Tag Archives: Melbourne's Peregrine Falcons

Checking on the birds

Oh, how they have entertained us. How we waited to see if that fourth egg would hatch. How we watched as Dad was incubating during the earthquake. It has been quite the season with the Melbourne Peregrine falcons. Today, there is another nice article on the 367 Collins Street Falcons today. I have attached it in case you missed it!

We are so lucky that the four of them have decided to come out so that we can see them. Those downy feathers are disappearing quickly and they look like grown up falcons capable of taking on the skies of Melbourne -for awhile – til Mom and Dad boot them out. Certainly Mom and Dad have been doing flying demonstrations trying to lure them into thinking about taking the leap! They are a little over 5 weeks old today. Forty days and onward is approximate for fledging.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/for-melbourne-s-falcons-and-their-fans-a-new-domestic-drama-20211001-p58who.html?fbclid=IwAR1bgeKR4w2H622TETCdcJ0r0bgzLtVEE9BoK_35wrlcuWA4b0BzJ9VC0JI

Over in Orange, or should I say ‘up’ in Orange, Yarruga was one hungry chick waiting for supper that did not arrive. S/he had two feedings yesterday so she is going to be ravenous when breakfast arrives. There is no need to worry, though. She had a nice crop, larger than Diamond’s and Yarruga will not starve. In the world of raptors there are days of plenty and days of naught. Little ones need to learn that, too. Yarruga is 28 days old today. Four weeks.

Diamond was seen putting her entire weight on her right leg in the middle of the night to clean her talons. This is very good news. She has moved over to the ledge to grab some sleep before dawn and Diamond seems to be doing much better. How grand.

The Port Lincoln osplets are sound asleep. Little Bob is 50 days old today – while the two big siblings are 52 days old. We will be keeping an eye on those numbers because last year Solly fledged at 65 days (in the Northern Hemisphere it is 49 days onward). Solly was banded at 47 days and DEW at 46. On Monday, 8 November, these three will be banded, named, measured, and at least one will get a tracker. They are just wonderful – the three of them. I am surely going to miss this nest – perhaps the most civilized brood I have ever seen.

There is sadly some commotion going on at Taiaroa Head. Our beloved OGK may have realized that his mate, YRK, is not returning. He tried to mate – rather vigorously – with BOK who is also waiting for her mate to return. Being the gentleman that he is, OGK, returned to apologize in the Albatross way by doing a sky call with BOK later.

If it happens that YRK, Pippa Atawhai’s mum, does not return, it will not be from old age but from being caught in the lines of the fishing trawlers. I hope that you will think about our beloved Pippa and what a horrible death that would be – and it is entirely preventable! I feel rather gutted because these are all useless deaths that never have to happen. An albatross does not need to be decapitated every 5 minutes! The fixes are really easy. They include setting the lines at night, line weighting, and bird scaring lines. Some organizations are supplying these measures for free to the boats. The deaths are preventable. There needs to be international laws. Every country needs to stand up and demand that the fishing factories take these simple steps or not be able to fish. Write letters, phone your political representative – do it for Pippa. Then check out what the RSPB is doing. They are working alongside the Albatross Task Force to help end bycatch. Check out their website, ask who to contact. And remember – writing e-mails does help. Public pressure helps.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/policy-insight/marine-and-coastal/saving-seabirds-globally/the-albatross-task-force/

The Bald Eagles are really busy working on their nests in the US while the ones who came to Manitoba for their summer breeding are very slowly making their migration. Images of 30 or 40 along the river in my City have been posted locally the last few days but are not available to share beyond the Manitoba Birding and Photography FB page. I still have a few Slate Grey Juncos and today that meant a trip to the seed seller to get some more Husked Millet for them. The day is just starting in Australia and New Zealand so no telling what will happen. I long for YRK to fly in and just land on OGK’s head! That would be a rather dramatic entrance fitting for this very patient male who has been working on a nest for about six weeks now. No doubt Yarruga is going to be screaming for breakfast! I will post the updates on Grinnell tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, thank you for joining me and take care everyone.

Thanks to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, 367 Collins Street Falcons by Mirvac, Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, and Cornell Bird Lab and NZ DOC.

