Tag Archives: Mr President and Lotus

Late Monday and Tuesday news in Bird World

28-29 March 2022

This is actually more a quick glimpse of late Monday activities in Bird World up to noon on Tuesday.

At 20:57:27 Monday night, you could see an eaglet with the two halves of the egg acting as book marks at the National Arboretum Bald Eagle nest in DC. It is home of Mr President and Lotus. They lost their first eaglet to a tragic accident during pipping so it looks like once the AEF officially announcements the hatch, it is congratulations!

At 07:07, you can get a good luck of the dried fluffy baby. Congratulations Mr President and Lotus. This is wonderful news. May DC9 stay healthy! This is now the historic moment of having a hatchling in the DC nest for the first time in four years.

Oh, you are cute and you are blessed. You will be an only eaglet like Jackie and Shadow’s baby.

Here is a really short video of that hatch.

Jackie and Shadow have certainly had a terrible day with the strong winds, rain and ice pellets.

There is snow on the Big Bear nest this morning but the winds have lessened. Thank goodness. Everyone is just fine!

What a gorgeous landscape!

Samson made the egg cup quite deep the other day knowing that the baby would be snug as a bug when the storm hit. Lovely family.

Amanda777 made a short video of Jackie feeding the baby in the snow.

The rain and the winds stopped on Monday for the West End eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta. This morning it is beautiful. Someone who knows fish species told me that the red flesh fish that are brought to the nest are Alders. They are apparently quite good if you like to smoke your fish.

How many stared at Annie in the scrape watching for every moment? CalFalcons predicted around 20:10. I hung on waiting for a little longer only to get up later and, thankfully, to a note from ‘B’ discovered that second precious egg of her and Grinnell’s had been laid around 21:18:37. Thank you! Both were clearly visible at 21:41:17 when Annie rose up to display those beautiful deep red eggs.

CalFalcons made a quick video of Annie laying that second egg.

Here are the two eggs this morning! Good thing egg collectors have learned that their actions almost made many bird species extinct in the late 19th century and early 20th. They are beautiful! We will look forward to them being fuzzy white eyases in 33-35 days.

While I was watching Annie I was also checking on Karl II. Oh, bless that Black Stork’s heart! Now if he will continue his north westerly route avoiding the area of The Ukraine…Fingers crossed. Looking forward to having him back on his nest at the Karula National Forest in Estonia.

He spent the night in Motoseni, Romania.

My happiness at Karl II’s route was matched by Obey flying into the Dale Hollow nest at 18:02:32 with a small fish last evening. At 18:02:51 Little Middle went into submission.

Big had finished at least a fish and a half, if not two, one hour earlier. Big could not be hungry!

Watching and watching and listening, Little Middle gets to the rim, head down.

He sits up and looks over hoping, perhaps, that Big wouldn’t finish that small fish! Big did not attack.

Little Middle moves around the nest. Big doesn’t do anything. Is there any fish left?

He gets up there, beside Big.

Little Middle gets his first bite at 18:09:22.

Little Middle got the remainder of the fish thanks to Obey. The tail was gone at 18:14:12. Not a long feeding and not a lot of fish but Little Middle had a crop. Oh, I would love to see this wee one get to eat an entire fish by itself! Talk about a growth spirt.

I loved this image of Little Middle looking up at his Dad. Obey has done some nice feedings for the wee one, holding back, going slower, moving the fish. It is nice to know that Little Middle went to bed with a full tummy.

This morning a really large fish on to the Dale Hollow nest. I cannot comment on what happened prior to 08:14 on the feed as it will not rewind beyond this and I could not check this nest earlier. It appears that the two eaglets were fed half of the large fish with half remaining on the nest. There is no discord between them after 08:14 so maybe there wasn’t any! I live with hope.

It appears that Big ate first and Middle moved in later. That would be my guess based on past experience.

Big is obviously full.

The parent turns the other way to feed Little Middle. Big has moved away already having consumed 1/3 of the big fish. There will still be fish left when Middle finishes eating.

I have included the three images below. It is hard to get a sense of the true difference in size or even the actual size of the eaglets.

It is nice to see them looking out at the big world together. Big has almost lost her dandelions and, of course, Middle Little had his pulled off so he is ahead with that regard.

Little Middle is surely growing and has some nice blood feathers at the tip of its wings coming in. Big has quite a few. Both are doing a lot of preening. Hopefully more fish will come in today – surely there will be!

Everything continues to go well for Andy and Lena and the two Osplets at the Captiva Osprey nest in Florida. Both are healthy and continue to eat well and grow in their juvenile plumage.

Every once in awhile you can get a glimpse of all the triplets at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagle nest. It can be tricky though. I have waited and waited with no luck!

The two eaglets of Liberty and Guardian seem to be going through the bobbling head phase. One had a great PS this morning while the other stood up and watched it. Cute. Their rain has stopped and they are drying out.

There was a Great Horned Owl that landed below the nest in the middle of the night. Hope it stays away!!!!!

There are so many nests to cover and Ospreys arriving or not. It is difficult now to keep track of all that is going on. I have not seen any announcements of any of the monitored nest Ospreys returning in the UK since Telyn arrived at Dyfi late Monday. I will continue to monitor that situation.

Thank you for joining me this morning for a bit of a hop, skip, and jump through the nests. We are expecting rain and then 100% chance of more snow – just when we thought spring was coming!!!!!!! I recall actually having snow on the 15th of May one year. Hopefully it will not be that late in 2022. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures and video clips: Friends of Big Bear Valley, Dale Hollow Eagles, Cal Falcons, Pix Cam, Redding Bald Eagles, Captiva Ospreys, Looduskalender Forum, West End Eagles and the Institute of Wildlife Studies, and the NADC-AEF.

Late Monday news in Bird World

28 Monday 2022

A wonderful lady from Poland who rescued a Crow and took care of it for 5 months so it could return to the wild asked me how I could stay ‘distant’ and not get involved emotionally in the nests. That was perhaps two years ago now. I hope she still joins us here with the birds. The truth is I often scream at the screen, get upset, yell at particular birds as if I know better than then, can’t sleep at night if a bird is encased in ice, etc.

