Tag Archives: Mlade Buky White Storks

Is it really Little Bit 17? and other Sadness and Gladness in Bird World

3 August 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

I was out almost all day yesterday and returned to find some sad news. We will get this over and move on to all the good news!

The situation at the #4 Osprey nest in Finland turned darker. An intruder appeared and the chicks ‘fell or flew’ off the nest. The youngest who had not as yet flown was predated. This is also the chick that was so vigorously attacked by Mum the other day. So sad. Thank you ‘N’ for letting me know. This is 81 lost so far in the past 13 months on streaming cams.

The Mum and the surviving fledgling on the #4 nest. Keep them in your warmest thoughts.

Ervie. Bazza Hockaday was doing some photography for a client and found Ervie, too. Can you spot Ervie on top of the pine tree? This park is across from the barge – so Ervie is staying close. (Magnifying glass almost required!)

Meanwhile Mum and Dad are making sure that Mum is quite comfortable on those eggs – they are lining the nest with a Silver Gull, one of the favourite foods of the Sea Eagles.

Everyone wondered if anyone would be keeping an eye for Little Bit ND17. It seems that lots of people who loved the eagle that fought so hard to live continues to have a loyal fan club. This evening on the Notre-Dame FB page, the following was posted. It looks as if our Little Bit has been very resourceful and is doing fantastic. Tears, joyful tears!

SF Ospreys have not received the DNA results from Brooks and Molate. Brooks continues to enjoy herself at the other nest and the visitor seems right at home. He is certainly a lovely Osprey – and talented.

The ‘visitor’ at the nest of Richmond and Rosie has done something very special – it caught a Spiny Dogfish (Shark) that lives in the Bay. (Reminds me of those brought to the nest at Mispillion Harbour in Delaware – bet it is just a slight difference in name from one region to the other but the same fish). The juvenile very proudly brought it to the nest. SF Ospreys say this is highly unusual. They have only seen a juvenile do this once. Round of applause!

Here is the video clip:

At the Black Stork nest of Karl II and Kaia, Karl was busy flying back and forth to the fish basket. He delivered 3 big meals to the storklets. Kaia delivered 1 on the 2nd of August. There was some concern that Karl II’s GPS was not working but it seems to be fine now. Thank goodness. I do worry about them all the time for some reason – storklets not yet fledged and requiring much food before migration.

Bonus has been standing on the curved perch with 1 leg. Great balance. Bonus is the oldest of the four. He is 72 days old on 2 August.

The four storklets of Betty and Bukacek are doing fantastic. The female- Fifinka- often spends time on the nest of the adults and then flies to the natal nest when food arrives. Sometimes she holds back from the bigger males but she wastes no time getting there if she is hungry. In the image below she is at the top flying in.

There is no reason for it other than sheer dominance at the Sydney Sea Eagles nest. Lady feeds SE29 and 30 at least every hour if not sooner. Things were going relatively well until 0911 when 29 decided to not be nice and attack 30.

Three minutes later 29 is going into a food coma and 30 is being fed (0917 below).

SE30 keeps its head down to protect it.

Notice how 30 is slinking around the back ready to move forward and eat when 29 calms herself. Very clever tactic.

SE 30 is still being fed four minutes later. All is right with the world.

Mom and Dad on the nest of the Port Lincoln Barge early on 3 August.

Did you fall in love with Louis and Anna at the Kisatchie National Park Bald Eagle cam? couldn’t believe your eyes the day 18 fish were on the nest? did you melt and worry when Kisatchie fledged? when Kincaid hatched this year? Well, Cody and Steve have more fun for everyone. You will be able to watch 2 Bald Eagle nests from the Louisiana! Here is the announcement:

Humans and wildlife rehabbers helping another juvenile eaglet so that it has a second chance at life. These stories are always welcome!

The fish have been arriving in various sizes to the Osoyoos nest. ‘H’ sent me a note this morning saying the tally was at least 13 yesterday. Olsen is keeping up the numbers and some of them had to be good a good size. Sometimes the chicks are full and sometimes they aren’t. The last fish for 2 August was delivered at 20:01. Dad brought it in and Big Chick (BC) grabbed the tasty little twiddler. Dad rooted around and found an old piece of fish and fed Little Chick (LC). The family is nourished and hydrated. They have a break in the weather for a few days. This is all good news.

Here comes Olsen! BC rushes over to get the little prize.

Fortunately for LC, Dad found a piece of fish and is feeding him while BC works on the twiddler. It is all good.

The fish started arriving at the Osoyoos nest around 0523. The first was a small one but it seems to have changed possession at least 6 or 7 times. BC has been grabbing and self-feeding. Soo got into the action so that her and LC had some breakfast too. It is starting off to be another great day at this nest with 7 fish before 00700. Thanks Olsen!

Beautiful Iris. She continues to work on her nest. Precious are these moments – every year we wait til she leaves and wonder if she will return in the spring after migration. 29 years?

There are no updates on L4. It is now presumed that it was another window strike on the Cornell Campus. That would mean that of the four eyases – three struck windows at Cornell whose Bird Lab is one of the world leaders. Of those three, two are in care and one died. It is time Cornell made its windows bird strike proof like all of us try to do. I have not see at this time 1052 CDT an image of the head of the juvenile believed to be ND17. Elsewhere things seem to be steady but that could change as I hit the word ‘publish’.

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

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, postings, videos, etc: Osoyoos Ospreys, Notre Dame Eagles FB, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Mlade Buky, The Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender, Center for Wildlife, US Forest Service at the Kistachie NF, Port Lincoln Ospreys, and SF Bay Ospreys. They have been turned into my screen captures.

Did you know falcons kiss? and other stories early Friday

29 July 2022

Good Morning everyone. I hope that you are all well. Bird World appears to be quiet although it might not be…there continue to be intruders at nests. ‘N’ expressed some concern about nest #4 in Finland. I will keep an eye and see if there is an intruder there. The visitor is still with Rosie and Richmond and Brooks is living on a nest about a mile away. In my lifetime my home has been the place where the children of my friends or my children’s felt they could come for a ‘break’. Some stayed a night, others a month, and some 18 months. It helps me to understand what is going on with the ospreys in SF Bay. It is fantastic that they take good care of one another’s little ones. Enlightened. So many academic journals speak to the notion of cooperation instead of competition and that in the end, cooperation is better for all of the raptors. We are certainly seeing it played out on the nest of Richmond and Rosie.

Serious romance is happening in the Cal Falcons scrape…Bird World might be relatively quiet but….wow…there are fireworks between Annie and Alden!

Despite areas around Osoyoos being 44 C today, Olsen managed to deliver fish and quite honestly that is all that matters. The chicks are looking food and it is Friday! There is – oh, let’s for once have a correct forest – cooler weather coming after Sunday. Soo has done the best she can do and Olsen is working as best he can…good work everyone. Just look at those two beautiful chicks.

The heat warning for Osoyoos and this beautiful family has now been extended to run through Monday. Oh, goodness.

Olsen has already been out fishing and that is fantastic.

So far the two osplets – one has fledged -on the Janakkalan nest in Finland are doing so well. The second has yet to fledge. We hope that the goshawk that visited the nest two days ago does not return. These two need to eat and build up their strength for migrating south – what a dangerous journey for them it will be.