Season of the Osprey

One task I take very seriously is alerting readers to the importance of banding and monitoring the birds, reporting sightings, and examining ways to stop human induced injury or death to our lovely feathered creatures. A few days ago I reported the tragic death of Blue 2AA, a Rutland 2015 hatch, who had killed when it landed on a high voltage wire in Spain where he had wintered for the past six years. Here is a well-written article from Rutland that covers many of my concerns with special regard to Duracell, 2AA:

https://www.lrwt.org.uk/blog/abi-mustard/osprey-threats-and-sightings?fbclid=IwAR1orkmPXp58chrj5RANcoqoGuM09ucy8dWhE-NTBmCUsg_Cl2mXtQE-B3A

For those of you waiting word about this fabulous documentary, Season of the Osprey, here is the news for viewers in the US:

This is just two days away!!!!!! Please watch and make sure you check your local stations for any change to the time. I also understand that a DVD will be sold at a later date. That is great for folks like me that don’t have cable television. Thank you PBS!

Spotters in Africa and the Iberian Peninsula continue to report Osprey sightings. There are now more than 600 in Senegal alone. I know that each of you will be thrilled to hear that Loch of the Lowes couple Laddie and NC0’s 2021 female fledgling, LR2, has been repeatedly spotted in Spain. She is at the Veta la Palma Espacio Natural Donana, La Puebla del Rio.

This is one of the largest nature reserves in all of Europe. She could not have picked a safer and more appropriate spot for her very first winter. Here are the map images and here is a link to the website so you can see all of the birds and wildlife at this ecological site. I am also posting this in case some of you want to travel at some time to see the birds – all kinds – this time of year – but do not wish to go all the way to Africa.

https://www.vetalapalma.es/en/donana-en/

It is always good news when the first year fledges find a safe place with abundant resources. It is even better when we know about it and can celebrate with them. As you know only about a third of the fledglings succeed so big smiles all around. Laddie and NC0 would be thrilled! Another Rutland bird, Blue 081, a male fledgling of Maya and Blue 33 spent his first year, 2020, and has been seen this year, at Veta la Palma, Cota Donara, Spain. I continue to wait with great hope for news of Blue 463, Tiny Little Bob from the Foulshaw Moss Nest.

It is early morning in Australia. Mirvac has changed the zoom on the camera for the 367 Collins Four but you might find that the eyases are still out of view. I understand that it will not be changed again. You can hear the little ones running around on the metal.

Diamond and Yarruga are awaiting a breakfast delivery.

The trio at Port Lincoln Osprey Barge are still snoozing.

There has been no further word about WBSE 28. WBSE 27 has been seen by several people and photographed near to the Discovery Centre across the river from Lady and Dad’s roost. They will surely know where 27 is and be providing food for it. The eagles first get their flying and landing skills down before fishing and hunting (normally). The parents help them by providing them with food. I sure hope that Lady and Dad also know where 28 is! Ranger Judy reported she has done a walk through the forest adding she did not hear or see anything but that it is a large area.

That is it for today. It is a cool sunny day on the Canadian prairies and it is time to clean up bird seed. The goose flight images were not good last night because of where people had to stand due to pandemic restrictions. I hope to go out to the other nature centre before the end of the month to see if I can catch some of the thousands of Canada Geese making their way south.

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

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: the Port Lincoln Osprey Project, the 367 Collins Street Falcons by Mirvac, and Charles Sturt University at Orange Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross.

Everything is good in Bird World. 17 October 2021

It was 19 or 20 degrees C, depending on which weather station you listened to, on the Canadian Prairies this afternoon. Those temperatures are traditional summer ones, not middle of October! As a result, my foray to photograph Wood Ducks went sideways. It was a beautiful Sunday and everyone was outside in their summer clothes with bikes or skateboards, picnic lunches or books or both.

“Kildonan Park” by RWTurenne is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I do not blame them but, it was impossible to get near the ducks and the Canada Geese in the pond near the Witches’ Cottage in Kildonan Park.

“Kildonan Park” by Travy is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

We may get our first frost on Wednesday evening but until then the days are going to be brilliant. No doubt those ducks will still be around awhile longer.

“Lots of Ducks” by theclyde is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

There was a small altercation at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge around 09:24. It is unclear what got into Middle Bob but he had a bee in his bonnet and decided he wanted to take it out on Little Bob. The skirmish lasted three eyelid blinks and it was over. And it did not put Little Bob off in the slightest. He was up front and ready to eat when the next fish was delivered at 12:16:01. Indeed, there had been two fish deliveries and feedings already – at 6:34:35 and another at 8:21:17. All of the chicks have been preening feverishly. Wonder if it is the itch from the feathers that is making Middle Bob out of sorts?

The juvenile feathers are really coming in and depending on the way the light hits the nest you can hardly find the chicks.

