Tag Archives: Mrs G is still here

Oh, our lovely fish eating birds

I love Ospreys – bet you can tell! Still, the anxiety rises when there are three eggs on a nest that, historically, simply cannot support that many mouths to feed. Right now the Mum at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge in Australia is incubating three eggs. In 2020, a drop in fish deliveries around day 16 of the youngest life meant that food insecurities hit the two older and much bigger siblings. Tapps was a victim of siblicide. Will 2021 be different?

So far the two adults are working like a super machine. Today Dad came in with a fish delivery for mom. She left and he incubated the eggs for a half hour. Have a look at that smooth exchange:

The 2019 female fledgling of the PLO nest has been seen and photographed at Tulka yesterday. Solly, the 2020 fledgling with the satellite tracker still seems to prefer Eba Anchorage but she has spent some crazy time at Streaky Bay again. Solly is 339 days old on 26 August Australian time.

If it has been awhile since you watched an Osprey catch a fish, have a look at this slow-motion video shot in the Scottish Highlands. Incredible. When you are watching this remember that Ospreys and Owls are the only birds whose outer toe is reversible to help them hold on to their prey. It allows them to grasp with two toes in the front. Great design.

The Ospreys that live in Australia along the coasts and the rivers are Eastern Ospreys, Pandion cristatus. Eastern Ospreys do not migrate. Their status ranges from secure to vulnerable and rare in various states of Australia.

Ospreys have a system of communication between one another that individuals, such as yourself, will recognize if you have been watching Osprey nests. There are 11 physical and visual displays that show they are resting, alarming, soliciting for food, in a defensive posture, nest protecting, under attack, or sky dancing to impress their mate. In addition to the body language Ospreys use they also have 8 sounds that they make alongside the physical signs. Those include alarming, food solicitation ranging from a very low sound to an extremely high pitched sound, a sound for guarding, being excited, screaming, and the sound during copulation. These findings were published in 1993 by Vincent Bretagnoll and Jean-Claude Thibault. The article is “Communicative Behavior in Breeding Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus): Description and Relationship of Signals to Life History.” It was published in The Auk, Volume 110, Issue 4, 1 October 1993, Pages 736–751.

The British Library and the Cornell Bird Lab have an extensive library of bird sounds that you can access. Also, just watch the birds intently on their nests in different situations. You will soon be able to recognize their different visual postures. For those working in situations that deal with Ospreys, it is essential that they learn the communication and behavioural signals of these birds. These skills would definitely have helped those reviewing Malin’s flight off the nest and, in the future, could save a bird’s life.

Blue 33 (11) has delivered Maya a nice fish for breakfast. So Maya is still here. It doesn’t mean she won’t eat and fly! We just need to wait and see.

Either White YW left Tiny Little an early fish or the silvery white object is a leftover piece of fish from last night’s late feed. Is Tiny home to eat it? and will she be in Cumbria all day?

Ooops. Looks like Tiny Little is too late!!!!!!!! Mr Crow has found a nice breakfast. Does this mean Tiny Little has started her first migration?

UPDATE: Tiny Little is still here. I didn’t get the photograph but someone else did. Yippee. Will try and chase her down today.

It is another misty morning. Aran is on his perch almost in the exact same position as he was yesterday morning.

And here is Aran with Mrs G. She remains in the UK still.

At the Dyfi nest, Telyn was last seen on 21 August at 12pm while Ystwyth was last seen on 24 August at 09:26. Dysynni and Idris were both at the nest on 25 August. Idris brought Dysynni a whopper.

Yesterday, Laddie, LM12, delivered a fish to LR2 on the nest. LR2 was 97 days old.

After a pesky crow flew around the nest, LM2 decided it was safer to take that whopper over to his favourite Birch tree to eat it. Wow, Laddie, great fish!

LR1 left for her migration on 15 August. This was only the second time in the history of this nest that a fledgling has left before the female.

