I have posted some rather sad news today – the death of the 20 year old Peregrine Falcon, Princess, who was the anchor of the Manitoba Falcon Recovery and the spread of HPAI.
So it is time for a little fun and giggles.
New Zealanders love their flightless parrot, The Kakapo, just about as much or perhaps more than they do their Albatross. It is breeding season for these highly endangered birds. There are scorecards!
So yesterday, Nora, who has been breeding and raising chicks since 1981 mated with two males, one for 83 minutes. Seriously.
The New Zealand Herald did such a great report that it should do all the talking.
Everyone has been waiting, holding their breath, for Ervie to catch a fish off the barge like Falky. That didn’t happen today but, Ervie did catch a puffer fish today and he brought it back to the nest on the Port Lincoln Osprey barge where he enjoyed every morsel.
Here is my video clip of Ervie, so proud, arriving with his catch of the day. You can watch him fly in from the top right. It is very quick, don’t blink!
Port Lincoln responded to the chatters request to zoom in the camera so everyone could see Ervie eating the puffer.
Ervie loves his fish and he had no difficulty opening (or bursting) the fish and eating it.
Does anyone remember when the lads were younger and a puffer fish was delivered to the nest? None of the three knew what to do with it then.
Despite many believing Ervie might not enjoy the Puffer, he really seemed to enjoy every morsel.
It is the first time that Ervie has brought a catch to the nest so this was a really big deal for his fans watching and chatting.
The feathers on Ervie’s head were still wet from getting the puffer but none of the feathers from the rest of his body, save for maybe his legs, appear wet.
Did he catch it standing in shallow water – like at the beach? So he just had to stick his head in the water and not do a full-fledged dive? I wonder. Maybe Port Lincoln can solve the mystery by looking at Ervie’s tracker!
Ervie has been flying on and off the barge today, becoming more of his old adventurous self.
Just look at how handsome Ervie is. My goodness.
Thank you for joining me. This was an exciting event for everyone watching. I hope you enjoyed it, too.
Thank you to the Port Lincoln Osprey Project’s streaming cam from where I took my screen captures and my video clip.
The snow and rain persisted in the North East longer after bringing bitter cold, rain, tornado warnings, and ice in the SE. Last night those white flakes piled up on Big Red and Arthur’s nest at Cornell University. This afternoon rain is falling in Ithaca.
There is still about 9 weeks before Big Red thinks about laying eggs. Suzanne Arnold Horning caught Big Red preening in the snow this morning. Big Red is always beautiful, no matter the weather.
The sun has come out on the WRDC nest of Ron and Rita. Hopefully this will make R1 nicer. Even Rita tried to stop his nonsense with R2 yesterday.
The behaviour of R1, more aggressive than normal during the day of the storm, was mirrored in E19 who was entirely unpleasant to E20 on Harriet and M15’s nest in Fort Myers. These two have been called the ‘the most sweet’ and ‘the most caring’ of all of Harriet and M15’s eaglets and yet, yesterday brought out the aggression.
The cameras at SWFlorida are having problems this morning. The IR remains on and they are all on different times. The camera should, at this moment, be reading 12:30. Those eaglets are fine. Hopefully today will calm E19 down.
The one nest that I have been concerned with is that at Berry College. Missy did real well during the storm yesterday. It appears that the chick attempting to hatch in the second egg has failed. As one of the chatters said this morning, ‘we are thankful for one feisty chick’. Agreed. Let Missy get some experience with this one! Fingers crossed that this little one, B15, will grow and thrive.
I checked on Missy late last night and was thrilled to see the precipitation had stopped.
What I would like to see is a pile of fish on that nest! Pa Berry, let’s go fishing.
No egg at Duke Farm but the nest continues to be restored by the pair of Bald Eagles that gave us those two magnificent fledges last year.
It is breezy and sunny at Hilton Head Island Trust Eagles Nest, home to Harriet and Mitch and their two eaglets. It certainly isn’t hot there and the forecast indicates that the temperatures will plunge on Thursday. Right now the babies are full of fish and sleeping.
Lori Covert at Captiva Bald Eagles has announced that the two eggs of Connie and Clive are either unfertilized or non-viable. No eaglets for Connie and her new mate this year, sadly.