Little Bob is up at Mum’s beak with Middle Bob to its right. Big Bob is facing off the nest and has a rather robust tummy and crop.

No one seems to have moved. Little Bob is eating first. Anything Middle Bob have done to try and intimidate him has not worked. I am just going to put it down to Middle Bob waking up on the wrong side of the nest! If Little Bob turns out like Tiny Tot Tumbles from the Achieva Nest, Middle Bob will wish he had not been naughty.

It was a nice sized fish – not a whopper – but, it topped the kids off, all of them. In six hours, three fish. Pretty good, Dad!

That is Little Bob in the middle showing his nice crop in the image below. Look at how the tail is growing on the chick to the right.

Little Bob is 32 days old today. That makes Big and Middle 34 days or if you count the other method – Big is 34, Middle is 33, and Little is 32. There is 51 hours between the time Big and Little hatched. That surely has had a strong impact on the peacefulness of this nest, this year.

There were some very tender moments between Diamond and her baby yesterday evening in the scrape box at Orange. Here is one of those.

What a difference it makes when the chick’s eyes are fully open and they can see their parent and that food coming in that big beak. This chick is 9 days old. Just imagine. A week ago it was hardly bigger than one of those eggs. It is healthy and strong.

One but, probably both, of the White Bellied Sea Eagles is going to fledge really soon. They can hardly contain their wings from flapping and their legs from jumping. Typically, fledges occur in the morning or evening. Keep your eyes open for news from this nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest.

For those of you following the Royal Cam Chick, Tiaki, this season, there were a few tense days when her sat-pak was not plotting her GPS. Today it began working – possibly due to needing to be charged -. She is well past the International Date Line on her way to the waters of Chile. That was such a relief for everyone. When those GPS units quit working everyone fears the worst.

Last year’s favourite Albatross, OGK, Pippa Atawhai’s Dad, has been in and out at Taiaroa Head waiting for the arrival of YRK, his mate. Oh, I hope she arrives soon!

Lady Hawk posted a video showing Tiaki’s location and OGK having to defend his territory.

Apparently, OGK left and the two love birds spent the night on a spot near to Pippa Atawhai’s nest.

First feeding for the 367 Collins Street Four in Melbourne. Everyone has a nice polished crop and that scrape box sure needs a good wind to hit it! They are soooooo big. Three seemed a lot to handle last year with those big females but imagine when they are ready to fledge. These parents are going to deserve a really good rest.

They were the stars of one of ABC’s breakfast television shows yesterday. Melbourne sure loves their falcon family! They also included Diamond and Xavier from Orange. It was wonderful that the Peregrine Falcons made it into the last round of voting for Australia’s Bird of the Year. Maybe next year!

One of the most interesting prey items was a quail that Dad brought in. Everyone is wondering where he found it. I mean, seriously, where do you expect to find a quail in a large city? the zoo?

What a wonderful way to end the day – all of the birds are fed and well taken care of. Life really is good on the nests. We are so very fortunate to be able to watch their lives.

Thank you so much for joining me. I hope to have some good images of the Wood Ducks this week. Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures: Sea Eagle Cam @Birdlife Australia Discovery Center, 367 Collins Street Falcons by Mirvac, Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam at Orange and Cilla Kinross, and the Port Lincoln Osprey Project.

Urban Birds

There is a superb little video of Dad delivering Mum a pigeon carcass to feed the Melbourne Four. You will notice that the chicks really come to attention when they hear the ee-chupping that signals that a food delivery and meal are eminent.

I wonder how many prey items have been delivered to this nest so far? Awww…cute little dad just melts my heart. He is such a sweetie.

The Port Lincoln Ospreys had 7 feedings yesterday, 7 different fish deliveries. They were getting off to a good start today with a delivery very early in the morning and several quickly following. This nest just amazes me this year. Everyone is doing so well. Just look at those beautiful juvenile feathers growing in and the tails! Those magical tails with their white fringe.

I have been interested in birds since I was a child – enjoying the ones in my family’s garden and feeding them as well as the regular trips to the duck pond. It was not until I was an adult and had an encounter with a female Sharp-shinned hawk that my life catapulted into a different direction. Today I have two very focused ‘bird interests’ – Osprey nests with three hatches and urban raptors.