Oh, it is lovely to see some of them still home. Thank you, Tiny Little! News in other news is there are now three eggs for the Collins Street Falcons! That last egg arrived at 23:53 last night. Congratulations. And last, if you follow the Loch of the Lowes Nest a wonderful surprise. A 2015 fledgling, FR2, flew over Guardbridge in Fife yesterday. They got a photo. Fantastic. A survivor! There is sad news today. The Black Stork fledglings received their names yesterday. 7181 (no 1) was named Julge meaning Brave. 7181 (no 2) was named Malbe meaning Sedate. 7183 (no 3) was named Tasane meaning Peaceful. You might have recalled some animal sounds being heard at the base of the nest tree. It is now confirmed, so sadly, that Malbe has been killed by an animal. Urmas has taken the body of Malbe to be examined. Word has also come that Tuul, Karl’s fledgling, has also perished. The Black Storks are so rare – it is so sad to hear of these deaths. Our hearts go out to all who loved these beautiful families and to those who so diligently worked to make sure Jan’s nestlings were fed and healthy to fledge. There has been some problems with the tracking and posting of Karl II and his fledglings locations. I will bring this to you as I locate it. Did you follow Milda? You will know that this brave White Tailed Eagle from Durbe lost her mate and sat on her eggs for eight days without food and then a potential mate came. But last year turned to be a sad year for Milda. She is now working on the nest with her new mate, Mr K. So happy for her. There is word that WBSE 28 did, finally, get some food. Send your warm and positive wishes off to all of the birds.

Correction to earlier news letter. Karl II has only had a transmitter for two years. I said ‘many’. Thank you!

Have a wonderful day everyone. Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: The Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and The Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, The Scottish Woodland Trust and the Friends of the Loch of the Lowes, LWRT and the Manton Bay Osprey Nest, the Port Lincoln Osprey Project and FB Page.

Friday in Bird World – the happy and the sad

There were a few people who did not sleep well last night – concerned as we were over the safety of Malin. At the same time, there are great people going out to check on our little warrior. I want to give a shout out to Susan Theys, the wildlife rehabber for the area. Susan searched last night for Malin to make sure that he was OK and is returning sometime today, when she gets a chance, to search again. In addition, I want to thank Jake Koebernik, the Osprey and Eagle DNR staff for area 3, Steve Easterly, the DNR Biologist, and Patricia Fisher, Wildlife Rehabber. Malin had been flapping its wings vigorously yesterday and for a few days. Still, the video footage shows a chick that left because there was an intruder.

Two other really good things happened. The rain has been pouring down for hours on the Canadian Prairies. The ditches are full and it is marvellous. I hope that it rains for a week – putting out all the fires and filling up the water reserves. Instead of being grumpy, people are so happy. This rain might also be falling in Missoula, Montana – in the Clark Fork River tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

The second miracle happened in Latvia on the Black Stork nest of Grafs and Grafiene near Sigulda. For those who do not know, the male, Grafs was having a difficult time feeding the storklings by himself since Grafiene left for her migration. A feeder area was fixed in the ditch and stocked with fish along with a decoy of Grafiene. Grafs had not found this and the concerns grew. Fish could not be delivered directly to the nest because of the condition of it. On 20 August, Grafs made one fish delivery. BUT the miracle happened at 8:39:34. The youngest storkling, at 66 days, fledged. My source tells me that two fledged but I need to confirm the second. Now the storkling/s can find the feeder and supplement any food from Grafs. What a relief! I hope that all of them leave the nest. The oldest is 69 days and the middle is 67 days old. This is the best solution.

Here is the flight sequence of the youngest:

Wheeeee.

In Estonia, in Jan and Janika’s Black Stork nest in Jegova County, the trio have eaten every bit of the fish that Urmas has brought to the nest – for the banding and then the pail of fish the other night. You can see that they are gone in the image below.