Most of the time the nests are brilliant but sometimes you meet up with one that simply doesn’t make sense the way the others do. For me, this year, that is Dale Hollow.

At 17:02:41 today, River returns to the nest having been there earlier. She has decided it is time to feed the eaglets even if they are sleeping. Immediately Big gets up – has a leftover crop from the 11:52:51 feeding. Big attacks Little Middle just to make sure it didn’t move up to eat. Even then Big hangs back close to Little Middle so he won’t move up near to the food. Middle Little tucks its head in way under and he stays that way.

In the middle part of the feeding, there is another attempt at intimidation. It is clear from the first part that Middle can still get up to Little Middle’s head.

In the third part, Middle begins to move, finally. River reaches out and gives it a bite of food. Why did she not slow the feeding? Why did she not turn with her head to the rim? It is an easy thing to do – after all, she has done it before. Little Middle could have eaten but it was too frightened. I find this nest to be so sad. Even with 6 fish coming in yesterday nothing stopped Big’s wrath.

Thankfully the weather has cleared at the West End Bald Eagles nest. Thunder, Akecheta, and the three babies are fine! In the image below, Dad is drying off his wings. The babies are in front of him sound asleep.

Everyone is fed.

I yelled at Akecheta last year about his refusal to guard the nest. He was 5 years old and figuring out slowly – very slowly – what his role was. Thunder had faith in him and it has surely been rewarded this year. Cheta wouldn’t let anyone touch those kids of his – and everyone eats. Not one of them has been hungry, left out, or bonked and the little one is 4 days younger than the oldest! They are also very healthy and growing strong. No fear or intimidation just trying to corral curious kids with wooden blockades!

Look at how big and tall the oldest is. Beautiful. Looking out over the sea where she will be flying one day. Too soon.

There is your power couple.

There was a prey drop and a bit of a ritual bonding in the scrape of Annie and Grinnell at The Campanile on the campus of UC Berkeley. Here is a video clip of this ritual….BTW. We are expecting Annie to lay the 3rd egg this evening. Cal Falcons predicts it will be 20:10 scrape time.

Look carefully and you can see the pip progressing in the egg at the National Arboretum Bald Eagle Nest. They say you can hear it peeping now. Mr President and Lotus are not giving a thing away.

It is just miserable at the nest of Jackie and Shadow at Big Bear. The icy snow has turned into rain for now. The nest and adults are soaked to the core.

Poor Jackie. The weather is so bad. Shadow filled up the nest with food, bless his heart. You can see the stacks of fish behind Jackie. Hopefully there is a break to feed the baby who should have a name soon! One of my readers, ‘A’, a teacher who wants to ensure her students are empathetic with wildlife sent in the name ‘Hope’. It is so fitting for this time. I did not mention this while the contest was open but it is certainly what we all must have – Hope.

It is definitely a busy day on the nests. I am going to bring this blog to a close with a look at the female star of the Dyfi Osprey nest in Wales, Telyn, the mate of Idris! These two are so close to my heart. Telyn arrives and doesn’t sit on the nest waiting for Idris to bring her a fish – and he is truly the king of bringing in huge fish. No, she goes off and gets it herself. I sure hope her mate and the others we are missing are home soon. Welcome back, Telyn, Blue 3J. Eat and rest!

Thanks so much for joining me today. You couldn’t hear me yelling at River to turn herself around. It is hard to see one eaglet with a crop eat a fish and a half and the other get a single bite. But…At any rate, take care. It feels like there is going to be lots of news tomorrow. See you soon!

Thanks to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures and video clips today: Cal Falcons, Dale Hollow Bald Eagles, West End Bald Eagles and the Institute of Wildlife Studies, Friends of Big Bear, National Arboretum Eagles and the AEF, and Dyfi ospreys.

Monday in Bird World including full report on Dale Hollow

28 March 2022

I thought that my blog would appear tonight but the day got flipped so it is out by noon but, if there is an evening report, it will be quite late.

The weather in California is not good. The storm hitting the Channel Islands is intensifying while it is yet to hit Big Bear Valley. One with rain and high, high winds – the other with high, high winds and snow.

The weather forecast was dire for Jackie and Shadow at Big Bear Lake with high winds and snow. The wind is currently blowing at 14 mph with a temperature of 38 F.

The winds remain with the snow expected to arrive today.

At 10:47, the weather is better for Jackie and the baby.

Those same winds are hitting the Channel Islands and the nest of Thunder and Akecheta at the West End. In still images you cannot see the wind or hear it but for Thunder, Akecheta, and the trio it is blowing at 29 mph.

The winds turned into winds and rain. Akecheta is hunkered down on those three babies so nothing will happen to them! Please keep this family in your thoughts today and send them positive energy. The storm is, at present, much worse here than at Big Bear.

Here is a video clip I took so that you can see the intensity of what the eagles are facing.

At 09:47:

Akecheta and kids at 10:44. Soaked.

It is raining on the Redding California nest of Liberty and Guardian but so far they seem to be spared the high winds that West End and Big Bear are getting.

It started out foggy for the east coast of Florida a the nest of Samson and Gabby in Jacksonville. The fog will burn off and it is going to be nice for our eaglets, Jasper and Rocket, who are working on wingersizing and getting their balance down perfectly. Both are self-feeding and well branching and hatching is going to come soon.

Jasper hatched on the 23rd of January (04:06am) and Rocket on the 25th (02:24am). Jasper is 63 days old and Rocket is 61.

Note: The information on the streaming cam indicates that the pair are only 21 hours apart but the hatch times listed must then be incorrect. Whatever the date it will be another 2 weeks when we will really be looking for fledging.

At the Dale Hollow Nest of Big and Middle Little, Middle Little is crying to be fed despite 6 fish being delivered to the nest on Sunday, Little Middle got hardly any food after noon because of Big’s intimidations and beakings. River brought a fish to the nest at 06:54:39 but did not feed them. They are both hungry and a little restless.

They look like wooly insulation today.