Today I turned back to thinking about the need for large parks within cities so that there would be a diversity of wildlife. One person who covers the Central Park area of New York City has a great blog with incredible photographs and short videos. His name is Bruce Yolton and he covers all of the birds and sometimes other species that live in the urban parks of New York City. This is the address of his blog, take a look. He has recently written about a beautiful Belted Kingfisher and Great Horned Owl.

https://www.urbanhawks.com/

Indeed, the very first streaming cam I ever watched was a pair of Red-tailed Hawks raising eyases in a nest on the ledge of New York City University’s library. I learned so much about the challenges that urban wildlife faces watching their daily lives unfold, learning the history of the nest, and chatting with many of the other people watching. Then one year, the female died of rodenticide poisoning. The male tried to incubate the eggs but, as we all know, it generally takes two full time adult birds to raise a nest. It was quite sad. Eventually, I discovered Big Red up at Cornell.

Bruce is an expert on the notorious Pale Male whose nest is on Fifth Avenue across from Central Park. You might have seen the full length documentary The Legend of Pale Male and the fight for this raptor to maintain his nest at this prestigious address. Pale Male is, I believe, coming on 32 years of age. He arrived in Central Park in 1991, thirty years ago. Bruce just uploaded a video of Pale Male hunting in Tupelo Meadow for a Brown Rat.

One of the greatest causes of death to urban raptors is rodenticide. Every time I hear or see a bird of prey eating a rat or mouse I worry that they will die from secondary poisoning. As you well know, raptors kill more rodents than any poisons. So why aren’t the designer poisons banned?

It was, however, Bruce’s video of Chimney Swifts, hundreds of them, flying into the chimneys of New York City that intrigued me. I think it will you, too.

All of the birds are doing well. Really well actually. It is reassuring in a world full of anxieties.

Thank you for joining me. I will put the link to the movie about Pale Male in case you haven’t seen it. If that is the case, grab your favourite snacks and enjoy watching the lobbying for a bird to keep its nest. It is quite remarkable. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: 367 Collins Street Falcons by Mirvac and Port Lincoln Osprey Project.

You can find the Legend of Pale Male here. It is free and well done.

thelegendofpalemale.net

Gold Star for PLO Dad – again!

It was a gorgeous day to be outside clearing up after the birds and replenishing their feeders and bowls. The gossip around the City is that the Robins are making their way through and stopping over for a bit before heading farther South. I don’t blame them. The wind is hardly blowing, the leaves are now golden, and the sky is blue. It is 24 degrees F. I would enjoy a vacation here if I didn’t live here, too!

It is nasty down in Port Lincoln, Australia. It is 11 degrees with 37 mph winds. Not as bad at the moment as yesterday but, the waves were fairly high and rough a bit earlier. That said I am just gobsmacked by the Port Lincoln Dad. A really nice fish hit the decks of the nest on the barge at 7:00:33. From some of the flapping going on, it appeared to be still alive. Little Bob doesn’t care! He just wants breakfast. I am certain that he currently has no idea of the effort his Dad went to getting that prize on the table.

There is a wee bit of chaos on the nest when the fish arrives. In front, with those lovely light grey stomach markings, and ‘staring’ at the fish is Little Bob. Oh, he does love his fish.

It really helps to get in the right position for Mum to see you. Little Bob keeps his eye on Mum and that fish. He needs to get himself up to the table and Big Bob is in the way.

Ah, Little Bob moves up. He is in the foreground or on the left of the choir but it is not a good place to be. Mom is feeding from the front of the fish. Little Bob really does like to go first. Will he move or stretch his neck?

They are all lined up nicely.

OK. Little Bob has relocated. He wants Mum to see his wide open mouth and fill it with fish. Do you think this is a better spot?

Bingo. The sun shines down on the ‘Golden Child’. The two older sibs look like they would rather lay down and not have the wind hit their faces. Little Bob prefers to eat.

Both Eyes wide open as well as beak open.

Yes! Little Bob is in the perfect spot. The others don’t seem to care. Indeed, they could well be used to him going first. There is always lots of fish to go around.

I wish you could see the smile on my face. Remember the day that Big Bob wanted to push her weight around and try and be dominant? You will recall that it didn’t work. Some of these third hatches are just brilliant. Little Bob is one of those. He doesn’t want to take ‘no’ for an answer so he figures out a strategy. Moving worked today.

Something happens. Mum starts feeding the big sibling in between Little Bob and the fish! Little Bob opens his mouth wide over and over again to try and get Mum’s attention.

It looks like the same image below, it isn’t. Little Bob tries over and over again. “Hey, Mum. Look, my mouth is open. Right here”.

Will his persistence pay off?

Finally!

Little Bob is getting some good bites. You can see the fish on his beak.