Jan fed the storklings at least once today. These birds, like those of Grafs, are almost ready to fledge. They will, hopefully, find the feeder area set up for them too!

It is essential that we all stay hopeful – for the six storklings and for Malin. Send strong positive thoughts to all these birds.

I took this at the tea time meal. Tiny Little did not have the fish, Big Brother 464 did but, she is waiting and hoping and so far White YW has been a great ‘Door Dash’ delivery.

Oh, this bird has brought us such joy. She is tenacious. I adore her.

Dad wouldn’t leave Tiny Little hungry and screaming her head off! It is three hours later, the last fish of the day probably, and here is Tiny Little filling her crop in the image. Oh, you are going to sleep well Tiny Little!

There have been rumours that some of the female Osprey in the UK – the ones on the streaking cams – have fledged. Today, Telyn, who was believed to have left since she had not been seen since Wednesday, turned up with a fish on the Dyfi Nest. So Telyn is still with us!

Mrs G is still on the Glasyn Valley nest. Oh, she is so stern looking! You can almost tell an Osprey female from the intensity of their gaze.

Disturbing news coming out of Maryland in the US today concerns two workers who needed to replace a light in a Southern Maryland Park. Actually it is outrageous. To do that, they removed two Osprey chicks from their nest and euthanized them. I know how to spell both words ‘disturbed’ and ‘angry’. The incident occurred at Cove Point Park. “County officials said they had a “cooperative services agreement” with the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to have the ospreys and their nest removed. The commissioners said they were “not consulted or informed as to why or how the decision was made to euthanize the juveniles in the nest rather than relocate.” That last word is very significant – relocate. Relocate is not euthanize.

The Washington Post article is here. I hope you can open it. If not, Google the subject. There will be other news agencies picking up this story.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/08/20/two-young-osprey-were-removed-their-nest-euthanized-so-workers-could-replace-light-southern-maryland-park/?fbclid=IwAR2FK-kl_ATvumaLbvuTcOXd27F7GIywXTafm6Hh2MKm4FwaadqqW_O83PE

When the laws and agreements do not work, who advocates for the birds? The Audubon Society acted as advocates for Pale Male’s nest on Fifth Avenue. Maybe Audubon will go to work for these two?

If you find this as disturbing as I do, take a few minutes and fill out the form telling the Commissioners of Calvert County, Maryland what you think. Here is the link to the form:

https://www.calvertcountymd.gov/FormCenter/Contact-Us-Main-Homepage-8/Contact-Us-49

Always good for a smile or three are the two sea eaglets, WBSE 27 and 28. My goodness these two are so close in size and the bonking was at a minimal this year. They are well fed and healthy….and those pin feathers are coming in and they are both preening up a storm!

I have not been able to spend as much time with this family in the Sydney Olympic forest but I hope that might change. These two are growing slightly ahead of schedule it seems – their big clown feet match those crops. Just stop and look at those crops. They are so full they sag. Crazy. Dad and Lady are doing a fantastic job. So pleased.

The day is just beginning in the forest. Just look how big that sea eaglet is next to Lady! Wow.

I know that many have not watched this nest because of past things that have happened. I encourage you to check in this year. Lady is a more experienced mom and both of the eagles are healthy. There is no one getting the advantage over another. They are delightful.

That is what I want to leave you with this magnificent rainy day – a smile. Those sea eagles are adorable. Why not stop in and check on them? Here is the link:

Thank you to everyone for joining me. Please continue to send your positive energy to the Black Storks in Latvia and Estonia, to those storks and Ospreys migrating, and to little Malin. Malin really needs it. To my knowledge he has not returned and it is worrisome because the parents have been on the nest with fish today trying to lure Malin back. Malin is approximately 2 months and 2 days old.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Collins Marsh Nature Centre, Byrwd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, The Latvian Fund for Nature, The Eagle Club of Estonia, Sea Eagle Cam, Birdlife Australia, and The Discovery Centre, and The Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Cam.