Only one on the nest at Loch Arkaig as the light begins to cast such a beautiful glow on the valley and loch below. Yesterday this chick was flapping and hopping and today could be fledge day. Hoping you get some wind, Sarafina.

Dawn finds one fledgling on the Manton Bay nest at Rutland of Blue 33 and Maya. Waiting for a delivery of fish by Dad no doubt! But look at the crop..was there something already on the nest??? I wonder.

At the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn, there appear to be three fledglings on Dad’s perch – not on the nest!

Kielder Forest is celebrating the fledge of the 100th chick from its osprey platforms since they started in 2009. That lucky chick was Fourlaws, a female from nest 6. Of those 100, Mr YA from Nest 1A was responsible for 26 of those. Sadly, he is not longer with us but Mrs YA gets several gold stars. She brought in 3 large trout today! I do not know if you knew but Nest 1A originally had four beautiful osplets. 440 Farne fledged but he has not been seen since and is believed perished like his father, YA.

The four fledged. that is a tremendous undertaking. Mrs YA is really amazing taking on all parenting roles now.

Victor is at the end of this short video clip about the sound Bald Eagles make. No new news but we all hope that he is doing splendidly in the great care of the Ojai Raptor Centre.

Oh, I haven’t mentioned the California Condors for some time. Shame on me! The chick in Tom’s Canyon (parents are 462 male and 846 female) is doing fabulous. Huge hopes for this one.

This is the link to the camera:

The storklets of Bukacek and Betty are doing fantastic. They are so white now compared to when they were younger and it was raining. They looked like they had rolled in soil rich in Red Iron Oxide.

Betty is calling to Bukacek who is in the ‘adults only’ nest in the background.

Look at how beautiful the four storklets are. Oh, my goodness.

Karl II has brought in lots of fish for the first meal for the four Black Storklets on the Estonian nest.

‘H’ caught the two fledglings at the Mispillion Harbour platform doing a great tug o war over a fish. Super shot. The oldest won but no fear. Dad or Mum will arrive on the nest or out on some of the perches with something for the youngest. What a great nest this one turned out to be and few people watch it. Definitely one to put on your list for next breeding season.

Notice the already nice crop on the one in front and the long legs of the fledgling behind. Beautiful birds. They are, of course, doing what they need to do to flourish on their own — fight over food and win!

I had a note from ‘N’ yesterday with a question about an osprey platform in Idaho. It is not a nest that I knew about and I have written to the parks manager to find out more because it seems this nest had four fledglings! Four. It is rare as we know. All survived. There is no rewind and there were only two on the platform this morning. Yesterday when I was watching there were three birds on the platform.

There are three cameras,, not all of them are on at the same time and there is no rewind but the clarity is excellent.

Here is a map of the location. The area looks like it would be great Osprey territory with all of the lakes. It is also in the region of the heat wave that has been hitting the area. Osoyoos is actually directly north and just a wee bit west.

This will give you an idea of the area.

Sure enough…this area is going to be even hotter than in Osoyoos. Keep all of these ospreys in your thoughts until we can get the end of Monday finished then there is hope for cooler temperatures.

Here is a link to McEwan Park Ospreys, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

https://www.cdaid.org/videos/OspreyCameras?p=8088&d=3&name=South%20Camera

There are few Bald Eagle fledglings that we can catch coming to the nest. Thankfully Lilibet is one of those – I wonder if she is still missing Victor? Hopefully we will get an update on his improving condition this week. For now, Andor and Mama Cruz are providing really well for their girl.

Lisa Yen caught this great capture after Lilibet had consumed several fish and a bird about a week ago. Goodness…that is a crop.

Just a couple of images of the Sea Eagles nest in Sydney. One of my readers ‘C’ says it is a hard nest to watch. It is! Yesterday SE30 had a really good feeding when 29 was asleep. These are going to help it. It seems a long way away but this nest really should be settling down in another week. My suggestion is to simply watch another nest…check on this one in a day or two or even three. As long as the food continues to come on the nest and there are feedings every hour or so, I am not thinking there is going to be a problem. But, as always, we know that nests turn on a dime and anything can happen.

The ‘official’ word coming out of Sydney is that the nest is doing fine. No worries.

Thank you so much for being with me this morning. Unless there is a major incident or announcement about a bird in care, I will begin what I normally do during the month of August and write only one blog a day until we have some more nests with eggs in Australia. Almost every osplet has fledged in the UK. Sarafina at Loch Arkaig should fly today. I will continue to monitor the nests that are suffering from these extreme heats caused by climate change. Please keep them in your thoughts. It is so very tough for them. Take care everyone. Stay safe. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their posts and/of streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Osoyoos Ospreys, SF Bay Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Cal Falcons, Mlade Buky Storks, Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender, Explore.org and IWS, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and ‘H’, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, McEwan Park Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab, Dyfi Osprey Project, Kieldner Forest, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Google Maps, and LRWT.

Monday morning in Bird World

25 July 2022

Oh, good morning everyone! Still some fledging going on in the UK, osplets getting their ‘legs’ in the US, another video of Little Bit…it is starting off as a good week. Fingers and toes crossed.

At the Sea Eagles nest in the old Ironbark Tree, Lady seems to have gotten into a pattern of feeding SE 29 and 30 every hour. Lady’s job at this stage of the eaglet’s development is to brood and feed the chicks. Dad is in charge of hunting and guarding the nest. The chicks will grow quickly. When they are 3-4 weeks old, Lady will stop brooding them at night and sleep perched on the tree. Fledging takes place between 75-85 days, normally.

So,, we must enjoy every moment of these two little white snow balls. What can we expect in weeks 2 and 3? You will continue to notice how their beaks are growing longer. It is hard to imagine but they will start to crawl out of the nest cup during week 2. You will also notice they have started to squirt their ‘ps’ over the side of the nest. No potty training for these two – it is instinctual. By week 3 they will be double their size at hatch and they will become interested in things around them. They will be eating bigger flakes of fish and pieces of prey and, of course, they will have mastered getting those bites into their beak from Lady much better than in the early days.

It is the most beautiful golden morning in Finland at the Janakkalan Osprey nest. The two chicks are sound asleep.

It is an equally beautiful morning in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic as the sun comes over the distant hills. You can see the four storklets on the natal nest in the foreground. Now look carefully at the top image. In the middle ground, there is the finished ‘home’ that Bukacek was building for him and Betty. The storklets can flap all they want — and they are beginning to work those wings. It would be a little crowded there with six on that nest!

Sorry. It is so dark there but look carefully and you will see the adults in their own private space!

All four storklets at the nest of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest in Estonia are doing splendid. Like the White Storks above, these four are starting to work their wings as well.

There were only 2 feedings for the storklets on 24 July. From the discussion forum, it appears that the fish baskets need filling or some other bird species is eating them. It also appears that there is not enough fish in the natural sources… let us all hope that the baskets are filled and Karl II and Kaia find all that food and eat themselves and feed their four very large storklets.

The three fledglings of Ivo and Iiris are doing well although some of their take offs and landings need a little adjustment. Ivo is delivering really nice size fish to the nest and each waits their turn for another delivery if they missed an earlier one. The nest is located in Southern Estonia near Tartumaa. Nearby is a fish farm as well as a river and some ponds. It would appear from the deliveries that there is plenty of fish for this family of 5.