Little Bob is still opening wide. He has dropped the little crop he had and he is wanting more fish. Mum and Dad might have different ideas about that.

Did Dad want fish left for another feeding in case he couldn’t catch another one for awhile? It is unclear. At 7:32:57 Dad comes to retrieve the fish.

Every chick ate. Little Bob wanted some more bites but Mum said it was time to stop.

Surprise! Dad ate some of the fish and brought it back to Mum and the kids at 8:09:50.

It is difficult to see but it looks like everyone is crowded around Mom. The nest looks wet and cold. Hopefully that sun will come out and dry it tomorrow.

Is there someone still eating?

There is no telling who got what or how much. It is really windy and I bet chilly on the nest. Mom has them tucked in tight. The worst thing would be to get a chill in that damp nest.

Despite the cool windy weather, the chicks have had two feedings off that nice fish in the space of an hour and a half. Mom has them tucked in and they will be super toasty. Everything is fine on this nest. Just fine.

Mum and Dad are busy getting groceries for the four little falcons. My goodness they are growing and seem to be getting bigger and stronger by the hour. All you need to do is to take a look at the size of that wing in the image below to see the growth in a couple of days. Wow.

Xavier got a chance to incubate the eggs this morning so he was super eggcited.

WBSE 27 and 28 had an early feeding and they are both perfect – strengthening their legs and wings and getting very interested in the world outside of the nest. This has also been a great family to watch this year, just like the Port Lincoln Osprey family. No big dramatic events in either.

That is it for me today. I hope you had a very good weekend no matter where you are or what time it is. Take care everyone. See you soon!

And a last reminder. Mark you calendars. 9 October is eBird count day.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Sea Eagle Cam @ Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, 367 Collins Street Falcons by Mirvac, and Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam at Orange.

Late Tuesday happenings in Bird World

There is an excellent and rather cheeky article on the penthouse of our Collins Street Peregrine Falcons in Meanjin Quarterly coming out of Australia. The author is Ester Anatolitis. It is outrageously funny and clever. Check it out!

At Home With the Collins St Peregrine Falcon

For anyone who missed the news, the female at Collins Street laid that second egg today at 16:43. Yahoo!

I am posting a video that was shared on one of my Osprey FB groups today. There is a bit of foul language but it is the subject and the ‘heart’ of what is going on that is important and that is why I want you to find it and watch it. It also happened in Canada! Near Ottawa. A juvenile Osprey takes its first flight. Where does it land up? On the ground, of course! It is found by this couple who help it. If you have read my posts about Malin, this is what should have happened Thursday night. The wildlife rehabber should have been allowed access to the gate and stairs to get to the top of the tower with her binoculars. She could have found Malin and helped him – just like this couple did this Osprey!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/829595230542720/posts/1938586209643611

I was actually trying not to mention Malin for once but, this video caught my eye because it is the ‘right thing to do’. The man found the Osprey in the grass after its first flight. He helped the little one out of the grass. And flapped his arms and helped it until it could fly back to its nest. Bravo.

I am really keen on tracking and banding. Originally satellite trackers were used to study the foraging ranges of sea birds. In fact, that is precisely what is going on with the Royal Cam adults in New Zealand currently. More recently, however, trackers are used to study the migratory strategies and to identify the wintering grounds of several species. Others use them to study how weather conditions influence migration. This information and much more data like it will become paramount as we try to establish if the climate crisis has an impact on breeding and wintering grounds.

This is Karl II. Karl has been fitted with a satellite transmitter for a number of years. This is his last appearance of the nest that she shares with Grafiene in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. The couple raised three healthy fledglings this year. Karl II was last seen on 22 August at 15:50. Satellite tracking indicated that Karl II was on his usual routing towards the Black Sea.

Karl II is an expert at migration. He travels from his breeding area in the Karula National Park in Estonia to spend the night in the Sebezhsky National Part in northwest Russia.

The latest transmission on the 24th shows Karl II travelled 278 km and is now near the Berezina River east of Minsk in Belarus.

The satellite tracking further showed that Karl II looked for food in the wet areas around the river and went to sleep in a forest on the bank of the river. It is an area known as the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve.

The following information was posted about the place where Karl II is located.

“It is situated on the flat watershed of the Baltic and Black Seas, in low valley in the basin of the Berezina River. Landscape is a mosaic of coniferous and deciduous forests, lakes, peatlands (60 %), rivers, floodplain and small arable fields. Climate is temperate continental, humid, precipitation total: 690 mm/year. Average annual air temperature is 5.2 °C.
The Berezina is the main river in the reserve, flowing through its territory for over 110 km. There are 7 small lakes with the total area being about 2000 hectares in the reserve. The flora comprises more then 2000 species with 804 species of vascular plants (42 rare for Belarus).”

