I was out almost all day yesterday and returned to find some sad news. We will get this over and move on to all the good news!
The situation at the #4 Osprey nest in Finland turned darker. An intruder appeared and the chicks ‘fell or flew’ off the nest. The youngest who had not as yet flown was predated. This is also the chick that was so vigorously attacked by Mum the other day. So sad. Thank you ‘N’ for letting me know. This is 81 lost so far in the past 13 months on streaming cams.
The Mum and the surviving fledgling on the #4 nest. Keep them in your warmest thoughts.
Ervie. Bazza Hockaday was doing some photography for a client and found Ervie, too. Can you spot Ervie on top of the pine tree? This park is across from the barge – so Ervie is staying close. (Magnifying glass almost required!)
Meanwhile Mum and Dad are making sure that Mum is quite comfortable on those eggs – they are lining the nest with a Silver Gull, one of the favourite foods of the Sea Eagles.
Everyone wondered if anyone would be keeping an eye for Little Bit ND17. It seems that lots of people who loved the eagle that fought so hard to live continues to have a loyal fan club. This evening on the Notre-Dame FB page, the following was posted. It looks as if our Little Bit has been very resourceful and is doing fantastic. Tears, joyful tears!
SF Ospreys have not received the DNA results from Brooks and Molate. Brooks continues to enjoy herself at the other nest and the visitor seems right at home. He is certainly a lovely Osprey – and talented.
The ‘visitor’ at the nest of Richmond and Rosie has done something very special – it caught a Spiny Dogfish (Shark) that lives in the Bay. (Reminds me of those brought to the nest at Mispillion Harbour in Delaware – bet it is just a slight difference in name from one region to the other but the same fish). The juvenile very proudly brought it to the nest. SF Ospreys say this is highly unusual. They have only seen a juvenile do this once. Round of applause!
Here is the video clip:
At the Black Stork nest of Karl II and Kaia, Karl was busy flying back and forth to the fish basket. He delivered 3 big meals to the storklets. Kaia delivered 1 on the 2nd of August. There was some concern that Karl II’s GPS was not working but it seems to be fine now. Thank goodness. I do worry about them all the time for some reason – storklets not yet fledged and requiring much food before migration.
Bonus has been standing on the curved perch with 1 leg. Great balance. Bonus is the oldest of the four. He is 72 days old on 2 August.
The four storklets of Betty and Bukacek are doing fantastic. The female- Fifinka- often spends time on the nest of the adults and then flies to the natal nest when food arrives. Sometimes she holds back from the bigger males but she wastes no time getting there if she is hungry. In the image below she is at the top flying in.
There is no reason for it other than sheer dominance at the Sydney Sea Eagles nest. Lady feeds SE29 and 30 at least every hour if not sooner. Things were going relatively well until 0911 when 29 decided to not be nice and attack 30.
Three minutes later 29 is going into a food coma and 30 is being fed (0917 below).
SE30 keeps its head down to protect it.
Notice how 30 is slinking around the back ready to move forward and eat when 29 calms herself. Very clever tactic.
SE 30 is still being fed four minutes later. All is right with the world.
Mom and Dad on the nest of the Port Lincoln Barge early on 3 August.
Did you fall in love with Louis and Anna at the Kisatchie National Park Bald Eagle cam? couldn’t believe your eyes the day 18 fish were on the nest? did you melt and worry when Kisatchie fledged? when Kincaid hatched this year? Well, Cody and Steve have more fun for everyone. You will be able to watch 2 Bald Eagle nests from the Louisiana! Here is the announcement:
Humans and wildlife rehabbers helping another juvenile eaglet so that it has a second chance at life. These stories are always welcome!
The fish have been arriving in various sizes to the Osoyoos nest. ‘H’ sent me a note this morning saying the tally was at least 13 yesterday. Olsen is keeping up the numbers and some of them had to be good a good size. Sometimes the chicks are full and sometimes they aren’t. The last fish for 2 August was delivered at 20:01. Dad brought it in and Big Chick (BC) grabbed the tasty little twiddler. Dad rooted around and found an old piece of fish and fed Little Chick (LC). The family is nourished and hydrated. They have a break in the weather for a few days. This is all good news.
Here comes Olsen! BC rushes over to get the little prize.
Fortunately for LC, Dad found a piece of fish and is feeding him while BC works on the twiddler. It is all good.