River arrived at 10:18:14 to feed the eaglets. Big went up immediately. Little Middle observed and then moved to the left of the nest – and River changed her position so she could feed it and Big – separated by her body! Well done, River! Both got to share the small fish and both had crops, not huge but they both ate well enough. Now we need more fish!

River used her ‘eagle eyes’ to notice that Little Middle was moving up and wanted food. See how she turned to face the rim which protected Little Middle from Big.

Did you know that the term ‘eagle eye’ was first used in the 1500s before science understood eagle vision. Eagles have 5x the amount of light cells packed into a square inch. Humans can see at 110 degrees with both eyes, eagles have two foveae (the place in the retina where the cells that sense light are located) in each eye. They can see much better in all directions – including almost 360 degrees of peripheral vision, according to Sibley.

Both eaglets are getting some of their blood feathers – more, of course, on Big.

Some of you have commented about a chat at Dale Hollow. The chat for Dale Hollow appeared yesterday and then today for a bit. According to one of the moderators, it is only on when the cameras are re-booted and probably won’t be on at any regular times if at all.

The eaglets are 28 days old – 4 weeks. Remember when you look at their size that only 51 minutes separates them in terms of hatch time. Big is just huge. You can easily see those wing and contour feathers coming in on Big in the image below. Look at the tip of the wing.

River flew in with a nice fish at 11:50:51.

Notice Big’s large crop from eating almost an entire fish earlier as she moves over to get fed. Little Middle puts its head down.

But wait! Is Big too full? ready to cast a pellet? (they don’t always want to eat them) The adult is stretching out to feed Little Middle! Oh, kiss that eagle!

Big decides it wants some fish, too. But there is no discord. Eventually the adult moves away to the other rim so that the two are divided.

Just look at Little Middle’s crop!!!!!!!!!!! Yahoooooooooo.

Excellent. Little Middle made up for missing much of the earlier fish and winds up with an enormous crop. Well done, Little Middle.

It has been awhile since we had a really good look at the osplets on the Captiva Osprey nest. With the death of Big on the 15th (cause unknown still), the two remaining chicks have thrived with absolutely no discord. Today they are standing and it is seriously difficult to tell Middle from Little.

They are seriously beautiful little Ospreys and it is wonderful for Andy and Lena to continue to have two healthy babies who look like they will fledge without a problem.

Can you tell between Middle and Little? It is difficult. Middle is standing in the image below. Its feathers are a little darker having grown out longer.

Harry is keeping the MN DNR nest full of prey – talk about choice! – for his two wee ones and Nancy. Their weather is so much nicer than in other parts of the US.

It is cool in Ithaca where Big Red and Arthur have their nest with some snow falling on occasion. Big Red and Arthur are incubating four eggs – a first for this nest and a rather rare event even if hawks can lay up to 5 eggs. Ironically, the University of Syracuse RTHs now have four eggs, too!

The same snow that is falling in Ithaca is hitting Pittsburgh and the Bald eagle nest out in Hayes even more. Mum and Dad are brooding three chicks. Stay warm!

There was a pip in the second egg at the National Arboretum nest. Here is an image of the egg during a shift change today and the adult. Will hopefully have good news tomorrow on a successful hatch for Mr President and Lotus.

In the image below, taken at 09:22 this morning, you can clearly see the egg tooth chipping away. Oh, my goodness, fingers crossed for these two.

Here is a recent video of the hatch for Mr President and Lotus as it progresses:

There was some speculation about the Dale Hollow nest when the camera was turned away from the nest. It appears, from comments I saw by the woman who does the videos, that at one time or another – perhaps during that long view – Little Bit was removed from the nest and probably fed to Big. Several of you thought that was the case. Eaglets from other nest also brought on. Good sleuthing. Sad.

Thank you for joining me today. Please take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam: Friends of Big Bear Valley, West End Bald Eagles and the Institute of Wildlife, Dale Hollow Eagles, Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, Pix cams, NADC-AEF, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, MN DNR, Redding Eagles, and NEFlorida Bald Eagles and AEF.

Big continues her attack at Dale Hollow and other stories in Bird World on Sunday

27 March 2022

Jack brings in yet more toys for the kids as Harriet lays the third and, hopefully, final egg today at the Dahlgren Osprey Nest on the King George V River.

Not to be out done by the Cornell Red tail hawks with their four eggs, the female at the Syracuse Red tail Hawk nest has now laid four eggs! Goodness. While we might want to think that this is a prey rich summer, I had a conversation about Avian Flu with someone who is involved in that research. They said that Avian Flu H5N1, the highly pathogenic strain, is spreading like wild fire. Could the extra egg be part of a natural reaction to this? The general consensus is that 1 out of 3 fledglings survive. Are the hawks laying 4 eggs with the hope now that 1 in 4 survives this year with the spread of the flu? It reminded me of a quote on the Looduskalender Forum byIrene Ripperberg: “Clearly animals know more than we think and think more than we know.”

I had hoped that the afternoon would be a good one for Middle Little. While Little Middle did eat, those feedings did not come without enduring the wrath of Big. At 12:06:54 a parents flies in with a piece of fish. Big immediately goes after Little Middle who will get nothing of that prey drop. At 14:19:13 there is a large fish and a small piece left from earlier on the nest. Little Middle moves and Big goes on the attack. LM watches as Big is fed. By 14:26:47, Little Middle is at the rim of the nest moving cautiously. Little Middle gets a bite at 14:29:00 and a few more bites. Big gets up and Little Middle goes into submission. Big ate the rest of the fish and the tail. Little Middle did have a crop, part of which was left from the morning. Obey flew in with another fish at 15:28:58. Middle was where he landed. He gave Little Middle some bites which LM snatched and grabbed til Obey flew off at 15:32:39. At 17:52:47 River moves the large fish Obey brought in earlier and begins to feed Big. Little Middle moves over by Dad who has arrived at 17:54:24 hoping he has some more food. He doesn’t. Little Middle moves over to the rim and cautiously up to River who gives him some bites.

Big appears to be sleeping. At 18:15:27 – only three minutes later- Big goes into an attack. Oh, how I wish that Big would have just slept. There is hardly any food left – it ate an entire fish!