“File:Spring day on the river Biarezina in April.jpg” by Maria Gnedina is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

The female, Pikne, was the last fledgling to leave the nest for her migration. She loved being fed by dad. She is also the fledgling that has made the most straightforward routing. She flew from Latvia to Belarus and then on to the Ukraine. The map below shows the leg from Belarus to the Ukraine. She will do doubt be further still when her transmitter data is next recorded. In one day she flew 379 km.

Udu was confused in his travels. Everything seems corrected now. It is like driving a different way than Google Maps tells you and Google adjusts for the error. At the time of the latest satellite transmission, Udu had traveled 604 km in total. What the researchers are noticing is that while, Pikne is going the normal Asia Minor or Eastern route, Udu is heading towards Germany and the Western route. He was last in Poland heading southwest to Germany. This is very interesting.

There are issues, as I stated in an earlier posting, with the transmissions from the other male, Tuul. The transmission data showed little movement. I am awaiting news. It is possible that the transmitter is faulty.

The last combined image of the routes of the three for comparison.

At the same time I would like to show you what other information that the researchers and citizen birders can access. On the left hand side you can find the precise location of the bird, the speed they are travelling, and their altitude – just as if you were tracking a plane on FlightRadar. This particular information is for Pikne.

Things are not going well on the WBSE nest of Lady and Dad in the Sydney Olympic Park. Everyone was hopeful that the two sea eaglets, similar size, would get along and thrive. There was some bonking in the beginning but not a lot. That, however, has changed significantly because of the lack of prey delivered to the nest. WBSE 27 totally dominates the now much smaller 28. 27 is 27 days old and 28 is 25 days old. The rains started the issues related to prey delivery.

In the image below 27 has completely controlled the feeding and has a large crop. 28 was too frightened to try and eat.

Even when the parent is gone Little 28 is afraid to move. Like every little abused second or third hatch, 28 knows to keep its eyes open, to listen, and to keep its head down.

Little 27 waits til 28’s food starts making it sleepy and the little one moves up to the piece of prey left on the nest. 27 doesn’t care now. This is the perfect time for the parent to return to the nest and feed this baby who is so hungry.

The survival stories of our Ospreys Tiny Tot and Tiny Little are being played out on this nest in the life of 28. The Little one is starving. It needs food. It will be the first to self-feed. It is unclear if 28 got any of the food but it knows what to do. Let us hope that it is as clever as our two great survivors this year!

27 has fallen asleep. It is unclear if 28 was able to get any food. I somehow doubt it.

Lady returns. Wakes up the ‘beast’ and 27 begins hammering 28. This is turning into a horrible situation. Please send your positive energy that lots of food will come to this nest so that both are fed full! This little one needs to eat to survive.

This image was shot later in the day, hours after the morning attacks by WBSE 27.

I was told that a big fish had come on to the nest and both were fed well but I cannot find that in the footage of the streaming cam. What I do see is continued dominance and abuse by 27 over 28. No one will intervene.

I want to close with something nice because it is out there and we have to remind ourselves continually that there is ‘light’. At the same time, positive energy needs to go out to little 28 so that he can survive and thrive like Tiny Tot and Tiny Little.

One of the chicks destined to die of starvation on a nest was Tiny Little Bob, Blue 463, at the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest in Cumbria. But, she didn’t. She lived to become the dominant one on the nest (as did Tiny Tot at Achieva). My last post had Blue 463 screaming her head off for a fish. Well, guess what? It worked! Dad, White YW, brought her in a really nice headless fish. Tiny Little went to bed with her crop full.

So when you think that the worst is happening with WBSE 28 just remember that the ones who survive do it by being clever, by watching and listening, learning how to overcome and get what they want ——— just like that big fish about to arrive on the Foulshaw Moss nest for her queen, Tiny Little!

Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me. I hope you do not mind my including some repetition on the satellite tracking of the Estonian Black Storks. I wanted you to know where Karl II had been and is. Some do not read the newsletter every day and it is good to remember that banding and tracking are valuable tools in studying our beloved birds. I hope to have updated information on the Udu and Pikne’s locations tomorrow. Perhaps there will also be word on Tuul.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: The Eagle Club of Estonia, Sea Eagle Cam, Birdlife Australia, and The Discovery Centre, The Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Cam.