There was a late fish delivery to Ervie on the Port Lincoln Osprey barge. I am not quite certain of the delivery time but Ervie was working on it after 20:00. At one point, Mum came over to see if she could get that fish off Ervie and he promptly booted her off the nest. Ervie!
Ervie did not finish that fish. He seems to have saved some of it for breakfast. He is sleeping on it!
Before signing off – I am late in feeding the garden birds and animals – a quick check on Anna and the little one. Louis has the pantry full – typical Louis -and this baby continues to delight. It is so strong. The Kisatchie National Forest nest is quickly rising like cream to the top in terms of my favourite Bald Eagle nests.
I know that there has been a lot of chatter about Louis being able to feed lots more chicks. Yes, he could. He could supply Berry College easily and keep Anna and babies full. That said, my preference will always be for one very healthy chick at each nest – always. Anna is a young Mum. This is only her second breeding season. Ease her into larger clutches gently! If ever.
This eaglet is the cutest! Seriously.
Thank you so much for joining me this morning. They all seemed to have survived the storms well. Such a relief. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Berry College, WRDC, SWFlorida, Hilton Head Island Trust, Port Lincoln Ospreys, KNF Bald Eagle Cam, Duke Farms, Cornell Bird Lab, and Suzanne Arnold Horning for the image of Big Red today.
Oh, what a day in Bird World it has been! The weather at the nest of Pa Berry and Missy clocked in at 3 degrees F. That is -16 C. As a comparison, it was only -5 in Winnipeg today. Poor Missy. The snow and sleet were coming down, she has a hungry baby – and she is hungry herself – and there is a chick trying to hatch! My heart went out to her. There were a few tiny breaks in the weather for Missy. She jumped up and ate ferociously and then quickly fed her baby. The bad weather is due to continue til at least Monday afternoon. I was almost afraid to check on her but, then I did.
Pa Berry had brought in another fish. He looks pretty dry compared to Missy, ironically. Missy worked hard to get some food into her little one before she had to brood and try to keep that baby warm and dry.
Missy took lemons and made lemonade with it. She ate and so did her baby. It was fast. She could not afford for the wee one to get soaking wet, cold, and die. I was impressed. Whatever will happen at this nest with all the horrible cold and wet weather will not be this Mum’s fault. She was trying as best she could.
There were tornado warnings and 60 mph winds down in Miami-Dade County at the nest of Ron and Rita. That nest held. I caught some of it on a video clip. Rita works really hard trying to get the two babies under her so they will not get wet and chilled.
R1 has been brutally aggressive today to R2. Indeed, Rita had R2 begging for food and twice she did not feed until R1 came up to the front. At the end of the day, R2 was fed three times today. I cannot confirm the amounts or if there was a big crop like R1s. You might have noticed. But R2 did eat.
Harriet was soaked but she took great care of E19 and E20 during the storm. The heavy rain actually hit Fort Myers well before it started in Miami hard.
None of these issues – extreme weather and/or sibling rivalry -are happening down at the Kisatchie National Forest nest of Anna and Louis. Louis is bring ever more fish onto the nest and that little one is just a sweet little roly-poly.
I can count the remains of one Coot and six fish.
You will think I am nuts continually talking about this kiddos cute tail but it is cute. I have never seen such a cute tail on such a young eaglet. It looks like a soft little ball, so sweet.
Both eagles were on the nest at Duke Farms working on the egg cup. There are expectations that an egg will be laid soon. This couple is in line for some of that storm as well.
Mum is on the nest and the snow has started. Last year she spent almost her entire incubation period encased in snow and ice. I ached for her.
The winds are picking up at the Hilton Head Island Trust, the home of Harriet and Mitch and their two eaglets. The gusts are blowing at 31 mph but there is no indication of rain or snow hitting the nest.
Here is the tracking of that storm as it moves NE as of 9:23 pm on CNN. It is out of Florida. Mt Berry Bald Eagles are in the purple area of Georgia near Atlanta. Pittsburg-Hays, Duke Farms, and even Big Red and Arthur are in the area of winter weather advisories. Continue to send your warm thoughts to everyone here and in all the extreme weather systems moving about the planet including those with the tsunami earlier today.