Ivo has enjoyed the head of this fish. He has a very nice crop. Thanks, Dad.

Another video of the area of the Notre-Dame Eagles – and a most welcome one. It shows where they are and where you can ‘view’ them without doing harm. The individual filming will point the camera to the trees. Squint – look hard. There is at least one fledgling on a branch. They say it is ND17! I sure hope so. It was great to see the three yesterday for the simple reason that 17 is eating somewhere…and flying around watching and learning from the parents …or there would not have been three. So very grateful. Thank you!

Carol Mandis-Beatle posted some images of the three ND eaglets on FB. I hope she does not mind if I share one of them. They were so cute..and they grow so fast!

Speaking of ‘baby pictures’. How many of you remember J3? He falls right up there with L4 for me — cutie pies – Big Red and Arthur’s kids at Cornell. Gosh, I would love to know the dispersal area of their eyases and would especially like to know how they are. You get attached and poof – gone.

J2 and J3 (J1 will be killed flying into the glass at the Weil Building) were best mates. They soared in the sky protecting their sister J1 when she was bathing in a puddle. They also soared together until one morning…J3 got into a thermal, soared high and was gone- out of sight forever. Then J2.

The pressure on BC Hydro to do something to help the Bald Eagles continues – and I am so glad that it is not losing traction. Two articles – one in the Times Colonist and the other in the Vancouver Sun.

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/gabriola-island-bald-eagle-dies-electrocution?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1S65oxSzU2cC4AkKDINd2pkIy-C9MFsQpi-jcgTd_bD0XhdcLSlwdksk4#Echobox=1658447885

https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/eaglet-from-blended-raptor-family-dies-from-electrocution-5618079?fbclid=IwAR1rliqQwaRn6rVhdPyYF0mpEMqg8fRzL5Dr0K1PNQpqYbmmqzIOCbsiyQk

Malala has been coming and going from the nest. To check out her images please go to GROWLS FB page. You do not have to be a member of FB or their group to see the images.

‘H’ caught the trio at the Boathouse ‘Waddling’ this morning and made a YouTube clip. It is short and ever so cute…all are standing. Thank you ‘H’. That nest is getting rather small…

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxtoqfzEvKNx_o0JQzGRwo4EMvhHpGn5WQ

In Poole Harbour, there was a moment when the nest was empty. Both chicks of CJ7 and Blue 022 have fledged!!!!!!!! 5H2 fledged this morning. Celebration Time. Like all others, they will, of course, chase the parents back and forth for food for a bit building up their flying skills. Hopefully we will have a few more weeks with the family before CJ7 heads south for her winter break.

5H2 has returned to claim a fish on the nest. What a lovely sight she is. Always good to see them return the first few times! Congratulations to everyone at Poole Harbour.

Skipping way across the pond, the sun made the nest golden at Osoyoos this morning. The chicks were beautiful! Olsen brought in a small fish at 07:16, the first of the day unless I missed something quite a bit earlier.

Alden has found a new loafing spot. He may have to change often if those two fledglings – and Grinnell, Jr in particular – continue to find him. It seems that all the nooks and corners of the Campanile at Berkeley are being visited by Lindsay and Grinnell Jr looking for Mum or Dad or both! Not much peace and quiet…it is beautiful, isn’t it?

Can you spot Alden?

Thank you so much for joining me this morning. It is hazy here this morning The garden birds have been awake for ever so long. The Crows have been at the bird bath cawing their heads off for more peanuts. They was them…and leave the shells in the water for their human servants to clean up! It is so funny to watch. I will try and catch some images for you today. Take care everyone. I hope that your start to the week is a good one. Hoping that we get another update on Victor’s progress soon!!!!

Thank you to the following for their FB posts, videos, and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Cal Falcons, Osoyoos Ospreys, Poole Harbour Ospreys, GROWLS, Cornell Bird Lab RTH Cam, ND-LEEF, Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender, Mlade Buky, Finnish Osprey Foundation, and Sydney Sea-eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park.

Late Friday in Bird World

17 June 2022

Oh, it is simply a gorgeous day on the Canadian Prairies. The wind is blowing gently and the temperature is perfect. The tyres in the bikes are topped off and they have had a good wash in anticipation of a ride along the trails this evening. Did I say Canadians love being outside once the snow melts? The ground is still water logged and the flooded areas are drying up.

In the garden. I have seen Dyson a couple of times. The leaves are so thick that I only catch his tail as he weaves in and out. Little Red appears to have found himself a new home in a near by tree!!! Thank goodness. The new rabbit continues to come. The little plants that he likes are under the frame that will hold the sunroom —– where I can ‘spy’ on all of them much better. I will transfer those plants for the bunny to another area of the garden. The real break through has come with Mr Crow. Two years ago I was ‘mad’ at him. He would go to the Grackles nest and take out one of their fluffy chicks and sit so I could see him wolfing it down. Not pleased. It has taken him two years to forgive me and trust me again. Several weeks now have seen him coming for nice Italian bread, cheese, and sausage with cheese in the middle – a sandwich – around 1700. He began calling me at a distance when the food was gone. Now he will come within 2 metres or 6 feet of me. I show him his dinner and walk away. Prior to yesterday he would wait a considerable time to fly down and eat. Now he knows that I am not going to hurt him so he drops down almost immediately.

He likes the little mess that has been created by Dyson & Co with the seeds!

Mr Crow has eaten the cheese first, then the bread, and now he is after the Polish sausage with the cheese in the middle. He will eat the cheese first, take a couple of bites of the sausage, and return to the pile to get another sausage.

Mr Crow has figured out that he can take two sausage pieces together to his nest. Are there babies? Maybe. Last evening a murder of Crows were together and not happy. It appears the GHOW was in the neighbourhood and it is one of their main predators.

He’s got them!

The last thing I want to share with you from the garden is a picture of the tea roses. These wild rose bushes were here when we bought the house. But they were ‘ragged’. Two plantings survived from the former 1902 house on the property – the tea climbing roses and the peony bush. So slowly, ever so slow, they have been cleared out and staked and with all the rain this year they have really taken off. I wish I could bottle the scent for everyone!

I often try to imagine the woman who planted these two flowers. Hopefully they will be here in another 120 years!

There is a really nice article about the fledging of the Pittsburgh-Hayes trio. Publicity and streaming cams along with those fabulous on line discussions educate people and hopefully, the more they know about the wildlife, the more they will respect it and its needs.

https://triblive.com/local/hays-bald-eagle-juveniles-take-flight-share-the-skies-with-young-hawk/?fbclid=IwAR22HzknCr8BaTgQk9XUO_IhwKqPBLabye24nb8xUI4qoa3daQpWvRdlwwE

One of the skills that Little Bit 17 (ND17) from the Notre-Dame nest has learned is how to eat carrion! Thank goodness for those poor raccoons that have been road kill because they have literally kept this wee third hatch alive on that nest. And they will keep him alive after he fledges!!!!! Just think. We are all talking about 17 branching before 16!!!!!! Remember those times when we ached with worry that he would not live another day? He has and he is going to fledge! Yesterday when I was watching with the chatters, 17 had one foot on the nest and one on the branch. If 15 would have moved, Little Bit would have easily branched before 16. Easily.