The fish started arriving at the Osoyoos nest around 0523. The first was a small one but it seems to have changed possession at least 6 or 7 times. BC has been grabbing and self-feeding. Soo got into the action so that her and LC had some breakfast too. It is starting off to be another great day at this nest with 7 fish before 00700. Thanks Olsen!
Beautiful Iris. She continues to work on her nest. Precious are these moments – every year we wait til she leaves and wonder if she will return in the spring after migration. 29 years?
There are no updates on L4. It is now presumed that it was another window strike on the Cornell Campus. That would mean that of the four eyases – three struck windows at Cornell whose Bird Lab is one of the world leaders. Of those three, two are in care and one died. It is time Cornell made its windows bird strike proof like all of us try to do. I have not see at this time 1052 CDT an image of the head of the juvenile believed to be ND17. Elsewhere things seem to be steady but that could change as I hit the word ‘publish’.
Thank you so much for joining me today. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, postings, videos, etc: Osoyoos Ospreys, Notre Dame Eagles FB, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Mlade Buky, The Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender, Center for Wildlife, US Forest Service at the Kistachie NF, Port Lincoln Ospreys, and SF Bay Ospreys. They have been turned into my screen captures.
Good Morning Everyone! It looks like rain here on the Canadian Prairies – and when finally believe it is coming, the sun pops out. I am heading up north to check on the Ospreys along Lake Winnipeg. Fingers crossed! I may only make it as far as the nature centre.
Just some housekeeping. The NCTC streaming cam on Bella and Smitty’s nest has been hit by lightning. It will be replaced in time but not when the eagles are about. Phillipe Josse posted on the Notre Dame Eagles FB that all of the eaglets were seen flying about on 1 August. Great news. Victor Hurley reminds everyone that the CBD (Central Business District) 367 Collins Street Falcons generally lay their eggs around the end of August. The camera at the Boathouse Osprey nest in Maine is on the blink. I just about had a heart attack when I did not see 3 chicks in the nest yesterday when I went to their stream. Thankfully I finally figured out it was ‘Highlights’. Check in the left bottom corner if you go so the same thing does not happen to you. The word ‘Highlights’ will appear. The situation at the #4 nest in Finland where the mother attacked the youngest on the nest and the fledgling when it returned has calmed. No clear understanding of the reason behind the attacks but the youngest seemed to get the blunt of the wrath. No updates on L4 taken into care. Good news. The one surviving osprey from the Pitkin County Trail Platform (they were pulled off the nest by female caught in nesting material) remains in care at a wildlife rehab centre. The chick is now eating on its own and its feathers are growing in. Great news! That incident happened on 22 June.
Olsen delivered a very large fish on the Osoyoos nest at 1137 on 1 August (Monday). It was the 13th fish of the morning. Large and with its head. Soo fed the chicks til they were so full they could not eat another bite and then she took the fish to the perch where she enjoyed it.
Soo and BC and LC know Olsen is arriving.
Look at that nice fish! Olsen must have found a super spot to fish today even with the heat.
Everyone ate and ate.
After taking the fish up to the perch to eat her portion, Soo returned a nice piece to the nest.
There were more than 13 fish arriving at the nest of Soo and Olsen Monday. Another one came in at 18:58.
The chicks have eaten well and have spent much of the day with one or the other hanging their heads over the rim of the nest scaring the wits out of viewers. All is well!
Soo and Olsen got a bit of a break in the weather. It dropped to 33 today but….sadly another heat dome is coming in a week. Olsen has already delivered fish small fish at these times: 0521:46, 0533:10, 0541:22, 0620:46, 0625:11. A larger fish with head came at 0656:53 with the 7th fish at 0715:06 which was smaller and headless. If you count that is 7 fish by 0715 Tuesday. Olsen, you are amazing.
The good news at The Campanile is that the bonding rituals between Annie and Alden are increasing…and often they are sans Lindsay and Grinnell Jr. How lovely. Stay safe Annie and Alden!
If you did not see my earlier announcement, L4 was taken into care. He was found on the ground unable to fly during the evening of 31 July. Thank you to those who rescued him and took him to the Swanson Wildlife Clinic at Cornell. No updates so far.
Suzanne Arnold Horning caught Big Red, Arthur, and L2 on the campus Monday evening.
Big Red is moulting.Arthur on the stacks.L2 yelling for food.