She tries to get Little Middle’s head to inflict the most damage which despite a large crop she does. Little Middle appears to be quite frightened. Big moves up to eat again. Middle Little must move – Big goes on the attack again at 18:16:11 in spite of having a big crop. Big positions herself so that she can grab Little Middle’s head and she twists it.

I had hoped that the beaking was going to slow down. It certainly does not appear to have anything to do with whether Big is full of not. One of our readers ‘BG’ observed that Big has a much more difficult time attacking Little Middle if she has a big crop which she does in the image below. It is hard for her to go over the top of the back anymore. That said, she was surely determined today and shifted to the side so that she could grab Middle’s head and neck which she shook.

While Little Middle is getting bigger and Big is often so full she can’t do anything, Little Middle must be cautious. And we have to hope that much more food comes on this nest. As it happens what is being brought in is enough for Big but barely enough for Little to have lots which it needs now. Both eaglets are 27 days old today – 28 if you count hatch day.

In the image below, Big is trying to go down to the head on the side at a slightly different angle than the image above. She has strong legs and, in fact, could, if she got wild enough, push Little Middle out of the nest. Despite being full, she simply could not sand that River would feed Middle Little a few bites of scrap fish.

Big is huge compared to Little middle. Look at her legs!

River feeds Big as he pushes Little Middle from the back. Little Middle raises its head and Bit goes at it again at 18:16:25.

Little Middle tries to get away by moving up close to River. River feeds Big. Nothing for Little Middle.

I am putting the image below in as a comparison of the size of the two. There remain many ways that Big can harm Little Middle but let us look at the positive. Despite not getting lots of food and cheeping wanting more, Little Middle did eat and did have a crop. He also had a really good PS this afternoon.

I am continually checking on Karl II and his movements curious as to if he can ‘smell’ or ‘sense’ war and not go to his normal watering hole in the Ukraine.

One of the British that travel to The Gambia to monitor Ospreys, Chris Wood, notes that many of the Ospreys arrive and go right to the same tree that they have done in many years previous. Will this also be the case for Karl II that he will, nonetheless, go to his normal spots despite the war?

Karl II is through Bulgaria, almost. Will he continue through Poland up to Latvia? We wait for the transmissions.

The people of Mlady Buky, The Czech Republic, are awaiting the arrival of their two White Storks. This community is the one who saved the father and the three storklets (originally four but Dad selected) by providing food for them last year.

Are you fond of Goshawks? The Goshawk nest at Riga, Latvia has its first egg today.

For any of the Latvian nests, I urge you to subscribe to The Latvian Fund for Nature’s streaming cams. There is no charge. You can do a search on YouTube and then select the nests you wish to watch. You will get a notice if something happens! There you will also find all of the videos of Milda the White-tailed Eagle at Durbe, her trials and joys.

There is a lovely little video of the adults at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagle nest doing a tandem feeding. Oh, I just love this when the parents work together to make sure their chicks survive – if at all possible.

I love Red tail hawks and A Place Called Hope posted this today. I wanted to share it with you. If I were a raptor and needed rehab, I would really like to find myself at APCH.

The second egg for Mr President and Lotus at the National Arboretum Nest in DC is 35 days old. I so hope that this one hatches and the chick survives to fledge. It would be wonderful for this new pair. This is 18:13 this evening. Lotus is being very careful when she rolls that egg!

The following was posted a few hours ago. It looks like there is an internal pip happening. Please send your warmest wishes to Mr President and Lotus for a successful hatch for DC9.

R2 was returned to the nest by Ron Magill at the Miami Zoo. The remaining monofilament was removed successfully from its foot. These images were posted on Ron Magill’s FB page:

How wonderful! So happy for R2. He is sleeping on the rim of the nest tonight.

Everything is fine on the Captiva Osprey Nest of Andy and Lena in Florida. The beautiful juvenile plumage is coming in on both Middle and Little. They are growing so fast! Still no news on what killed Big.

Today, Grinnell protected the egg at the Peregrine Falcon scrape in The Campanile while Annie chased off the intruder. Here is a short video clip of that action.

Cal Falcons just posted another. The couple have been busy with intruders.

And before I close, a quick look at the West End Bald eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta where the trio of eaglets continues to thrive and grow without a second of discord. Remarkable parenting at this nest!

Look at how big they are. This just brings tears to my eyes. Two parents working together got this fantastic result for Thunder and Akecheta.

It looks like Ervie went out to the water. I hope he caught a nice fish! His tracker continues to work and he remains around Port Lincoln. Joy. Now if we only had news of Falky and Bazza.

Life is good at the nests!

Thank you so much for joining me. My blog may not be out til late on Monday. Hopefully the news will be good at Dale Hollow. Take care all. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB or Forum: Looduskalender, Latvian Fund for Nature, Mlady Buky Stork cam, Captiva Osprey Cam, Ron Magill, West End Bald Eagles and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, Cal Falcons, Dahlgren Osprey Nest, Pix Cams, Port Lincoln Ospreys, A Place Called Hope, and WRDC Bald Eagles.

Late Saturday and early Sunday in Bird World

26-27 March 2022

It seemed that Saturday started out to be a rather good day. And then it didn’t. The little hatchling at the National Arboretum Nest has died. There is one other egg for Mr President and Lotus. Perhaps it will survive. This is a very detailed explanation of the uncommon tragic accident that happened to this chick trying to hatch.

Big and Middle had the fish that had been left on the nest overnight and then Obey brought in another sucker. That second fish was finished by 11:30ish. Both Big and Little Middle had big crops. No other prey came to the nest during the afternoon. When River arrived -like an alarm clock – at 19:02:13 – she was empty taloned. Not good. Big began to attack Middle Little for no apparent reason at 07:03:12. Little Middle went into submissive mode. Neither eaglet was fed and there is no food on the nest. The eaglets are 26 days old.

At the Big Bear Valley nest of Jackie and Shadow, the eaglet is 23 days old. If you look at it physically you can see the resemblance to the developmental stage of the Dale Hollow eaglets.

The body is covered with thermal down almost completely but the head and a few dandelions on the neck and wing.