So today has been another Raccoon day on the nest. It arrived around 13:04. At 14:18 Little Bit 17 gets it. Two minutes later 16 takes it. Little Bit stole it again and around 14:46 Little Bit has it and is eating away.

At 14:17 Little Bit is looking at that Raccoon again and he wants it!

At 14:17:42 Little Bit has the raccoon.

The big sibling will give him a few minutes and then 16 will take it. (I think it is 16).

At 14:45 Little Bit is ready to go back and get some more raccoon. This time he let the older sibling open it up for him instead of doing all that work for them to get the benefit. That is how he will survive!

At 14:46:12, Little Bit has it again!!!!!! Way to go 17.

Little Bit is still eating on the meat of the Raccoon thirty minutes later. Oh, wow. He is going to get some good nourishment from that road kill.

At 15:22, Little Bit appears to be finished. There is not a lot left on that prey item. What are all the words we could use to describe this amazing third hatch? My money is on 17 being a survivor. He has all the skills to live out in the real world, all of them. Wouldn’t just love to set a couple of big fish right in front of him with no other eaglets around? He certainly does deserve them.

Give it up for Little Bit 17 again!!!!!! Big cheers. Adult flew in with what appeared to be a small fish at 17:53:53. Three captures. Adult in, 17 pounches on delivery, 17 horks delivery ——- right in front of 16. Way to go 17, ‘the King of the Snatch and Grab’.

Little Bit is having a rest on the nest – raccoon and a fish with the fish taken before 16 could even think about it. Sweet Eagle nap dreams, 17.

Birds are soooooooo intelligent. Tiger Mozone posted this BBC video on our FB group today and I hope that he doesn’t mind if I put it here. I want to add that there are other notorious birds that have done precisely what Henry did – Stanley, Iris’s mate, for one! I knew that but Tiger added that both Oden smashed the eggs and Red 8T just kicked them to the side of the nest. What I also found interesting was that EJ went missing for 9 days from Loch Garten in 2005 and Henry had to go get her and take her home – and when they got there, there was another couple on the nest! I continue to say that watching bird cams is much more interesting than much of what is on the streaming movie stations!!

Don’t miss watching this one. It is delightful. The BBC presenter says it is a tale of ‘revenge, jealousy, and murder’ worthy of any soap opera. Absolutely.

In total, Henry kicked out 8 eggs of EJ’s – four in 2005 and 4 again in 2007.

I want to do a couple of quick nest checks. The Loch of the Lowes lost a chick when the oldest prevented it from eating and then killed it a few days ago. How is that nest doing today?

Both had a good feed at tea time.

Dylan delivered such a large trout to Seren to feed the three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog that she was still feeding the trio an hour later!!!!!!! Those kids are going to sleep with sweet Osprey dreams for sure.

Despite the gale force winds at Loch Arkaig, Louis has been bringing in fish for Dorcha and the two chicks. Meanwhile, she tried to cover them with moss and keep hunkered down. Then they got a break. Oh, I hope they get more some good weather -nice sun and no rain – and no wind.

Louis delivered a whole trout and everyone had a really good feed. Just lovely. Time: 22:25.

Blue 33 and Maya have three big osplets!!!!!! When will they ring them?

It has been a good day at the UK Osprey nests – and it was a good day for Little Bit 17.

The White storklets at the Mlade Buky nest of Betty and Bukacek are doing marvellous. Mum Betty looks down as they wrestle with a single large fish. Then Betty gives them lots of smaller fish! All is well on this nest now. I do not believe there will be another elimination.

As I write this, Lindsay and Grinnell Jr have not flown and neither has RTH L4 at Cornell. Those are both a relief.

Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone. Smile – Little Bit is going to bed tonight quite full. So happy! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages: Capi Mlade Buky Storks, LRWT, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, CarnyXWild, Tiger Mozone and BBC.

Another siblicide at Loch of the Lowes and other news in Bird World

14 June 2022

I want to start this blog off today with one of the cutest videos called ‘My Turn’. It is from one of the first – if not the first – osprey cams on Dennis Puleston’s property on Long Island. I would like to quietly show this to every third hatch osprey!!!!!!!! It always lifts my spirits when it has been a rough day in Bird World.

Dennis Puleston was a remarkable man who spotted the decline of the Osprey populations in the US due to DDT.

Sadly, the Little Bob at the Loch of the Lowes fell victim to a brutal Big sibling that refused to let him eat and who finally killed him this morning shortly after 0530. Little Bob was alive in the image below, barely, from not having eaten in at least three days.

Laddie LM12 arrives on the nest but flies away. No fish.

Big Bob brutally attacks Little Bob and kills him.

Blue NC0 stares at the body of her Little one. It has not been a good year for this wee one who, like the others, just wanted some fish. It is unclear why there is so few fish coming to this nest. It has been a discussion about the other nests and people are conflicted. Is it intruders? has the loch not got the fish? is something going on with Laddie? All of the other nests are not having difficulties. Fly high Little one, fly high.

Sadly my list of siblicide victims this year is getting longer.

Blue NC0 looks worn out and hungry. She is hardwired, like all other Osprey Mums not to interfere. She looks down at her wee little babe. So sad. I do hope that whatever is troubling this nest that it goes away so that this family can heal.

There is another nest that remains worrisome.

To the relief of everyone cheering Little Bit 17 on at the ND-LEEF nest, that camera is back working. It is unclear if 17 got any food since the camera went down but he was seen doing wingersizing according to many of the chatters who watch the camera. He is not acting like the third hatch at Loch of the Lowes. 17 seems fine. I will not presume anything but let us all hope that if it is cooler tomorrow – which they say it will be – that the fish will be flying onto this nest. — I want to be optimistic. Many third hatches benefit from the older ones fledging. It seems both 15 and 16 are branching —- and not wanting to sound nasty but it would be nice if they would take a 2 day trip to see the beautiful area where their nest is! Little Bit could eat it all!

The eaglets on this nest are the following ages. ND 15 is 76 days old, ND16 75 days old, and ND17 is 71 days old. Little Bit is not ready to fledge. His tail needs to grow more. The feathers on his head are growing longer and covering up the bald spots caused by 16’s scalpings. This Little one has worked so hard to live. I want to believe I am seeing something of a crop under his beak and that he did get some nourishment today. Hang in there Little Buddy!

The streaming cam is also back up at the Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey Platform. It was a very interesting Tuesday morning. The female intruder with the torn feathers was in the nest. Another osprey landed on the nest and she got rid of them quickly. A third bird or was it this one that landed ?? could be seen flying by the nest on several occasions to the left of the platform.

The bird that almost looks like I cute and pasted it on was quickly shooed away by the female intruder on the nest. From that behaviour we might assume that this was not a bird associated with her.

She removes the body of the oldest and largest of those beautiful chicks from the nest.

As the sun was setting on Lewes, Delaware, the female intruder has now cleared the nest of any remnants of its former occupants. It is just gut wrenching what has happened here. I do wonder if the Mum is alive and if it is her flying to the nest? No one was at the nest overnight.

I have been praising Betty on the Mlade Buky White Stork next in The Czech Republic for not eliminating the smallest, the fifth storklet. Well, she has now done so. Let us hope that all four remaining chicks thrive! (The storklet did not survive the 9 metre/30 ft drop but it was quick, not like starving to death on the nest).