Snow has been falling in Pittsburg.
Snow continues to be heavy in the Ithaca and Finger Lakes area of upstate NY. This is Big Red and Arthur’s nest.
Meanwhile, in the UK, everyone is getting excited. It is only two months until the expected arrival of the Ospreys. The BBC did a short programme on CJ7 and her nest at Poole Harbour in June of 2021. CJ7 found love this past summer and it is hoped that her mate will return and there will be chicks on this nest for the first time in 200 years! Wow. I am showing it again as the anticipation is bubbling over. It is short and it will also get you excited for the arrival of some of the North American returnees as well.
In New Zealand, OGK, the Royal Cam Dad, returned to incubate his egg and let his mate, YRK, go and feed. That egg is due to hatch on the 27th of January give or take a day or two. Lady Hawk caught the return and the cuddles of this sweet couple.
We hold our breath and wait for the storms in the US to pass and wish all of the nests the best in handling the weather.
Thank you for joining me. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots or video clips: WRDC Bald Eagle Nest, Berry College, KNF Bald Eagle Nest, SWFlorida and D Pritchett, Duke Farms, Hilton Head Island Trust, Pix Cams, Cornell Bird Lab, and CNN.
As this big weather system moves through the United States Midwest over to the East coast, a multitude of raptor nests are in its wake ranging from those at Decorah, Iowa to Berry College and Duke Farms.
There is snow on the Decorah North Bald Eagle Nest in Iowa. Not expecting egg watch for about six weeks – sure glad the eagles are missing all the snow! — Yes, I know they can handle it but it is difficult feeding just borns in the cold and wet. Better dry!
There is snowing covering the Denton Homes Bald Eagle nest in Iowa also.
The Pittsburg-Hays Bald Eagle Nest looks like it could get some of this nasty weather. Right now the adults are roosting on a tree above the nest. Not looking for eggs here for a bit. Last year this couple raised three to fledge! Amazing.
Right now at Berry College, this is the weather forecast:
B15 is doing great and B16 is trying to hatch. As you know, I am often rather out spoken. B15 is Missy’s first to survive little one and her and it are doing nicely. If B16 doesn’t hatch, it might be for the best. Let this young mom find her way.
There remains no signs of rodenticide poisoning with Ron and Rita’s two, R1 and R2. R1 is a real stinker to R2 lately and, in part, this is why I say let Missy raise one strong eaglet. The experienced Mums have ways of sorting out the rivalry issues such as gentle taps on the beaks or getting the assistance of their mate. Even so, it is not easy even for them. I want to see some success on this Berry College nest this year and right now, things look good with B15.
Duke Farms is in Hillsborough, New Jersey and it is set to really get hit by this storm as it gets to the eastern sea board. They are on egg laying watch there. Oh, I hope that egg can wait! Many of you have set through night upon night worrying about the Mum on this nest who was incubating eggs covered in snow for weeks. She is quite amazing. She is not on the nest tonight,.
The high wind warnings continue for the Kisatchie National Forest area. Anna fed the baby some Coot and hopefully the little one will sleep through the wind!
As night settled on the forest, the winds picked up. It is now 34 degrees F at the nest of Anna and Louis.
It is a little breezy at the Osprey nest of Lena and Andy on Sanibel Island, Florida. Lena is sleeping blissfully incubating those three eggs of hers.
The only hope left for the Captiva Bald Eagles, Connie and Clive is if the second egg is fertile. Egg #1 is 42 days old today.
Today is Ervie’s birthday. He is precisely 4 months old. How incredible. As many of us know, we held our breath when he hatched hoping beyond hope that #1 sibling would please leave the little one alone. What we didn’t know at that precise moment of hatch was the robust character that #3 was going to turn out to be. Today Ervie has been flying around the barge and might have even been up on the wheel house. Of course he is screaming his head off to be fed —— if he wasn’t, we would think something was wrong with the Erv. What a magnificent bird you have turned out to be #3.
Let’s hope that Ervie gets some extra fish today for his birthday. So happy with this Osprey. Send out positive wishes to all the people and the birds – not just our beloved raptors – in the path of this storm. Keep them in your thoughts as the wind and the snow and ice plow through the Eastern side of the US. I hope that Big Red and Arthur are hunkered down.
Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me on this quick report.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Decorah North and Explore.org, Captiva Osprey Nest, Port Lincoln Ospreys, KNF Bald Eagles, Berry College, WRDC Bald Eagles, Pittsburgh Hays Bald Eagles and Pix Cam, Duke Farms, and Denton Homes Eagles.
Good Afternoon Everyone. It looks pretty quiet out in Bird World this morning.
The two eaglets of Rita and Ron’s, R1 and R2, continue to sleep and eat without any observable ill effects from the rat dinner that they had yesterday. Fingers crossed. They are such beautiful and healthy little ones, curious about the world beyond the nest. Hopefully we can all go ‘whew’ after this fright is over – let’s celebrate on Monday.
They are very mobile, scooting around on the nest, balancing themselves with their wings.
This is Ron feeding the little ones. He isn’t as good as Rita but he tries.
There is an active pip watch at the Bald Eagle nest of Pa Berry and Missy in Georgia. B15 is doing well. Right now it also looks like Mt Berry could be in line for some of that winter weather making its way across parts of the United States. I really hope they get little or nothing. It isn’t nice to have a hatch when the snow and ice are coming down.
Pa Berry was on the nest with Missy on alert this morning.
B15 seems to have a good appetite.
Chatters are working on names for the little eaglet at the Kistachie National Forest (KNF) Bald Eagle Nest. The deadline for submissions is 30 January. Late this morning Louis flew in with a Coot to add to the 4 or 5 fish already on the nest.
The area is experiencing high winds today and are under a high wind advisory. It is also very cool in the forest at 8 degrees C.
This little one is the cutest little roly-poly I have seen in a long time. Anna has the feeding down and the baby is happy to have those nice bites of fish!
It is hard to imagine that E19 and E20 were this small a few weeks ago! Now they are at the big clown feet stage and their feathering is coming in nicely. I wonder if Harriet left this fish to see if anyone would try and nibble?
While other parts of the US are being hit with tsunami warnings, record levels of snow and ice, Florida is having a heat warning and should be getting some rain from that system.
Here is a lovely little video of E19 and E20 having their fish breakfast!
Finally, the pip watch for Gabby and Samson will be coming at the end of the week! I am so excited.
There have been intruders and both Gabby and Samson have been watching and listening carefully this afternoon.
How gorgeous!
An alert.
Time for some territorial defense.
All is well. Whew.
This nest is an active site for intruders. Gabby and Samson have to always be vigilant.
The two little eaglets are getting their feathers at the Hilton Head Island Trust Bald Eagle nest in South Carolina. There is no roll back. All I can say is that they appear to be eating well, growing at the right pace, and Mitch seems to have food on the nest for Harriet to feed the wee ones.
If you are in the line of the storms, tsunamis, and heat warning areas of the US or elsewhere, please take care. I will continue to monitor the WRDC nest of Ron and Rita with the hope that the rat did not get sluggy because of rodenticide poisoning. Ervie is on the barge and I will also check in with him and everyone else at the PLO later today. Thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screencaptures: Berry College Bald Eagles, SWFlorida and D Pritchett, KNF Bald Eagle Cam, NEFlorida and the AEF, WRDC, and Hilton Head Island Trust.
Last season, a rat was brought on as prey to the Bald Eagle nest at Captiva on Sanibel Island. It was fed to Peace and Hope. Both died of rodenticide poisoning. There have been far too many deaths due to rodenticide. The list is too long for me to type but every wildlife rehabber will tell you that everyone of those deaths was preventable!
Today a rat was brought to the WRDC nest of Ron and Rita and the eaglets, R1 and R2, ate it. The following was posted on a FB group that I belong to. Rodenticide is meat for rats and mice but it often causes the secondary poisoning of raptors as well as domestic cats or dogs. Everyone is working very hard to get this designer poison banned.
The rats are so easy to catch once they have eaten the poison. They become sluggish and are easy to catch.
Please send your positive wishes to this nest and help the raptors by not using rodenticide and telling everyone you know to not use it and why. I have first hand experience with our lovely cat, Duncan, dying from this. It is a horrific death. Agonizing.