Jackie and Shadow’s feeding schedule until 15:20 today, the 26th of March, as posted on the rolling camera chat. There will be at least two more today but if those didn’t happen, there would have still been six feedings beginning at dawn.

Like children, nests need stability and regularity for security. It is Sunday morning. Obey brought a squirrel in prior to 08:00. The feeding was continuing when I opened up the streaming cam. Little Middle got none of that first prey item that I could see. Big had a crop.

A sucker came in at 08:46:16. It is a nice sized fish.

Big attacks Little Middle at 08:46:44 despite having eaten the squirrel and having a crop.

The parent begins to feed Big with Little Middle into submission.

At 08:51:02 Little Middle has moved to the other side of the parent and is being fed. Yeah Little Middle!!!!!

Little Middle got to eat until 08:56:46 when the parent abruptly flew off – perhaps to get rid of an intruder.

Little Middle is very hungry and pecks at the flesh of the fish watched by Big.

There is lots of fish left. Little Middle goes to the rim of the nest.

River returns to the nest at 10:19 alerting. Little Middle is cheeping and moves up to eat when River goes to fish. At the onset Big did not bother. Then at 10:25:28 it wants to go and eat. Big attacked Little Middle at 10:25:30. Little Middle moved to rim of nest. Big was still eating at 10:31.

Big just can’t stop with the beaking.

Little Middle had a crop but being clever, he is watching and waiting.

At 10:33, knowing Big has moved, Little Middle goes back to the fish. River begins feeding her youngest.

At the end of this feeding, Middle is going to have a bigger crop! It is now 10:36 and he is still eating! This is fantastic. Little Middle, despite the dominance posturing and some beaking, is getting quicker at its return to the feeding. Well done Little Middle!

Little Middle ate well. Look at this beautiful crop. Life is good!

There was a chat open at the Dale Hollow nest this morning. Because of that I was able to find out some information that would really be helpful under the streaming cam. The original nest of River and Obey was discovered in 2009. It fell with the two fledglings in 2020. Both survived. Prior to this year, River and Obey fledged 24 chicks. The nest on the cam is now one year old. There are 28 Bald Eagle nests around Dale Hollow Lake.

Akecheta continues to be ‘Super Dad’ at the West End nest that he shares with his mate Thunder and the triplets. They are doing incredibly well! There is still no discord between any of the three. They are well fed, sometimes tandem fed, and shaded during the heat of the day. It is nothing short of a fabulous nest to watch.

Here is a very short video of the four eaglets of Lisa and Oliver being fed at the PA Farm nest on 26 March. Warms your heart. These parents are going to be extremely busy!

Parents are doing a tandem feed at the PA Farm nest to ensure that the smallest one of the four gets fed. This is Saturday at noon.

You may remember that there was to be a rescue attempt at the WRDC nest in the Miami Zoo to retrieve R2 to remove the fishing line that the eaglet had tangled around its leg. As the rescuers were there, R2 fledged. Luckily it broke the fishing line. There is apparently a small bit of fishing line on its toe.

Sadly, this is why intervention is not normally done at this late stage unless the eaglet is ill or cannot fly away. They are hoping that R2 will return to the nest and with good fortune the remainder of the fishing line removed. There is an update by Ron Magill. He was able to get R2. The rest of the monofilament has been removed. R2 is fine other than having some flea lice. Great news!

There are more osprey arrivals in the UK. Blue 5F Seren arrived at the Llyn Clywedog Nest. Look at that nice fish she has brought in and look at that beautiful landscape – a perfect place to raise Ospreys. Seren shares this nest with her mate Dylan. They fledged one osprey – the largest male Osprey hatched ever in Wales last season.

Seren has to be strong. That is a huge fish. There is no footage of her getting it out of the lake but there is a video of the haul into the nest!

The Canada Goose on the Decorah unused Bald Eagle nest has laid her third egg!

There is also a pip at the Decorah North nest in egg for DN16. That was at 09:52 this morning.

The two sweet babies at the Redding Bald Eagle nest of Liberty and Guardian are just getting fed as I close this blog. How adorable.

Life feels rather good as I close this blog. Little Middle is getting much more clever and quicker to get down and eat so the parent doesn’t leave thinking they are not hungry. Big has turned its beak on Little Middle at least twice this morning but nothing like the violence on the 23rd of March. Little Middle continues to grow! As far as I can tell all of the other nests are doing OK today. There are some significant ospreys that have yet to arrive including two of my favourites Idris and Telyn at the Dyfi Nest. We are also waiting for Aran, Louis, and the Foulshaw Moss couple plus CJ7 and Blue 022 if he returns to Poole Harbour. Hopefully there will be more to arrives this evening.

Thank you for joining me this morning. I hope that you have a beautiful Sunday. Take care! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures: CarnyxWild, Explore.org, Dale Hollow Lake Eagles, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Redding Eagles, WRDC, PA Game Commission, West End Bald Eagles and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, and the NAE FB Page.

Annie lays her first egg and happiness at Dale Hollow…

26 March 2022

Just as I am starting to check all of the nests, there is an intervention happening on the WRDC Bald Eagle nest in the Miami Zoo. R2 got entangled in fishing line. The camera is down and let us all hope that there are no injuries to this amazing eaglet.

The big news of the morning came as a subject line a couple of minutes ago from ‘B’. “Annie has an egg!” Wow. Thank you ‘B’. (I was very busy watching Dale Hollow).

We have all been wondering how the soap opera with Annie and Grinnell was working out. This says it all. It looks like the egg arrived about 08:30:17 nest time in San Francisco. So happy…..wonder if Annie is going to join the ‘4 egg club’ for this year?

Annie is having a nest rest. She should sleep as much as she can. Once the eggs are all laid she will get a reprieve of 33-35 days and then there will be no rest! So, so happy!!!!!!!!!!! This really is turning out to be a joyous morning.

Cal Falcons just posted a video of this wonderful event.

It started out as a promising morning at the Dale Hollow nest. River and Obey had a big fish left on the nest overnight. Because of this, there was no waiting for breakfast and Big did not get herself into a ‘mood’. River was on the nest and at 09:04 she went over to the fish and lifted it up. Big went up to eat first. Little Middle stayed behind watching. Little Middle moved up to the feeding spot at 09:09:54. In other words, Little Middle let Big eat for about three minutes while listening and watching. It all worked out. River fed both chicks together up at the table. There was no intimidation by Big. Oh, joy!!!!!!!