There is wonderful news coming out of Cal Falcons. Laurentium is one of Annie and Grinnell’s fledglings. She has a nest on Alcatraz. She has successfully fledged chicks in years before but not it is confirmed that she has two healthy grand chicks for Annie and Grinnell again. How wonderful!

I have neglected the Foulshaw Moss nest this year despite the fact that it is one of my favourites. Last year White YW and Blue 35 successfully fledged 3 osplets including Tiny Little Bob, Blue 463. The chicks below are around the 3 week period. They are healthy and doing well! Excellent parents. I cannot say enough good things about them.

I do not like the cam. You cannot rewind so if you don’t see it, the event is gone. Or if you do see it and don’t get a screen shot it is gone, too. That style of camera is very annoying if you are trying to document events on a nest.

Congratulations to everyone at the Ithaca Peregrine Falcon scrape. They had their first fledge today. It was Percy! One more eyases to go. How exciting. Falcon Watch Utica posted this gorgeous picture of Percy taking off. Look – those legs are held tight against the body and the feathers are in perfect shape. What a wonderfully healthy fledgling!

Even before the three Bobs had their breakfast Wednesday morning, Telyn was chasing after an intruder with feather wear – perhaps a moulting bird. Emyr Evans wants him to come back so they can get a ring number and ID the bird. He is evading all of the cameras. Emyr believes it is Teifi and if so, it is Telyn and Idris’s 2020 hatch come home to the natal nest. After, Idris brings in a lovely sea bass for Telyn and the kids.

Emyr Evans posted this on the 23rd of May. I think he will be updating his number after the intruder this morning to 8. Tegid – of the white egg – is one of my favourite hatches. Lovely to see his son back!

There was an intruder at the Llyn Brenig osprey nest. LM6 just about tore the nest up when Blue 416 from the Lake District arrived. Gracious. I thought she was going to toss the two wee chicks out, too. Lots of two years old successfully returning this year (like this one) causing mischief.

Aran was up early fishing for Mrs G and the gang.

Everything seems fine on the Glaslyn nest.

Sentry returned to the Redding Bald Eagle nest on 14 June after fledging on the 11th. He was tired and spent the night with Star in the nest sleeping duckling style. Star has yet to fledge.

It is getting to be time to check in with some of the Australian nests. Dad brought Mum a very nice fish on the nest. Oh, she looks so good. Last year she took raised the Port Lincoln three – Bazza, Falky, and our dear Ervie.

Beautiful Diamond with a full crop after a prey gift from Xavier at the Charles Sturt University falcon cam in Orange, Australia.

Lady incubating the two eggs of hers and Dad’s on the WBSE nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest. If you look close, you will see Dad sleeping and protecting the nest on the parent branch.

The CBD 367 Collins Street Falcon cam will not be back on line until September. It is usually started once eggs are laid.

Fledge watch started yesterday for the Cal Falcons. Here is Grinnell Jr with his super crop last evening! Looks like he is going to fly anywhere! So cute.

Thank you for joining me. This is a very early Wednesday morning check in. I will have a later report Wednesday evening. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam and/or FB announcements where I took my screen captures: Sea Eagles@BirdLife Australia Discovery Centre, Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam, Port Lincoln Osprey, Friends of Redding Eagles, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dfyi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, ND-LEEF, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Emyr Evans, Falcon Watch Utica, Mlade Buky, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust, and Cal Falcons.

Tragedy to tragedy. Late Monday and early Tuesday in Bird World

13-14 June 2022

The Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey nest kept me occupied for a large part of Monday . It is a very complicated situation. There are two intruder birds. They are distinctive in the very thick eye band. One has quite a good necklace and the other does not. Their eyes are close and often look like when we say ‘snake eyes’.

As the sun was setting both of the adult birds were on the nest. You can see their distinctive eye bands that are thick and go right to the shoulder. Except for their necklaces you might want to think they are twins.

One of the birds has some feather damage. It is the one who moved the chicks out of the nest. At first I thought the little chick had its wing caught in the talon but watching the bird try to remove and then in a second try achieve getting one of the bigger chicks off the nest – it was deliberate. She just didn’t have a good hold on that wee third hatch and it is probably – or was – at the base of the platform.

This bird has some interesting feather damage in at least two areas. I hope to get someone who knows about feather issues to examine the photo. It looks like a section around the scapula V on the right has been cut or torn or there are feathers missing. You can see the feather on the right hanging. The bird has flown on and off the nest carrying the chicks but returns quickly so she is just dumping them close by.

It appears that there is a third bird that is around the nest that these two are concerned about and it could be the Mum of the three dead chicks. Of course, this is simply speculation on my part. We have not seen that bird and none are ringed.

There are no adult ospreys on the Cape Helopen Osprey nest tonight, 13 June.

I have received word from ‘A’ and ‘EJ’ that the two intruders were at the Henlopen Osprey nest this morning and at one time a fish was brought and removed. The female intruder has also removed the third dead osplet from the nest. ‘A’ mentions the third osprey that has been bothering me. Is it Mum? is she injured? If it is her – our hearts go out to her. She has sadly lost her entire family.

I remember in an online discussion and chat with Sean and Lynn at Cal Falcons, they mentioned that the problem with the success of reintroducing these species is that there are too many birds. There are territorial fights, etc. Perhaps also it is the amount of habitat loss due to population growth and building, climate change and being able to get adequate food that is also a problem. For the Osprey there is then the issue of trees. Unlike Bald Eagles, Ospreys like to have their nests at the top of a dead tree. So many trees have been lost to deforestation and wildfires and in my community if someone sees a dead tree, it is cut down. Only in the marshes and mangroves do I see them. In South Australia they are busy building platforms in good places for the Ospreys if they have seen Ospreys nesting like Turnby Island. The new platform is up and the Ospreys are already on it along with most of their old nest. Do we need to get building more platforms? And if lakes and streams can be stocked for people to go fishing, what about the birds? It does appear – from many nests – that the success of both the Osprey and Eagle reintroduction programmes have caused issues for established nests – some outright tragedies. There must be some solutions.

Little Bob at the Loch of the Lowes was shut out from the evening feeding. Indeed, he had not eaten all day Monday that I am aware. Both Little and Middle stayed well out of the way of Big and just let him eat. Then Middle went up. By the time Little got up to the table the fish was gone. If this is a problem with Laddie not bringing in enough fish now – then Blue NC0 needs to step up the game and go fishing.

Big ate almost all that fish and has a big crop and so does Middle. Poor wee Bob. They can last for several days. We have seen this on many nests but it is time Little Bob had a good feed. Fingers crossed for Tuesday.

This is Blue NC0 defending the nest and chicks against the intruder.

The situation at the Loch of the Lowes has not improved. There is a ringed intruder and as such Laddie and Blue NC0 are both dealing with that. A fish finally came in at 16:00 but both Little and Middle Bob are getting pounded. Little Bob did not even raise its head and beg for food. There are any number of people worrying about this nest. I will be checking on it later. Some of the Osprey groups are already posting thoughts for Little Bob – he cannot go much longer if he is to live. I do not think he will make it either. So sad. Middle ate yesterday.

I started making a list of all the sadness at the nests this year and will post it later today. It has been a year of tragedy.