Ervie had two fish deliveries so far. One was at 10:24 and the other was at 12:47:44. Ervie has also been off the nest exploring the area which is wonderful news.
Port Lincoln also zoomed in the camera on Ervie eating his fish. The result was some beautiful portraits of my favourite Osprey fledgling. Told you I was biased!
In the image below, Ervie is giving the ‘snake eye’ look that many Ospreys, like Iris at the Hell Gate Canyon Nest in Montana is so famous for.
Ervie loves to eat! He is really doing a great job eating this nice fish!
The hatch at Berry College is progressing. The extra shell was over the smaller end of the egg. One small victory! B15 is doing very well, too. Let us all hope that B15 is very nice to its sibling once it has hatched.
By 16:00, the little one at the KNF nest was chattering away wanting more fish. Anna waited a couple of minutes and got up and gave that sweetie a really nice feeding. I was surprised that it could hold any more fish after the previous meal but, there was room for a few nice size bites. At that time, 5 fish or parts of fish could be seen on the camera. The one that Anna is feeding yet-to-be-named eaglet had just been brought in by Louis. This baby will never have to worry about there not being enough fish! Last year Louis brought in a turtle but, as far as I know there are no worries about rats coming on to this nest as prey. Lake Kincaid is right out the front door!
I went back to check the WBSE nest and Daisy has not returned since she was there in the morning. There is still much time left in the day, however.
I am so sorry to worry anyone about the eaglets on the WRDC nest. It is reassuring that they are being monitored and I hope at the first sign of a problem they will be removed from the nest and taken into care — with positive results! Three things that would really improve the lives of the raptors ——- ban rodenticides along with lead in hunting and fishing equipment.
Thank you so much for stopping by to check on the latest comings and goings. This is brief because I wanted to alert you to the issue at hand. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages where I took my screen captures: WRDC Bald Eagle Nest, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Berry College Bald Eagle Cam, KNF Bald Eagle Cam, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and Bald Eagles Rodenticide and Lead FB page.
LOL. It looks like Ervie roosted on the perch last night. The angle of the camera only allowed you to see the nails of the talons if you looked really close. He is back on the nest waiting for his breakfast fish!
They were moving the camera when I caught a glimpse of Ervie on the perch.
No one else appears to be on the barge. Ervie will be hoping that Dad or Mum will hear his calls for breakfast.
Andy and Lena of the Captiva Osprey Nest on Sanibel Island now have three eggs.
Despite the fact that I am always checking on on E19 and E20 at the SWFlorida Bald Eagle Nest, I often don’t comment. That is a shame. These are two of the best behaved Bald Eagles I have seen. It feels like the year for that. The Port Lincoln lads lined up and ate and really didn’t have much rivalry at all until they had fledged. E19 and E20 had a bit but that went away quickly. They are marvellous. I hope that Lena and Andy hatch three well behaved Ospreys, too. We will not know, however, as the owner has decided that once the eggs hatch the camera will go offline until the ospreys are too big for the Crows to take.
Meanwhile E19 and E20 are being ‘filled up’. Look at that crop.
The little one at the KNF nest could be heard chirping loud and clear wanting to be fed. Louis was brooding and, well, Louis is a great fisher but he isn’t such a good feeder – at least not yet. Give him time.
That little eaglet is very strong. It can clamour up the egg cup after food besides being able to sit upright for a bit.
Louis has brought more fish and Anna is brooding the eaglet now. It will get a nice feed. The microphones Cody installed are fantastic. You can hear the eaglet clamouring for a feeding under Anna!
Anna got up right away and gave the baby some nice big bites of Pike.
This little eaglet is so patient and Anna is a splendid Mum.
The baby will have a nice big crop when Anna finishes feeding but they aren’t going to show us. Look at how chubby it is already! This is one of the strongest little bobbleheads I have ever seen. A great family to watch. No worries about sibling rivalry or hunger here! The chat moderator, Tonya, has just confirmed that when Kisatchie, their eaglet last year, was 13 days old, Louis brought in 8 fish and Anna brought in 2 for a total of 10 fish on the nest in case the chick got hungry!!!! (or Mum or Dad). Wow. I recall that big stack of fish in the corner.