Smart Little Middle. Test the temperature of Big before moving up. That said, Little Middle duly recognized Big as the dominant allowing her to eat first. Perfect.

Little Middle moves up and River stretches to give some great bites to her youngest.

Little Middle’s crop was flat at the start of the feeding. Now look! And also have a look at the size of Little Middle’s feet——– this kiddo is growing. Yippeeeeeeee.

What a wonderful start to the day at Dale Hollow.

River and Obey have found a stash of corn stalks and they are using them to create new railings around the nest. Smart. Big and Little Middle are going to need them. Several times I thought Little Middle was going to fall out of that nest.

By 10:00 the parents are away perhaps retrieving more rails. Meanwhile, the two eaglets are resting and the sucker Obey brought in is hidden.

At 10:50:30 River removes the Sucker from the centre of the nest to the rim where she can feed the eaglets. Little Middle watches and listens but does not go up to River and the fish allowing Big to be there first.

At 10:54:57 Big drops a bite, River holds it up and Little Middle does the snatch and grab!

Big was not happy and attacks Little Middle. Little Middle immediately goes into submission and moves away from the feeding to the rim of the nest.

I could hardly believe my eyes. River stopped and turned so that she could feed Little Middle at 11:01:20. This is quite the change!!!! Wow.

The wind almost blew her off the nest. It is so windy that River is going to have to go back to being parallel with the rim of the nest.

This gives the feeding advantage to Big.

By 11:08 Little Middle has moved up to get some fish.

By 11:17:18 Little Middle has a nice crop that has built up. The feeding finishes at 11:18. There is little to no fish left! This has been a good morning for Little Middle. Some intimidation but nothing that would have harmed him. Just reminders to remain cautious.

The Canada Goose at the unused Bald Eagle nest in Decorah, Iowa laid her second egg last night. She is using the twigs from the former eagle nest to cover them.

The sun rising over the Decorah Eagle nest home to a Canada Goose now!

It is a Cormorant food fest at the West End Bald Eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta. In the image below they are enjoying the one that Thunder brought in yesterday. Dad Akecheta’s performance at feeding is excellent. Look at all three of them lined up. No problems. Nothing. Serene and solace. There is a new Cormorant behind the big stick that appears to have been brought in today. By the time the season is over will there be any Cormorants left in the Channel Islands?!

At the Two Harbour’s Bald Eagle nest of Chase and Cholyn, Thunder’s parents, Cholyn is incubating. Pip watch should be soon.

The parents at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagle nest are feeding their three now!

Everything seems to be going well at the National Arboretum nest of Mr President and Lotus. The eaglet hatched at 14:55 on the 25th and is the first hatch at this nest in four years. Well done!

Wonder where that gold fish came from????

All cuddled up next to what could be a younger sibling.

The two eaglets at the Redding nest of Guardian and Liberty have been enjoying a lot of Coot for their first feedings. The oldest hatched on 20 March with the youngest three days later on 23 March.

Liberty is 23 years old and Guardian is 8 years old. Another nest where the female is much older. Liberty has fledged four sets of triplets – in 2009,. 2010, 2015, and last year, in 2021. It is a nice eaglet nest to watch and here is the link:

If you missed it, Mrs G arrived back at Glaslyn today. She is waiting for Aran and in the meantime, she is enjoying a fresh fish that she caught herself!

It has just been a pretty good day all around the nests. I am off to check on the arrival of geese and ducks here on the Canadian Prairie.

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

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Dale Hollow Lake Eagle Cam, Cal Falcons, Redding Bald Eagles, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, National Arboretum Bald Eagles and the AEF, Pix Cams, and Explore.org

Late Friday in Bird World and all is well

25 March 2022

Viewers of the Decorah North Bald Eagle nest of Mr North and Mrs DNF were frightened today when 47 mph gusts hit the nest. Those winds will continue until tomorrow. Hatching is never planned and that little one is making keen progress from its pip this afternoon at 12:46. It is being rocked and kept warm.

In 2018 this nest collapsed. It was rebuilt and re-enforced so despite the winds, everything should be fine. Hope.

And then it snowed at Decorah North! The baby is hatching. Dad has come in to take over so Mum can have a break.

It is still unclear what is happening at the Sauces Bald Eagle nest on Santa Cruz in the Channel Islands. This is the nest of Jak and Audacity.

View of the egg this morning. It is getting more possible that the egg is non-viable. Too bad they couldn’t have one of of the 4 and one out of several triplet nests that have hatched.

If you missed it, the big news today is the discovery that there are four eaglets on the nest at the PA Farm Bald Eagles. This is extremely rare. I knew about 1000 Islands in Wisconsin last year. Someone wrote that Norfolk had four eaglets in 2011.

Congratulations to to Mr President and Lotus and the National Arboretum Bald Eagle nest. First hatch after 3 bare seasons. Here is the announcement.

Congratulations Mr President and Lotus. Meet the newly hatched DC8!

Thunder has been bringing in crib railing to the West End nest and wow, it is working in one area of the nest. Thunder watches to see if these three lively eaglets will remain contained!

Sometimes but not when Dad Akecheta wants to feed them the Cormorant that Mum brought in today. Sweet babies. Seriously sweet babies.

We are all going to have to get our worry beads out. These kids of Thunder and Akecheta’s do not sit still!

Sorry for all the videos. The wind doesn’t really show in the stills and it is nice to see the four eaglets bobble. In this last one for the day, put out by Cal Falcons, Annie and Grinnell get down to business. Eggs tomorrow? Sunday? Gosh, I hope the romance drama has settled out on The Campanile.

Since the last feeding right after 12 noon when Little Middle had a huge crop, a fish head was brought in at 12:59:56. River fed Big until 13:08:18 and stopped. Little Middle did not bother to go up. It was more than full and why set off Big? River moves up to the fish head at 15:01:11.

River steps on Little Middle’s head and he pulls back, frightened.