It is fledge watch at the Black Stork nest of Karl II and Kaia. Yesterday it was raining which halted any thoughts of flying but, this morning the storklets are jumping around and flapping. Bonus is the oldest at 72 days with the other three at 66, 66, and 63 days.
The camera was off for awhile and it is unknown if they had a feeding or not. Yesterday Kaia brought in 1 feeding, Karl II travelled to the fish basket but it was empty because he went further to try and find fish. His transmitter stopped at 10:01 on 1 August. It is not know what the problem is and everyone is waiting not so patiently to see if data is uploaded today or if he appears at the nest with food. Fingers crossed. These are the only four Black Storklets that I am aware of in Estonia this year to survive.
Bonus is 77 days old and is the only surviving storklet of Jan and Janika of the original six.
Andor delivered a fish and Lilibet sure enjoyed it. The top image is the 30th of July.
Lilibet on 30 July 2022.
Then he delivered a fish and no one showed up.
Everyone began to question if Lilibet had left the territory. Lilibet has gone no where! She is around the nest a few minutes ago being quite loud – with what appears to be a nice crop.
Lancer is still calling Two Harbours home and Chase & Cholyn are busy delivering fish. Lancer has earned the name ‘Miss Sassy Pants’ by the Bald Eagle community. She practically tore Chase’s leg off with the delivery. — I am sure Mum and Dad do not mind. She will really be able to stand up for herself when she leaves the safety of the nest area.
The Sydney Sea Eaglets are ‘darling’. Just cute little fluff balls eating and growing. Start watching for the slightest hint of little black dots which are feathers coming in.
It is August and we have another month, perhaps, with Iris at the Hellgate nest in Missoula, Montana. For those unfamiliar, Iris is the oldest unbanded Osprey in the world believed to be 29ish. It is remarkable. Mrs G in the UK is their oldest at 22 years.
Iris spent much time at the nest earlier working and bringing in sticks and she has, on occasion, lately graced us with her beauty. She was there this morning when an intruder arrived. Louis went swiftly over to remove the visitor.
Each of us needs a good rescue story! It gives us faith in ‘humans’.
Dad at the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge seems fine. Bonding taking place!
That is a hop, skip, and a jump around the nests this morning. So far everything seems calm. It is a strange time of year. The US Ospreys are eating and preparing for migration at the end of August or beginning of September. We have eaglets in Sydney and we await the arrival of the eggs for Mum and Dad at the barge and the peregrine falcons at CBD and Orange. I do not know about you but I really need a ‘fix’ of little ospreys. Simply cannot wait.
Thank you for joining me today. Please take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures: Montana Osprey Project, Cornell Bird Lab, Osoyoos Ospreys, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Audubon Explore.org, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender, and Suzanne Arnold Horning for her lovely pictures of Big Red and family.
Oh, one half of the sky is blue with cottonball-like clouds. The other side is a solid mass of heavy grey clouds. It is 22 C and more rain forecast for 1700. The Crows are already in the bird bath eating their ‘sandwiches’ and peanuts. Given a chance tens of sparrows gather in there after they have left. The squirrels are running about and the birds are flitting in and out. Dyson came to drink out of the bird bath yesterday and all the rabbits have been here. The weather is hot for here and having water out for the animals is, hopefully, helping them to cool down. It is so reassuring – just like when we check on the streaming cams and everyone is home!
The three young Crows are constantly with one another. Their flying is improving. The bird bath water is in constant change for one reason – everything is washed by the Covids. I wonder if it was to soften the shell of the peanut??
One of the fledgling Blue Jays waited its turn until the Crow departed.
This Blue Jay is yelling at Dyson! The squirrels do not wait in line – they just go and grab the peanuts. It is too funny. The juveniles are just getting their crests.
Poor Junior. He is moulting. If you see a Cardinal or Blue Jay looking scarce on top, they are not ill, just replacing their feathers.
Hello Dyson. Thank goodness the new bird bath is heavy enough that Dyson doesn’t go flying when he jumps up for a drink.
Adorable Hedwig. He spent about an hour eating the spilt seeds under the feeder. Hedwig was discovered under the Peony bush. He was such a wee rabbit. He never left the garden but ate the seeds as the birds flitted around him. He is never frightened by them. His burrow is somewhere else now but you can always count on his arrival around 1730 rain or shine, winter or summer. He’s an Eastern Cottontail.