Remember to send in your name suggestions to nameknfeagle@gmail.com by 30 Jan. Let’s give this great eaglet a super name! Everyone can join in. They will select some names for a final voting.
Here is the link to this great Eagle family in case you lost it.
If you are looking for something to do on a Friday evening, if you haven’t seen it, I highly suggest the movie about Pale Male, the Red-tail Hawk that lives in New York City’s Central Park. He is 32 years old this year. Him and Octavia still live in the park. It is free. Scroll down for the white rectangle that says ‘Watch It’. It is an inspirational story of how the people of the City came together to save the nest of this amazing hawk.
It looks like there could be a pip or a large crack in the second egg at Berry College. Will continue to monitor.
Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. See you soon!
Thanks to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Berry College Bald Eagles, SWFlorida Bald Eagles and D Pritchett, KNF Bald Eagles, Captiva Ospreys, and Port Lincoln Osprey Project.
I genuinely hope that the Bird World community does not have a fright like it did this morning when Gabby had not returned to relieve Samson of incubation duties for nearly 24 hours. Samson seemed nonplused by it all and maybe he knew where Gabby was. She has been known to disappear for a bit in the past but it seems unusual rip before pip. At any rate, all is well at the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest outside of Jacksonville, Florida.
A video has been posted of an intruder chase at the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest around the time that Gabby returned to the nest at 11:53. It would, thus, appear, as I thought, that her absence was based on a territorial issue rather than one of her ‘disappearing’.
B15 hatched this morning at 07:57 at Berry College. Everyone thought Missy might not ‘know to feed it’. She was up eating and looked over several times to see if its head was up and beak open. She knows what to do! Like the KNF eaglet, this little one is pooped from hatching.
B15 is a real little cutie! It looks very strong.
I sure wish Missey had gotten rid of those egg shells when B15 hatched. You will note that one has slipped over the end of the second egg. Hopefully this will not cause B16 trouble when hatching!
B15 looks so tiny compared to Harriet and Mitch’s eaglets at the Hilton Head Island Trust Bald Eagle Nest. Their feathers are starting to come in. Poor things. They are always preening and we think that they must be itchy.
I think this is a new take on ‘Sleeping with the Fishes’. Ron has been keeping the nest full of fish for Rita and the babies. He can often be seen feeding the little ones himself. They are doing nicely and this human-made nest seems to be working out well. Perhaps this design will be needed in areas that lose trees in big storms or fires.
The two of them are adorable. They scoot around all over the nest.
Bingo! Anna and the baby finally got feeding worked out. The little eaglet is going to have a nice crop. Louis is already beginning to fill the nest up with big fish.
I love seeing Louis and Anna on the nest. Look at that nice Pike that Louis brought in for lunch! And there is the little one with its crop holding its head up pretty good. It was so full it just fell over into food coma.
Louis has brought in more fish! No shortage of things for the family to eat. Louis is one of the most enthusiastic fisher-dads I have ever seen.
Anna and the yet to be named baby eaglet have figured all of this out! Just look there is a little tail!
This eaglet is seriously cute. The Rangers are looking for a name. Anyone can send in a suggestion. It should be gender neutral. Send name in an e-mail to: nameknfeagle@gmail.com Send it by 30 January.
You can see the tail and the strong wings below. Oh, adorable. This eaglet is going to be like Kisatchie – there were days you would think s/he was going to pop they had been fed so much. Anna is the kind of Mum that wants you to ‘take just one more bite, pleaseeeee’.
Just doing a quick check on the Port Lincoln Lads. Ervie was, of course, on the nest last night and Mum brought him a fish before bedtime. There are fewer and fewer fish deliveries indicating that the parents want all the boys to be out fishing themselves.
At 07:33:57, someone did, however, deliver Ervie a nice big chunk of fish!
Ervie has the fish.
That fish is under his talents but he is still mantling and flapping and prey calling. Just eat and enjoy it, Ervie.
An hour later Ervie is still eating his fish. His ‘gas tank’ is full!