Little Middle looks up at the feeding at 15:16.

Little Middle isn’t quite sure what to do. He has looked eyes with Big. (Often never a good idea as it sets the larger sibling off).

At 15:16:48, River pulls the fish head between the two eaglets. It is now closer so she can feed Little Middle.

A bite to Big and then a bite to Little Middle.

Same again, one for Big and one for Little Middle.

Then several more bites for Little Middle. More for Big and then the feeding stops by 15:30. It was slow. Not much fish on the head. But slow is good. Big gets full faster!

At 16:50;56 River flies in with a teaser fish?? Like a 3 or 4 bite fish??

She offers the first bite to Little Middle who was the closest at 16:51:31. I am watching this live and have no idea how well that gesture is going to play out with Big.

At 16:53:59 Little Middle moves cautiously and with head down away from the feeding. Big has done nothing that I can see – other than her sheer presence – to frighten the little one. I cannot imagine what it is like being that so frightened.

River obviously likes this species of fish. She is taking big bites and eating them herself. I wonder what it is?

Big gets full at 16:55:59 and River begins feeding Little Middle off the fish head.

Little is still being fed at 17:10. Life is good. River returns to clean up scraps around 18:00. Feeds Big a few bites. Little Middle doesn’t bother.

I checked on Estonian Black Stork Karl II’s progress and note that he has flown west. I wish that he would fly a little more west and head to his home in the Karula National Forest through Romania.

On the 23rd of March, Karl was feeding at the north end of the Beysehir Lake in Turkey. I so wanted him to turn west and not go straight north to the nature reserves around Odessa in the Ukraine. He left that feeding area and flew NW! 285 km

Today, he flew 308 km. He is west of Istanbul, west of the Black Sea.

Here is another map. Will Karl II turn to feed along the shores of the Black Sea or will he continue to fly north away from the war in the Ukraine? If he continues to fly west away from the conflict this is quite wonderful. How did he know?

The sun is setting on another good day at the Captiva Osprey nest in Florida. Lena and Andy have done well. Both Middle and Little are getting beautiful juvenile feathering. So happy for them. There continues to be no word from the second lab on what suddenly killed Big on the 15th of March in the morning. You can clearly rule out some physical cause such as choking on a pellet. I believe you can rule out Avian Flu, too as the UGA Vet School would have been able to test for that.

Mum and Dad at the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge have been making more and more frequent appearances there. Both were on the barge today and on the 23rd I did get a shot of Mum eating a fish. Would love to see our Ervie again. He is staying close to home. Here is Ervie’s latest tracking.

It is a good day in Bird World (except for Sauces, sadly). Little Middle is going to sleep full even if nothing else appears on the nest. Big settled during the afternoon but Little Middle remains scared. That is probably for the best. He recovers faster than last week and has eaten almost all day.

Thank you for joining me. Take care everyone. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Thanks to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, Explore.org, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Looduskalender, Dale Hollow Bald Eagles, Cal Falcons, West End Bald Eagles and the Institute for Wildlife Studiews, AEF NADC, and the PA Game Commission.

Late Thursday 2.17.22 in Bird World

Wow. There are a lot of weather systems moving about that have the ability to really impact not only people but also, wildlife. The UK has been hit many times this season with named storms. The latest one, Eunice, looks like she could bring more devastation to the large trees that serve as nests for the Ospreys and the Eagles as well as the owls and other raptors.

Wales is in the Red Warning area and it is home to some of our beloved Osprey couples including Mrs G and Aran and Telyn and Idris. All train travel has been suspended in Wales. Tiny Little Bob’s nest in Cumbria is in the orange area along with Kieldner Forest and the Scottish nests are, for the most part, in the yellow. Hearts go out all who face extreme flooding and downed trees amongst other catastrophes.

There are various tornado warning areas and a system is moving through the US that will certainly impact Bald Eagle nests in Pennsylvania along with my friend, R. It also looks like bad weather could hit the Berry College nest and Big Red and Arthur’s. Arthur was working ferociously on the Fernow light stand nest today. Birds can tell when bad weather is coming.

Kansas City – right in the middle of the US – has had a record snow fall today! That sleet and snow as falling on the nest of GHOW’s Bonnie and Clyde at Newton.

If having tunnels of snow as high as I am tall in my yard isn’t enough, there is more coming! At one point we had set the 1997 snow record but we surely must have tossed that aside by now. The winds will be really bad also. The birds in the garden stayed a little later but when they were here today they did not stop eating. One of the nut and bug solid cylinders is almost gone thanks to Dyson!

This bad weather really makes my heart break for all of the animals. This huge amount of snow makes it very difficult for them to get prey.

The two Osplets at the Captiva nest are doing very well, indeed. It is the first day but already Andy and Lena seem to have the feedings, the delivery of fish, and security almost under control. The little ones are so healthy. Fat and plump little bottoms. There has been no discord!

I hope that the third egg does not hatch. These two are just perfect. They are almost the same size. Their development seems to be about the same. The most recent images of the nestlings are at the top.

Isn’t it adorable that wee baby with its arm around the egg? Sure makes a good prop!

Andy has been good to stand guard when Lena is feeding the little ones.

Once today my heart sank when the wee ones were on the nest alone! I am going to keep telling myself that an adult was right there.

Everyone is tucked in tight and Lena is catching some sleep, too. Babies keep you busy.

Little Bit continues to thrive on the NEFlorida nest. Another fish came in and Little Bit ate most of it. Samson really filled that eaglet to the brim.

If Little Bit keeps getting fed this much, we will soon have to start calling him Big Bit! That is a very nice crop. Indeed, Little Bit has spent the day eating more and more always ready for more even if its crop is bursting. Well done Little Bit! You are certainly learning some good survival skills including eating everything you possibly can even if you are full. In the wild, you will not know when prey items will be available. Meanwhile, NE26 sleeps.

I am always amazed at how clever the ones who are bopped become out excelling their older siblings. It is fantastic.

Everyone is tucked in tight at the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest, too. Just look at Little Bit! Looks like he swallowed a beach ball. You can now see clearly that they have both been to the stylist and have lovely black nails in the latest pointy fashion.

