Tag Archives: Molate

Sunday in Bird World

17 July 2022

Good morning everyone. Yesterday was a very tough day in Bird World. So before I begin today I want us all to smile and I cannot think of anyone better than Ervie to do that —our favourite Osprey juvenile at Port Lincoln Australia. He was at the beach in Delamere today. The FB posting said it was cold and blustery. Here is our beautiful lad soaking his talons in the salt water and flying about.

Oh, Ervie what a darling you are. You are doing so well. We all wish we could sit on the beach with you and cool our talons, too. We all hope your talon is growing and that you are catching some fine fish. Your crop certainly doesn’t look empty!

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There is much news coming out of SF about Molate. On the chat yesterday an individual identifying themselves as ‘Video Assistant’ remarked that they had gone over the footage of Molate’s fall and were able to determine that he hit the grid, there were a couple of jerks, and nothing. In other instances, others associated with GGA said that Molate took a couple of difficult breaths, became unstable losing his balance, and fell off the nest. This is one of the most recent posts by SF Ospreys and might answer questions:

GGA and SF Ospreys have tried very hard to keep everyone in the loop as best they can in this difficult situation. It is a difficult call – to leave the body of the raptor there without knowing what caused it to be ill – or to leave it and allow the family to go about their daily lives without the stress. Clearly, none of us wish to see Richmond, Rosie, or Brooks suffer any further. My condolences go out to this long standing Osprey family in SF and all those who love and care for these amazing birds on the Whirley Crane.

There was a fledge at the Glaslyn nest of Aran and Mrs G. Congratulations to Blue 497 is 52 days old and she took her very first flight at 08:11 Sunday the 17th of July. Back home on the nest safely on quite a breezy day in Wales.

At the Welsh osprey nest of Idris and Telyn, Pedran continues to take some glorious flights around the nest to show the others how wonderful it is off the nest. It looks there is another one on the perch but I cannot tell which one it is. This is a great view of the nest and the river…I wish that Dyfi would leave it like this!

The cam operator at the nest of Dory and Skiff on Hog Island in Maine gave us some lovely close ups of the chicks feather developments this afternoon. These three are doing great. No problems being reported.

Small fish continue to come to the Osoyoos nest. The temperature will drop from 34 to 30 today but we really need it to go much lower to get those nice sized fish to come up higher in the water. Dad has to do a lot of fishing to try and find even wee ones in this heat.

Does the lake at Osoyoos ever get stocked with fingerlings?

The male at the Canmore, Alberta Fortis Exshaw Osprey nest continues to catch some really nice sized fish. The trio and Mum had a good breakfast this morning!

The two osplets on the Janakkdan Osprey nest in Finland continue to perfect their self-feeding. Mum has been on the nest in the afternoon and she continues to appear to be improving (not a vet – so this is just my observation).

The second osplet wants some fish but the older one is not giving that nice fish up just yet and is telling the other one clearly to wait its turn! No worries. There will be fish left! But will he share?

Only Bob on the Finnish #1 nest had a really nice meal. Look at that crop!

It looks like Tom and Audrey’s only chick will be the Only Bob on the Chesapeake Bay Osprey nest this year. S/he is 9 days old today and the Conservancy has declared the remaining egg nonviable. Just think…no one to have to share the fish with other than Mum. Sweet Osprey dreams little one.

Remember how loud Grinnell Jr was during the banding? He still is – bet you could hear him across the campus at UC-Berkeley!

Speaking of the University of California Campus at Berkeley. ‘B’ wrote me a note to say that one year Annie and Grinnell’s fledgling had gotten trapped between the glass railings on one of the buildings. UC-B learned a lesson and has a grounds maintenance person hang ribbons on all the balconies of a nearby building to prevent bird strikes. They did only the buildings that would probable sites for bird strike. How wonderful. Thanks, ‘B’. This would be a great solution for Cornell.

Yesterday, Ferris Akel held his normal Saturday birding tour of the area around Ithaca – Wildlife Drive, Sapsucker Lake, ending up on the Cornell Campus. He was able to find all four – Big Red, Arthur, L2 and L4. One of the highlights of yesterday’s tour was getting to see one of the fledglings soaring. I did a short video clip. There are trees that get in the way but the juvenile does come out and soars again. Big Red had also been soaring in the thermals showing the eyases how it is done. It is beautiful to see them flying free, high in the sky.

The Kakapo Recovery team is very happy. After a drop in the number of the flightless parrots, they announced yesterday that the current number of Kakapo is at 216. Amazing. It can all be attributed to the hard working team that does wellness checks, changes batteries in the transmitters, and knows these birds as if they were their own children. Congratulations everyone.

The Kakapo love to hide and the only way to find them is to attack GPS transmitters!

Katy Rossiter has produced a compelling podcast on the Kakapo. If you would like to learn more, have a listen:

Thank you for joining me today. There will be more fledges in the UK. Dorcha has yet to get the blood off her feathers but she appears to be doing OK. Telyn had an injury, too, and she is OK. Let us hope that each of our birds stays safe today. Looking forward to a good report on Little Bit 17 shortly and more information on Victor. Thank you so much for your letters and comments. It is much appreciated. Everyone wants the best for the birds – at the end of the day that is the underlying cord that connects us all. I hope that each of you has a very wonderful Sunday wherever you are. Take care. See you soon.

