marsh nest when I checked. She is absent for long periods of time. I want to think she is fishing and will be back to feed Malin or she is just resting. The male has made a fish delivery. This time it is headless. Malin is confused because Dad will not ever do any feeding. Malin is standing and walking much better than last week but he still wants to be fed by the adult.
Malin continues to try and get the male to feed him the fish but it is not happening!
Once Malin realized that he was being left to fiend for himself, he started self-feeding on the fish. Because this one is headless, Malin is making much better progress. This little one is trying very hard.
There is a concern about the feather growth of Malin. Unfortunately, the camera is not clear. Yesterday, ‘S’ took some screen shots that indicated some wing feathers near the tips could be missing. If you look carefully at the image below, you can see the green grass through both wings clearly. This could be a serious concern for this young bird.
Thinking about Malin’s development, a search through the FB pages of the nature centre indicates that three chicks hatched on this nest on 16, 18, and 20 of June. Historically, the smallest – the third – has died on this nest with the exception of one year. This year Malin is the only one to survive leaving us to believe that he was either the first or second hatch. That would mean that he is either 46 or 44 days old. From Osprey development charts, it appears that Malin is about two weeks behind the average in growth. This is most likely due to the low food deliveries.
Maris Strazds, from the Institute of Biology at the University of Latvia states that the availability of food determines the dates of fledging and also that the survival rate of chicks is better if they spend more time on the nest after fledging. Strazds is speaking specifically about storks but this is also known to be true in hawks and falcons and I would like to think that it also extends to Ospreys and Bald Eagles.
While the feather growth is being monitored by the Wisconsin DNR Biologist and a concerned Wildlife Rehabber of the area, access to the nest is a problem. The nest is situated on top of a wildlife tower that was moved to this site so that people could climb the stairs and view the countryside. Here is a close up view. It appears that a metal roof with a peak was fabricated to fit on top of the flat roofed water tower.
In this image the nest looks quite deep. This image was taken several years ago and it seems that the nest has been reduced in size – perhaps by strong winds. Photographic comparison of the nest cup now with the chick and a couple of years ago also indicates a loss of nesting material, perhaps substantial amounts, missing.
It is difficult to determine if there is a wooden support under the twigs. If you look at the images of the nest with Malik (above) it appears that there is something ‘square’ underneath a couple of layers of twigs.
My concern is that if the feather development on Malin is problematic, there is no emergency access to the nest from the observation box. In other newsletters I have indicated that there should be a means to access the nest without compromising the safety of the individuals trying to help the birds.
There is only one operational White-Bellied Sea Eagle cam in the world. It is at the WBSE nest in the Sydney Olympic Park and the excitement there is just beginning. These two little ones, 27 and 28, appear to be getting along without food competition. Of course that can change but there has been plenty of Catfish Eels (or is it Eel Catfish?) on the nest.
Right now the sea eagles are sleeping. One little babe can be seen sleeping on Lady’s leg.
You can access this streaming cam here:
Tomorrow I will give you some information on other nests in Australia including two Peregrine Falcon streaming cams.
If it is Bald Eagles you love then the Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle Nest in Juneau, Alaska is not to be missed. Kindness is such a little sweetheart. Liberty and Freedom are helping her by trying to get her self-feeding skills honed. The eagles fledge later in Alaska because they are bigger in size than the ones hatching in the Southern US who are already off the nest. At Glacier Gardens, the average fledge is 89 days after hatch while the rest of Alaska is 80 days on average.
‘L’ also sent me the link to an Osprey nest that she has just discovered. The chick hatched on 23 June. It is a real little sweetheart ——- and the camera definition is excellent!
It is the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Osprey Nest. There is only one surviving chick. The other perished on 26 June; the cause is not clear. This chick looks extremely healthy. The nest is on top of a platform at the University of Minnesota. Enjoy!
Because so many of you love storks, I want to mention two that my friend, ‘S’ in Latvia says are very special. One nest is in Latvia and the other is in Estonia.
The Black Stork nest in Latvia is very special. The birds are listed as critically endangered and it is rare to see them in Latvia even though the White Stork population is healthy. The male is Grafs. ‘S’ explains to me that the nest is late because Grafs was a bachelor and waited a very long time for his mate, Grafiene, to arrive. The three storklings hatched on 12, 14, and 15 of June. There are many challenges for this couple and their trio. The first is the late hatching date and the worry about whether or not the parents will remain with the storklings until they are developed and strong enough for migration. The storklings will be ready for fledging in 20 or more days. That puts it at the third week of August. As we know, storks are already gathering for their migration so watchers can only wait and hope and take the beauty of this nest a day at a time – as we always do with other nests. The second concern has been the dangerous heat that has hit nests all around the world causing a drop in prey delivery. The third is the nest itself. It appears to be unsafe despite the fact that other stork couples have fledged chicks in previous years.
I want to add that the chicks are very healthy – they are doing so well so I want all of us to be optimistic. This year I have seen miracles happen on nests – I only have to look at Tiny Tot on the Achieva Osprey Nest and Tiny Little on Foulshaw Moss to know that positive things can happen if we all send warm wishes. Even the turning of the deadly storm cells away from the nest at Collins Marsh was another of those miracles or the safe return of the male at the Barnegat Light Osprey Nest in NJ after being missing for a day due to that same weather system. So, we wait, watch, and hope.
You can watch this beautiful nest here:
It is raining today on the nest. Oh, how I wish the beautiful storklings could send some of that moisture to Canada!
There is also a forum in English for this nest where you can go back and see the long history and discuss the nest. You can access it at
The second Black Stork nest is actually in Estonia. As in Latvia, Black Storks are loved in Estonia and are rare.
It is also raining at this nest today, too.
The parents are Jan and Janika. The nest is very stable so there are no worries with the structure. But because of the horrific heat that has impacted all nests, food deliveries have sometimes been problematic. Janika, like the mother on the Collins Marsh Osprey nest also disappears for long periods. These storklings will also have a challenge to be flight ready for when the migration begins. Again, we can watch with wonder at these extraordinary birds but we must be aware of some of the challenges that birds encounter. Life is not easy.
I really want to thank ‘S’ for bringing these two Black Stork nests to my attention plus sending me all of the information about them. They are such beautiful and rare birds and it is a real privilege to see them hatch, grow and learn, and then begin their journeys. In addition, I want to thank ‘L’ for sending the information on the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Ospreys and ‘S’ for finding all the images of the tower at Collins Marsh and the Nest and the great name for the Collins Marsh chick – Malin.
And I want to thank you for joining me today. It is always a pleasure to have you here with all the other bird lovers around the world. Stay safe everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Eagle Club of Estonia, Latvian Fund for Nature, Collins Marsh Nature Center, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest, Sea Eagle Cam, Birdlife Australia, and the Discovery Centre, Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle Nest, and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Osprey Cam.