So sweet. They are trying to sleep sitting up like Samson and Gabby with their heads tucked. What darlings.

Hatch watch is on for the Savannah Skidaway Island Great Horned Owl Nest.

Audacity laid her first egg of the 2022 season yesterday on the Sauces, Santa Cruz, Channel Islands nest.

That nest is in a really beautiful location. Here is the link to the camera. There is also a chat with very informed moderators.

Eggs are coming faster than I can keep up. Mr President and Lotus have their first egg of the 2022 season at the National Arboretum Nest at 17:05 today, the 17th of February. This is the couple’s first season together.

The couple were in the nest together about 45 minutes prior to Lotus laying her egg.

Lotus really puffed her feathers prior to the egg’s arrival.

Once it was hard, Lotus rolled the egg.

Lotus is tucking the egg so she can incubate it.

Everything appears to be quiet.

Here is the link to the streaming cam of Mr President and Lotus:

Port Lincoln has posted Ervie’s tracking for yesterday. Someone said on chat that Ervie had been seen catching a fish near the Marina. How brilliant!

At this very moment Ervie is on the barge yelling at Dad to get him a fish!

Thank you so much for joining me for this late report. I admit to not being able to tear myself away from the little osplets at Captiva. They are adorable. I am certain you would join me in shooing away the crows so these two have a chancer at a full life. Take care. If you are in the areas of bad weather, please stay safe. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Window on Wildlife, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Cornell Bird Labs, NEFlorida and the AEF, Explore.org, National Arboretum and the AEF, Farmer Derek Owl Cam, CNN Weather Tracker, BBC Weather, and Environment Canada.

National Bird Day

Today is 5 January and in North America this marks National Bird Day. As all of you are aware, our feathered friends have many challenges. Climate change, warming oceans, loss of habitat, hydro pole electrocution, window strike, disease, rodenticide secondary poisoning, lead poisoning, illegal pet trade, and many more are threats. This is a day to raise awareness. For me, it is also a day to contemplate the joy the birds bring to my life and all their teachings.

Well, I truly messed up. When I was writing about the National Arboretum Nest, I said The First Lady. This lovely couple is Mr President and Lotus – not The First Lady. Apparently, TFL left and this young lady showed up and Mr President took a liking to her. Wow. I missed that!

This is the new couple at The National Arboretum in Washington, DC Bald Eagle Nest. I checked on the American Eagle Foundation and they still have TFL listed for this nest but, that is not TFL, it is Lotus.

Two things happened in our birding community yesterday. One of them is important to everyone. It concerns photographing birds. One of the members of the Manitoba Birding and Photography group was out taking photos of Snowy Owls in rural Manitoba, about an hour outside of our main city, Winnipeg. He was on a public gravel road and had pulled over to eat his sandwich and drink the tea in his thermos. He was not trespassing. Without warning, two pick up trucks with three men blocked his car. They accused him of being an environmental spy on their hog operation. He showed them his camera and told him he was taking pictures of Snowy Owls. They did not believe him. They told him others had said the same thing. He knew that it would only be members of our group but, he just kept his mouth shut. He felt threatened. He was finally able to get out of the situation but, when he returned he gave some advice to all of us which I am passing on to you. He advised anyone going out birding and taking photographs to make sure their cell phone is charged and that they have cell service. He suggested not stopping in areas of no cell service. Apparently he had neither. I am going to go a little further and suggest that 1) you have a charger for your phone in your car; 2) you make sure you have cell service; 3) if possible have another person with you; 4) make sure you have lots of petrol; 5) know where you are located; and 6) tell someone where you are going!

I also want to add a little something to this. I lived near to where this man might have been photographing owls for a long time. People used to stop and take photographs of the animals. It did not bother me. That said, the world has changed and people are more fearful than the days when we didn’t lock our doors and left the keys in our vehicles. Exercise caution. Someone might really be afraid that you are taking photos of their property for other reasons.

The other thing was a listing of things you can use to feed birds that was being circulated on FB. if you didn’t see it, I am posting it below. This might come in handy if you run out of birdseed and suet. I note that Crows like other items such as hard boiled eggs and hamburger meat. They sometimes will eat fruit.

The two eaglets of Harriet and M15 have been both naughty and nice this morning. Both are well feed and thank goodness they have had a quiet sleep. They keep those adults on their toes!

Port Lincoln posted several photographs of Mum on their FB page. She was having a bit of a spa day. How gorgeous! You can check out Ervie’s progress and any postings about the family by searching for Port Lincoln Osprey on FB. You do not have to be a member of the group to look at the media, the discussions, or to make comments.

This note is also from Port Lincoln: “Ervie had watchers worried a couple of days ago when he took over Bazza’s spot on the nest and didn’t move but today he has really spread his wings and crossed the Peninsula to Proper Bay. This is a favoured fishing location for Mum and Dad so it certainly looks as though they are showing him the ropes.”

Ervie is growing up and maybe, just maybe, he was saying goodbye to all the other day. Mum and Dad did well this year with the three boys. It was simply a great Osprey nest to watch.

If you are a fan of Pale Male, Bruce Yolton has posted some lovely images of him. I want to also note that Pale Male and Octavia were seen in Central Park the other day hunting as well. I believe this Red-tail Hawk is 32 years old. Amazing.

If you cannot open some of the things I post and they have that little sideways ‘V’ on the bottom right, if you click on it you will find the link and you can cut and paste.

Pale Male

I will be checking on all the nests throughout the day. There are intruders hanging around the Achieva Osprey nest. One of them is the one that Tiny Tot Tumbles battled several times. I can see no action on the third egg at Miami-Dade but it is hard to see in that nest. There was supposed to be signs of a pip yesterday morning. It is getting busy, thankfully. And on a personal note, the repairman is returning to put a part on my furnace within the hour – thank goodness for small miracles as our temperatures begin to plummet again to -32 C.

Take care everyone. It is wonderful to have you with me. Be safe, stay well.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Osprey FB Page, National Arboretum Eagle Cam and the AEF, SWFlorida Bald Eagle Cam and the D Pritchett Family.