The West End fledglings – Ahote and Kana’kini – are really using their wings and learning how to land. Two of the chicks on the natal nest watch one of the siblings (I believe it is Kana’kini) fly off the nest and land on Transmitter Rock.

Perfect landing.

Kana’kini was still on Wray’s Rock Tuesday morning. She had flown there on Monday. Tuesday morning Ahote and Sky were on the natal nest when a fish delivery came in at 05:42. Waiting for Sky to fledge.

Kana’kini and Ahote have since flown off leaving Sky on the natal nest.

At the Two Harbours nest of Chase and Cholyn, Lancer will be 10 weeks old (70 days) tomorrow, the 15th. Cholyn is still flying in to feed their big girl!

There are big storms moving through the area of the ND-LEEF nest. The camera is out of sorts. This could seriously impact any prey deliveries for tomorrow. Little Bit 17 really needs a good meal tomorrow.

The system is going to impact a large area that have nests.

The camera is down because of the storm at the ND-LEEF nest. The eaglets are ND15 75 days old, ND16 74 days old and Little Bit ND17 is 70 days old. It sure would be a shame to lose this little fighter now. What a time to have a storm – backed up with days of little food. My goodness.

I haven’t checked on E1 and Nancy at the MN-DNR nest lately. Nancy made a prey delivery, E1 mantled quickly and was very aggressive to the adult. This is normal behaviour in eaglets getting ready to fledge.

There was a lot of strong winds and rain over night at the MN-DNR. The system is due to be about the same as the one in my city. It will calm down and may begin again. E1 survived it fine – thank goodness.

At the nest of Big Red and Arthur, it appears that the only eyas left to fledge is L4. Little cutie pie. And little cutie pie took advantage of having its big siblings off flying and getting prey elsewhere to eat up two prey items on the nest and get an enormous crop! Sometimes there are advantages to having your other siblings fledge. This might also work for Little Bit if everything came come together to get the parents able to find prey to deliver. I understand that this time of year at this particular nest prey deliveries suffer.

Big Red’s kids do not have that problem. Arthur is excellent at delivering food and Big Red is often hunting herself. They did a marvellous job this year. Amazing.

L4 could fledge. He has 5 going on 6 dark stripes and he is 47 days old. remember the average age of fledge is 46.5 days at this nest.

I love the stretching exercises after the meal. He stretched both sides like this.

The UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys are not sleeping on the natal nest tonight.

The adults are dropping off fish on the nest and both of the fledglings, Big and Middle, make their way there when they see the parents flying in that direction. Big had the fish and then Middle got tired of waiting and took it. Both had a decent feed. These two are doing fantastic.

It is always good to remember that what you want to see are the chicks being fed by the parents on the nest after fledge. At other times, they will feed them off nest like they did with Little MiniO at Captiva. Often times the fledglings bolt and well, they need to get home. You might recall if you watched the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest that Legacy (2021) was missing for about six days. She was so glad to find home she didn’t leave for another month!

It is early morning in The Czech Republic and Betty is feeding the four White storklets at the Mlade Buky nest. Oh, look. They are getting their pin feathers. Fantastic. Note: The smallest, the 5th storklet was eliminated on Sunday.

It is also lousy weather in Estonia but Karl II has been out fishing for these babies. Did you know he flies 10 km to get the little fish? It is monitored by his tracker.

Liz did a lovely – and short video (I always appreciate her short videos getting right to the heart of the matter) – of the three Black storklets of Jan and Janika’s in care late Tuesday having a meal. They are doing so very well. I think that you are witnessing an intervention that is going to go very, very well.

All three osplets on the nest of Aran and Mrs G in the Glaslyn Valley are doing quite fine. Just look at that face of Mrs G. I certainly would not want to mess with this Osprey Mum. In the second image all have crops after their afternoon tea time meal.

Idris taking the head off of the tea time fish for Telyn and the three Bobs. There is definitely not a problem at this nest!

Little Bob is in the middle and Telyn has been feeding him – and he will be fed til his crop is full! (or they run out of fish)

Llyn Brenig Ospreys have had their troubles. The third hatch died but the two surviving osplets appear to be doing very well. Let us hope that the horrible weather that has swept through the nests dissipates and gives these families a break!

The two surviving osplets at the Loch Arkaig nest have been enjoying all that nice fish that Louis brings in. The tea time one was a little too close to the lads or lasses but both got fed. Big Bob looks like he could be a problem. Let us hope that he isn’t! There is always fish on this nest of Dorcha and Louis.

They have had their problems up at Llyn Clywedog but it looks like those are behind them. Dylan brought in a huge Mullet for Seren and the three Bobs at 16:00:03. Just look at their crops after their tea.

That is a hop, skip, and jump through the nests with troubles and some of those that are doing so well. Seeing those three at Llyn Clywedog after the fear that Dylan was missing just warms the heart.

Last, Alden delivered what appears to be a pigeon. Annie gets it and this translates into a food fight between Lindsay and Grinnell, Jr. Neither have fledged yet but it is just morning in California! Fledge watch at Cal Falcons.

We may never know what ultimately happens at the Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey nest until we see who is on the nest for the next breeding season. If it is Mum who has been trying to get her nest back, let us hope that she either does so safely or she leaves the territory in good health to find another nest and mate.

I am working on two different pieces for you. One of Wildlife Rehabilitation Centres and their importance and another on the birds that we have lost since last 1 July. It is sadly a very long list. I had hoped to have the one on the rehabilitation centres finished this week but the events at some of the nests took over.

Thank you for joining me. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages or videos that I have captured and used for this blog: Liz M, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Cornell RTH Cam, ND-LEEF, Friends of the Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dfyi Osprey Project, MN-DNR, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Cal Falcons, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky White Storks, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, and NOAA.

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 Thursday in Bird World

9 June 2022

So many fledge watches! How many of us wish we could fly about like the birds?

L1 and L2 have both returned to their natal nest on the Fernow light stand on the Cornell Campus. Big Red and Arthur have been bringing prey. Today when L2 flew back and wanted to take L3 and L4’s lunch, Big Red went and got it and fed the two smallest chicks. It was interesting. Someone asked if they return to the nest and the answer is ‘yes’ for the first several weeks you might catch them but once they fledge Big Red really does like to feed the fledglings ‘off nest’. She has been known to ‘get upset’ with Arthur for feeding the wee babes on the nest!

At 17:20 with all four on the nest, Big Red returns with another chipmunk for dinner.

They are on fledge watch at Utica scrape as falcons Percy and Kara are spending time on the ledge! Little Ares is grateful – they are focused on flying and he gets a great meal!

Wednesday, June 8, 2022 – First Percy and the Kara Perch on the Lip of the Nestbox

The Glaslyn osplets are thinking about food – not fledging – as they gobble down the fish that Aran brought to the nest for Mrs G to feed them!

Blue NC0 and the three are really benefiting from Laddie’s fishing lately at the Loch of the Lowes. He brought in 9 fish on the 7th! How wonderful!

Despite Idris being a remarkable fisher, that Big Bob is nothing but a handful. Emyr Evans describes it as ‘play aggression’ when the are beaking one another. It is true. Ospreys in the UK rarely die from siblicide – unlike their counterparts in the US where we have seen a number of cases in the large raptors this year. Normally Telyn gets it all sorted and all are fed.