Thanks to the following for their videos, their postings, and their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: The Kakapo Recovery Group, Ferris Akel Tours, Cal Falcons, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Explore.org and Audubon, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife, Chesapeake Conservancy, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Fortis Exshaw, Osoyoos Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, and Port Lincoln Ospreys.

Late Friday in Bird World

15 July 2022

If you did not see the presentation and discussion about the care that US Steel eaglet 4 (USS4) is getting at the Tamarack Wildlife Centre in PA, then please go to my earlier blog this afternoon and have a listen. As I noted, at 14:52 in the discussion, the lead wildlife rehabilitation officer at Tamarak is addressing the life skills that USS4 will get and -require- before he can be released. That includes a lot of work with prey. Yes, by all weights and measurements, USS4 is a ‘he’ but they sent away a blood sample for DNA analysis to be sure. I was ‘blown away’ by their investment and it is what we all dream Little Bit 17 will have before he is released. Here is the link to get to the earlier blog that has the interview.

https://wordpress.com/post/maryannsteggles.com/58064

This is one of the best videos that I have seen showing the Whirley crane nest of Rosie and Richmond and the juveniles flying. Brooks is doing really well and Molate even managed to do some hovers. You can see Richmond and Rosie, too. Really hope that Molate is doing better. He sure enjoyed his fish.

At the Osoyoos Osprey nest, Dad has been delivering fish – four this morning. Thank you, Dad. Mum is doing her best to keep the two little ones cool. It was a good morning for this family.

It is 34 degrees C in Osyoos and it is forecast to get hotter. Keep all of these nests in the heat wave in your positive thoughts. We don’t want a repeat of 2021 when chicks were dying of sun stroke or jumping off nests so they did not roast to death in the Pacific Northwest.

It is 30 degrees C in Winnipeg and we have a heat warning and it is currently 30 degrees C in Canmore, Alberta where the chicks and their Mum are hot – but that 4 degrees C means these are just a little cooler than Osoyoos.

Gosh, the Boathouse Ospreys are cute. Sometimes when they are asleep it is hard to tell who is who. Dory is trying to keep her babies cool just like Mum at Osoyoos.

Have you noticed how expressive Osprey faces are? They are such individuals. I would love to know what the conversation is on the Mispillion Harbour nest!

Here are some shots from the Dyfi Osprey nest in Wales in the late afternoon. Pedran fledged at 51 days old, slightly earlier than the average, at 15:05. It was a perfect take off and Telyn even escorted her daughter back to the nest. Telyn looks so tiny next to these three big girls her and Idris raised this year. One more to fledge. They will spend their time working those wings to get strength and eating and eating to put fat on their bodies for their first long migration. They normally do not catch their first fish until after they have left the natal nest.

Blue 553 fledged from the Llyn Clywedog Nest at 05:27. Well done, two down, one to go. The osplets have certainly started decorating the pine to the left of Dylan and Seren’s nest a little early!

Did you know that raptors often chose a nest sight – if vacant – by the amount of PS on everything. The more PS, the more prey and the healthier the chicks will be.

There was storm, rain, and thunder when LR0 at the Loch of the Lowes nest of Laddie and Blue NC0 decided to fledge today. That was really something unexpected.

Is it just me or does the female at the Janakkdan Osprey nest in Finland look better today? Both of the osplets had a lot of nice fish before bed. No worries for them. Positive wishes for this family.

All four of the White storklets (not little anymore) are doing so well at the Mlade Buky nest of Bukacek and Betty. Just look at them. They are as big as their parents. What a delight.

Discussions are underway as to who will get the transmitters on the Karula National Forest nest of Karl II and Kaia. It seems that Bonus, one of two surviving storklets of Jan and Janikka, who was taken to the clinic to be raised and then adopted at the Karula nest will be one of the recipients.

I would hope that Urmas and Dr Madis V of the Estonia Medical University would be very happy with their intervention to save the surviving storklets of Jan and Jannika. It was a bold experiment that worked — and underscores what we need to do to help our wildlife. The fish basket has been a real help – possibly a life saver. When other nests like Osoyoos are only getting little fish and it is hot, is it not possible to supplement them? After all, climate change has been caused by humans…it just makes sense to do what we can, when we are able.

‘EJ’ sent me a link to a great video about an eagle that would just not give up – the drive to live was so robust. Add this to your playlist for Friday night or the weekend, it is really uplighting! Thanks EJ!

It feels pretty good in Bird World this afternoon. Molate is eating well and he did some hovering. Perhaps his only problem was Brooks was getting too much of the fish. Let us all hope so. The chicks in Finland are eating and to me — not a vet — the Mum ‘looked’ better. Let us hope for some cooler temperatures at all the nests who are suffering from heat and keep all of those in care in our warm thoughts.

Thank you for being with me today. Take care. See you soon!

Thanks to the following for their posts, their videos, and their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: SF Bay Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Osoyoos Ospreys, Fortis Exshaw, Audubon Explore.org, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and the DDNR, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyxWild, and Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Wildlife Trust and the Wildlife Foundation of Utah.