Olsen really seems to have outdone himself on Sunday. As I begin to write this, there are two partial fish sitting on the nest. The chatters have been keeping close tabs and ‘H’ provided detailed time stamps. These are invaluable for viewers coming on line. Much appreciated. By 0900, Olsen had delivered 8 fish of varying sizes. Everyone was chock full of fish. It appears that there was some nibbling on the old fish (gosh they must be like dried fish now!) with another fish delivery at 18:33.
Soo has done a fabulous job keeping the chicks shaded. It is currently 37 C but rose to 40. Or 98.6 F to 104 F.
The nest still has horrific temperatures tomorrow. They seem to just keep adding on an additional day of heat. When did I ever believe I would say that 34 C was a welcome drop in temperature? The night will be welcome cooling off periods. The Osprey parents are doing the best they can and thank goodness those two chicks are feathered nicely this year.
Send positive thoughts, please. Soo and Olsen deserve success. In 2020 they lost a chick and one fell out of the nest and in 2021 the three died in the heat dome that stayed over the area. This year we have had one fall over the nest so let us keep fingers crossed. I think Soo and Olsen will succeed this year.
It is now Monday morning and Olsen has already brought at least five fish according to the chatters and here he is at 0656 feeding his babies fish number six!
I do not know if you have read the history of this nest but it is one of those great cooperative measures. FortisBC worked with the Town of Osoyoos put up a separate de-commissioned hydro pole for the Osprey and also donated the funds for the camera – the nest and streaming cam you are watching. They were proactive – indeed, it is in their best interests not to have the local power knocked out but, grateful, so grateful.
It is cooler at the Fortis Exshaw Nest in Canmore, Alberta. Mum and the trio are doing very well it seems.
Because it is in the same heat warning area, I have been checking on and off at the McEuen Park Osprey platform in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.
There were two of the fledglings on the nest when I popped in.
With all the heat warnings, it is nice to have something to laugh at and it is provided by Bukacek and the adult only nest. You might well remember that Bukacek had built a second nest for him and Betty. Having four large White storklets on the natal nest gets a little crowded. Now that the storklets are flying – they have taken over the new nest! Bukacek will have to build another!!!!!! Betty meanwhile lures them back to their own nest with food. Perfect. Ooops….they ate and left. Oh, goodness.
Beautiful Betty.
There has been some concern about a blood spot near the wing of SE30 on the Sydney Sea Eagles nest. What was the cause? Often the eaglets get fish blood or bird parts on their body but this does not seem to be that. It looks instead as if some feathers have clumped together either with fish juice or ps and they were, perhaps, pulling and it annoyed the eaglet who pulled them out and left a small bloody spot. The eaglet appears to be fine.
You can clearly see the spot on the right wing- and that enormous crop of SE29’s. 30 is eating well. No worries. Lady sometimes feeds it so much that 29 gets itself in a little knot. With the amount of prey coming on the nest there is no need for food competition – and even with feedings spreading a bit, everything should be fine. The eaglets are getting older. Getting ready to get some really itchy pin feathers soon. As long as food continues and Lady keeps up her remarkable feeding schedule..these two are going to grow and fledge.
There will not be any ringing or DNA tests unless one or both wind up in rehab after fledge. But I might be already inclined to guess that we have a really big sister in 29 and a little brother in 30.
We can always use good news in our lives. Here is another story of an eagle rescue that will warm your hearts! Thanks, ‘L’, much appreciated.
Our beautiful Victor. I love this photo of him standing on a low perch. You are progressing, Victor. Keep up the good work!
Since the rescue of Victor, some of us have been more than perplexed about where the zinc came from that poisoned his body. I have rattled my brain with several of you – flakes coming off of anything galvanized, warnings on garden hoses about zinc, the shale in the area contains zinc, etc. I really do not think our dear Victor sat and ate pennies knowingly. ‘C’ sent me the findings of a study by a Brazilian researcher. It has been translated by Google from the Portugese. If you are interested in how Victor might have gotten the zinc and how our contamination of the planet spreads to birds 10,000 miles away even…have a read.
Thank you, ‘C’. Much appreciated.
Title: “Not even the “end of the world” is free from human-caused pollution”
Animals that live in the waters of the Kerguelen archipelago, 3,000 km from the nearest inhabited region, are contaminated by metals such as cadmium and mercury.