Little Bit has been really good at the snatch and grab at the ND-LEEF nest. A raccoon came to the nest and it has been going back and forth switching from one sibling to the other. At 13:54 Little Bit 17 stole it from the beaking sibling 16 and he was working on it again later after 16 took it back. Little Bit has had a very large crop today so it is another good day for this hard working eaglet who doesn’t seem to be afraid and who is ever so quick!

Little Bit 17 is growing. Just look at the span of the wings and the tail feathers.

There has been a lot of speculation on the chat at the ND-LEEF nest that because Little Bit is a small male – is that true? – we don’t know – that it would not be able to find a mate. Perhaps we should step back from that statement. We do not know what happens to any unmonitored raptor. We can only hope that they survive their first year. Little Bit has some advantages – being small and quick is one of them. Reading the environment well is another. Willing to eat anything to survive is another but his quickness and his ability to manoeuvre will be key.

It has been miserable and rainy in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic. Still Bukacek and Betty are feeding their wee storklets.

Both Lady and Dad spent the night at the WBSE nest in the old Ironbark tree in the Sydney Olympic Park. Friday morning Lady is rolling the first egg. Will there be a second? Stay tuned.

At the Redding nest, Sentry is at 15:20 nest time up on a very high branch! Will he fludge or fledge?

Here is the link to the Redding camera if you do not have it:

Both fledglings are back on the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest hoping for a fish delivery!

All three are on the cliff nest of Thunder and Akecheta waiting for some prey drops, too! Sky has been getting ready – hovering and jumping.

So much going on! Most doing very well.

Thank you for joining me as I jumped around and checked on a few of our nests that we have been watching. Take care all. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Explore.org and The Institute for Wildlife Studies, Cornell RTH, Mlade Buky, Friends of Redding Eagles, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, ND-LEEF, Dyfi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Woodland Trust, and Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn.

Middle and L1 Fledge and other news in Bird World

8-9 June 2022

Oh, what a day Wednesday was and Thursday is starting out to be just as exciting. We have two fledges so far. Middle at UFlorida-Gainesville and L1 at Cornell!!!!!

First, Big threw a hissy fit on the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest. It was so unexpected that even Mum was shocked at the oldest siblings response to Middle wanting to take her fish! Of course, we have seen this before but, in particular I am thinking of the Port Lincoln Lads of 2022. They were so polite on the nest before fledge and then after all had fledged the competition and the dust ups started. Middle is yet to fledge but he could – just needs to be ready to do it.

The action came at 16:39:45. I am grateful to ‘R’ for sending that time stamp to me. A fish arrived. Big got it – Middle wanted it. Big wanted it more. Mum couldn’t believe what she was seeing!

At 07:03:59 on 9 June Middle took his first flight off the left side of the nest!

Congratulations to Mum, Dad, and Middle and a big thank you to ‘R’ who sent me the time stamp!!!!!! Way to go Middle!

There is excellent news coming out of Lewes, Delaware. The female Osprey at the Henlopen Nest has been fishing since her mate has gone missing. It has been a couple of days now and there was concern that she might not fish. The first time she went out she came back empty taloned. But nevermind. This Mum has demonstrated very clearly that she can provide for her osplets! Today she delivered five fish to the nest. The three osplets were stuffed beyond being stuffed. Their crops looked like they would pop all afternoon. I really hope that Mum had some fish for herself, too. It is hard work playing all the roles. Fingers crossed for this family.

Here comes Mum with a really nice fish. Everyone was hungry.

Five fish. That is possibly a better delivery rate than most males.

Here is another one. Some of the osplets still have crops from the earlier feeding.

Mum must be very tired.

As the sun is setting just look at the crop on the chick that is still eating. The others are full and have walked away. No one is going hungry.

Well done Mum. I felt so sorry for her. In the evening she was calling and you could imagine that she might have seen an osprey and thought it was her mate. So sad for her. Let’s all send good wishes to this nest! And I will remind myself to check on them every day for everyone.

Little Bit 17 has been on a roll for the last few days. I often call him warrior but Lightning would be more appropriate. He is that quick to steal prey. At 21:05:17 for at least the third time today, Little Bit stole from one of the older siblings.

But first. At 19:46:16 Little Bit 17 has a nice crop. Still easy to spot with the feathers missing on his head. Squint. That crop is there!

At 21:05:02 an adult lands with a very nice fish. Little Bit is on the left and a big sibling on the right. It looks like the big sibling has the fish. But do they?

There are wings everywhere!

Middle ate for a full 7 or 8 minutes before 16 – the sibling that beaks Little Bit – took the fish from him.

Little Bit ate well today. He managed to snatch and grab several key pieces of prey showing his great skill. When he wasn’t doing that he was searching the nest cleaning up every flake of fish on it that the others had dropped. A survivor.

Checking on a sometimes neglected nest (shame on me) – Barnegat Light. Just look at those two with their mouths open wide for that fish! Cute.

If you missed it, Lady and Dad have their first egg for the 2022 season at the Sydney Olympic Park. It happened yesterday at 17:15. This is really exciting but I wished they had waited til all of the hawklets of Big Red and Arthur are all fledged. Normally they do. I got a lovely note from ‘F and M’ explaining to me that Lady and Dad are actually two weeks early laying this first egg! That is, indeed, very interesting. I wonder if the other nests in Australia will also be early? Diamond and Xavier at Orange, Mum and Dad at the CBD-367 Collins Street in Mebourne, Mum and Dad at the PLO Barge?

I find this early laying very interesting. Andy and Lena have struggled to have successful hatches and failed due to predation at the Captiva Osprey nest in Florida. This year they laid their eggs one month early and beat the Crows who normally eat their eggs. Is there a reason Lady laid these eggs 2 weeks early? could it be to avoid the Currawongs chasing their eaglets out of the forest? or is it going to be extra hot in Sydney? We wait to see if we can find out.

At the West End Bald Eagle nest, Ahote (the youngest) fledged six days ago. He has finally returned to the nest yesterday and has since been flying around. Everyone thought it would be Kana’kini that would go first. Now it is Sky that is hovering high.

All three Amigos lined up on the nest rock. Will Sky be the next to fledge?

This is also interesting. We know that Kana’kini is a big female like her Mum, Thunder. At the Red-tail hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur, anyone watching the nest believed that L1 was definitely going to fledge first. In the end it was L2. That got me to thinking. Normally the large females do not fledge first. I want to do some data crunching in the next couple of days and see how many times in the last ten years the first hatch fledged first at Big Red and Arthur’s nest.

Here was Big Red feeding L4 tonight. The other two are still ion the nest just at the other end. And if you are wondering and I am certain that you are, at least one prey drop if not more were made to L2 on top of the Rice building. Big Red does not like to feed the eyases on the nest after they fledged. Last year she did feed them because of K2 who was not well. K2 is the only chick that has not fledged in all of Big Red’s mothering – what 17 years? That is a lot of little hawks out in the world by this amazing Mum.

At 09:26:24 L1 flew!!!!! You could only see her on cam 2. L3 is watching as L1 leans down.

She is off. You can just see the wing under the light box.

L1 landed in the Fernow trees across the street.