I have been thinking about Ervie a lot. I have to tell a story to make my point. Years ago we had a black and white cat called Melvin. It was a time when cats could be outside where I live. Melvin loved nothing more than to roll in the dirt! He was always dusty. One day, when he was 2 years old, he disappeared. We looked and called but, nothing. Four days later Melvin was at the door crying to get in. We noticed some strange marks on his paws. It looked like thin wire had worn the fur off and there were a couple of holes. Had he gotten caught in a barbed wire fence? The result of his misadventure was real trauma. Melvin hid in the bedroom and walk-in closet. He rarely came out into the other areas of the house. When we had our cat sitter, Heather, she would take a flashlight to check he was OK under the bed and put his food there. Over the decade she helped us, she never actually saw Melvin, not once, just his eyes. Melvin lived 15 years in hiding, more or less. He would come out with us but no one else. While we will never know what happened to him, that event changed his life. This brings me to Ervie. If you remember, Ervie was the one going everywhere and being independent. It was Bazza on the nest. Then Ervie was away flying south of Port Lincoln. He has not left the nest since except to chase Falky. His behaviour has changed dramatically. Did he try to catch a fish and couldn’t get out of the water easily? We will never know what he experienced. I hope to goodness I am wrong about something traumatic happening to Ervie. He is clearly the dominant bird but why isn’t he out exploring?
The Audubon Society has announced today that the Migratory Bird Act has been brought back and will be strengthened in the US. Here is that information.
And, last but never least, the Kakapo Recovery. Today’s report on the breeding attempts and eggs. This is great news coming out of New Zealand.
It’s an exciting time full of ups and downs. We are on pip watch for Captiva and NEFlorida and with two recent hatches at Berry and KNF – well, it is difficult to keep track of all of them! I am really pleased at Anna and the eaglet getting the feedings worked out. It is all good down in Louisiana. I look forward to tomorrow. Think about a name for this cute eaglet and send it off!
Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me today. Take care.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages where I took my screen captures: KNF Bald Eagle Nest, Berry College, Kakapo Recovery, Port Lincoln Ospreys, WRDC Bald Eagle Nest, and Hilton Head Island Trust.
My goodness! Everyone got a real scare this morning.
Gabrielle, Gabby, and Samson are getting ready for their two eggs in The Hamlet Bald Eagle nest, near Jacksonville, Florida, to pip. In the 2020-21 season they raised Legacy and in the 2019-20 season they raised Jules and Romey, named after Samson’s parents who had this nest first, Romeo and Juliet.
Gabby flew off the nest for a break yesterday at 12:30pm and was not been seen for nearly 24 hours. Samson has been on the nest incubating the eggs waiting for Gabby to return.
The trees surrounding the nest were examined and wildlife rehabbers within a 2 miles radius were called to see if a mature female Bald Eagle is in care. Nothing.
I began to dread that this was a repeat of Romeo and Juliet’s history on this nest. Juliet was injured (or killed). Romeo tried to take care of the nest to have a female intruder remove and kill the hatched eaglet. He subsequently left the nest. Samson, their son, hatched on 23 December 2013 took over the nest in 2019.
Well, we will never know where Gabby was but, she has returned to the nest!!!!!!! I kept looking at the eagle on the nest and saying to myself, ‘This sure looks like Gabby’. The American Eagle Foundation just announced her return. My heart skipped three beats.
There have been intruders. Samson is alarming.
Gabby is on the right and Samson is on alert. Neither parent is on the eggs. Protecting their territory is more important than the eggs.
Gabby back on the two eggs.
Gabby is very nervous. The wind is blowing and she is being ever vigilant. The other rule amongst eagles is that if it is a male intruder, the male chases it. If it is a female intruder, the female goes after the interloper. I hope whatever is concerning Samson and Gabby leaves!!!!!!!!
This is the link to their camera.
Please send out your warm positive thoughts to Gabby and Samson as they enter the pip stage. We do not want a repeat of Samson’s parent’s tragedy to happen to this wonderful Bald Eagle couple!
Just some quick news. Berry College has its first hatch.
Anna and the little one at the KNF Bald Eagle nest are still figuring out feeding and eating. It is a repeat of Kisatchie last year! Made me incredibly nervous. They figured it out so fingers crossed again.
I will return with more Bird World News in the early evening. Waking up to see Gabby had been missing so long took the air out of my sails.
Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the NEFlorida Bald Eagle Cam and the AEF for their streaming cam where I took these screen captures.