L3 and L4 look on with amazement. Congratulations L1 – you are a fledgling. Well done Big Red and Arthur – two down, two to go!

Big Red comes in and feeds the two remaining chicks on the nest.

The Dyfi Osprey Project zoomed the camera in nice and close and we can really see the difference in appearance between Middle Bob and Little Bob. Middle Bob is in the Reptile Phase while Little Bob is losing the down on its head and you can see that the dark feathers are only starting to come in. Big Bob ate earlier and is in a food coma while these two enjoy this really nice fish Telyn is feeding them.

It is just getting light in The Czech Republic. Bukacek and Betty’s five storklets are quickly growing. The little one is very, very smart. He gets into the center of the group when there is a feeding and he gets lots of little fishes. Fingers crossed for no brood reduction here.

Karl II and Kaia have three beautiful storklets at their nest in Estonia.

You will remember that Urmas Sellis retrieved the three surviving storklets and the one deceased one when Jan did not return to the nest with his mate, Janika. A full report has come in and this is the text that was posted in Looduskalender, the English Forum for the Black Stork nest. This is very informative and you can see what good care is being given to the storklets and why it was necessary for an intervention.

Have a read:

News about our Black Storks chicks by Delfi
“The three storklets of the stork pair Jani and Jaanika, who became famous in front of the nature camera, were taken to the animal clinic of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, where they are taken care of by Madis Leivits, a veterinarian dedicated to wild animals. Despite the shock caused by the loss of parents at such an early age, birds recover nicely and have the prospect of living their future lives in the wild. Exactly what happened to the missing male bird is still unclear.

Last week, the male bird, Jan, disappeared and the female, Jaanika, had to take care of the storklets alone – it is customary in stork families for the male to take care of the food side and the mother is responsible for warming the storklets’ nests.

As the weather was not warm in the summer either, Jaanika’s attempt to leave the nest was fatal for the third storklet and it died. “The pattern of behavior of the female bird became exceptional. Instead of keeping the storklets warm at night and looking for food in sunny weather, she did the exact opposite,” explained Madis Leivits, a veterinarian at the University of Life Sciences, who has been taken care of the three surviving storklets with the help of the Kotkaklubi.
According to him, the male bird has a very responsible role in the family of black storks. “The father is a language of weight, the diet of the sons depends on him,” Leivits said. “Even if the female bird leaves the nest, the storklets will not be able to maintain their body temperature in the rain. What exactly happened to the male bird, we can only speculate.”

However, considering all the circumstances, the surviving storklets are doing quite well. “The two largest ones are growing visibly and have already gained more than a hundred grams in a few days. The third, the smallest, is a bit more passive,” Leivits described. “Of course, it can’t be called great, because a person can’t be as good a parent to an animal or a bird as they are to their own.”

He added that storklets are fed with a special decoy stork
– a decoy that resembles a black stork to make it safer for the storklets. They mainly have fish on their table. “Black stork differs from white because it finds its food mainly in water – fish, frogs, aquatic,” he explained. The path of the three storklets will probably lead to an artificial nest, where they will be gradually prepared for independent living and the natural environment. “Fortunately, they are quite early sons, they have high hopes for themselves,” said Leivits, who said that sons born later in the second half of the summer tend to be prey for birds of prey and predators. “Under artificial conditions, we can also feed them strong enough.”

On 7 June Ervie’s tracker reported that he was flying out further into the ocean from his normal Port Lincoln, Australia haunts. You may recall that it was believed that the lack of a talon on that right toe of the right foot might only allow Ervie to catch Puffers – he brought a much larger fish to the nest shortly before Mum booted him off the barge. Here is Ervie’s 7 June report.

In other Port Lincoln Osprey Project news, the platform for Turnby Island is being erected. It is hoped that Calypso (2020 PLO hatch) and her mate might make this their nest. It certainly looks sturdy! Fingers crossed. Wouldn’t it be grand? We could watch one of Mum’s chicks begin her own family.

This has been a very long newsletter. So very much is happening! Thank you so very much for joining me today. Take care everyone. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or their FB posts where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Osprey, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell RTH, Dyfi Osprey Project, Mlade Buky, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Barnegat Light Ospreys, and Henlopen State Park Ospreys.

Wednesday Morning in Bird World

8 June 2022

It is mornings like this when there is a beautiful blue sky and the sun is pouring down that you wish the birds would just pause but, they don’t! Everything is happening at once!

L2 has fledged at the Cornell Red-tail Hawk nest on the Fernow Light Stand. Big Red and Arthur – congratulations for your first fledge of the 2022 season. The unexpected flight caused many to think it was L1. It wasn’t. However, L2 flew like a pro right over to the Rice Building where later prey was delivered. Well done! L1 will no doubt follow soon!

L1 is over by the fledge ledge. L3 and L4 are ducklings sleeping in the nest.

This is the earliest that Lady has laid her egg on the White-Bellied Sea Eagle (WBSE) nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest. That time was 1737 on 8 June. Dad was on the nest giving Lady support. Congratulations!

There has been a fludge at the Manchester NH Peregrine Falcon scrape. Clem had been flapping her wings and slipped off the edge at 0600:21. She has been located outside the gym at the BS Tower. I wonder if she will be picked up and put back into the nest??

Izzi – the 2020 hatch of Diamond and Xavier at Orange, Australia – was placed back in the scrape by Cilla Kinross, the researcher at Charles Sturt University.

The two Cal Falcons are growing and growing and far too soon they will be fludging or fledging. Here is a short video clip of the morning feeding.

Then a pigeon meal arrives. Check out the size of these chicks as they run to get fed.

The three Black Storklets in the nest of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest in Estonia are doing great. The third hatch is getting stronger and the parents seem to always make sure that it gets fish! Today it even ate a large one. The 4th egg did not hatch.

Ah, Kaia is so lovely.

All storklets accounted for at the Mlade Buky nest in The Czech Republic of Bukacek and Betty.

Many have wondered (or worried) that fish were not being delivered to the West End nest and that Ahote is hungry. In fact, Thunder and Akecheta delivered 9 fish to the nest yesterday and Ahote had his fill. All of the eaglets are fine. Ahote took another flight and returned to the nest.

At the University of Florida-Gainesville Middle has been taking the prey before Big could get to it! Growing, growing confidence. At least two big fish meals have arrived at the nest before 0830. Middle ate the first one and was more interested in what was happening off the nest when the second arrived and Big took it. Right now, Middle is still on the nest and has not taken its first flight.

Things continue to go well for ND17 at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest. Three fish had been delivered by 1024. Little was stealing bites and then took the fish tail from 15 at 09:43:46 and ate it. The day is starting off wonderfully. Fingers crossed. I really hope that yesterday was a transition and that the parents will make sure Little Bit gets food.

Little Bit looks under the tail of 15.

Then Little Bit moves around 15.

Little Bit – as fast as Lightning (would be a good name for him) steals the fish tail!

As quick as he stole it, he gets back to his safe spot on the porch! Well done Little Bit 17.

The day is going to get busier. It just feels like half a dozen or more birds could fledge. I owe you some image of the ducklings and goslings and will try and get those up later today or tomorrow.

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

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures – and for the videos they post: Cal Falcons, ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Mlade Buky White Storks, Eagle Club of Estonia, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, Cornell RTH, and the Peregrine Networks.