Not even the “end of the world” is free from the pollution generated by humanity. Located in the south of the Indian Ocean, 3,300 km from Madagascar, the nearest inhabited region, the Kerguelen archipelago, formed by about 300 islands and islets, is contaminated by metals such as cadmium and mercury, copper and zinc. The observation is made by Brazilian researcher Caio Vinicius Cipro, a postdoctoral fellow at the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo (IO-USP), in two studies he carried out at the University of La Rochelle, in France, in partnership with scientists there.
Of volcanic origin, Kerguelen is 4 thousand kilometers south of India and 2 thousand kilometers north of Antarctica. The archipelago belongs to that country and is administratively part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF). There is currently a scientific station and structures associated with it. “There is also fishing activity due to France’s exclusive economic exploitation zone”, says Cipro. “Biologically, there are countless species of birds and marine mammals that have established colonies on the island and many others, in addition to significant amounts of fish and invertebrates thanks to the high primary productivity of local food. There are also several species introduced by humans, such as mice and reindeer, and some plants.”
He says that the idea for the study came during a period when he worked as a guest researcher at the University of La Rochelle. “My supervisor at the time, Professor Paco Bustamante, had told me about a dataset he had obtained years before, which he began working on during his own doctorate, and whose publication he never had time to pursue,” he says. “I volunteered to carry out the task and write the publication.”
Cipro then went on to study the occurrence of four chemical elements (cadmium, copper, mercury, zinc and selenium) in more than 30 species of invertebrates and fish, most of them at a lower trophic level (of the food chain). The objective was to understand how the concentrations of these inorganic pollutants behave at these lower levels that will influence organisms above them in the food chain.
Cipro’s first study was carried out in 2014, shortly after he arrived in France, on samples that had been collected by Bustamante’s team in the southern summers of 1997 and 1998. The Brazilian scientist analyzed metal contamination in a species of bird, the black shearwater petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis). “We found contamination by cadmium, copper, mercury, selenium and zinc”, he says. “An article about the work was published in 2016 in the scientific journal Polar Biology.”
The second research was carried out in 2018 and yielded another article, published in the same journal. “In this case, we analyzed the levels of contamination of the same metals, with the exception of selenium – there were no conditions at the time to do this with this element in the laboratory at the University of La Rochelle – in 18 species of fish and 11 of invertebrates”, explains Cipro . The result of the work also pointed to the contamination of animals by metals.
According to Cipro, what can be concluded from the results of his research is that in this specific case of Kerguelen, cadmium values varied much more than mercury values (four orders of magnitude against one) and depended more on specificity in food ecology. and in the habitat than at the level of the food chain plain and simple.
In other words, the results of the studies showed that, contrary to what happens in most cases, the concentrations of pollutants found in animals depended little on their position in the food chain, but more on specific mechanisms of physiology and exposure, in such a way that predators from lower trophic levels could be more subject to some contaminants than others from higher positions.
This means, according to Cipro, that work with species of higher trophic level or sentinels needs more in-depth food ecology studies before reaching certain conclusions and that the food chain by itself does not mean much in this environment. “Furthermore, my research provides solid foundations on the exposure to which predators are subject, as in most cases this discussion remained on hypothetical terrain due to lack of field data,” he explains.
The work also showed a possible influence of a local secondary source of contaminants, probably the bird colonies themselves, a hypothesis confirmed in the Antarctic environment during his current research project. Going into more detail, Cipro explains that the analyzed metals have natural sources, but human activity certainly plays a bigger role than them in general. For mercury, for example, current emissions are estimated to be three to five times higher than before the industrial age. This element can reach the Kerguelen archipelago from dumps made by factories located 10,000 kilometers away.
Nevertheless, locally, in addition to bird colonies, some other natural sources may be significant, such as certain rocks and fossil fuels. “In the case of bird colonies, some studies that I proposed suggested and later confirmed their role as a local and relevant source of some elements and also of organic pollutants”, says Cipro. “In Kerguelen, we raised this hypothesis, comparing mussels from inside and outside the Gulf of Morbihan, and it seemed to be confirmed by the results obtained.”
The Dad at the Janakkalan Nest, Red CCL, continues to deliver the fish. The chatters have nicknamed the pair. Boris is the oldest and Titi is the youngest. The fish are so big that they take turns with no need to squabble. Titi is on the left. He has not figured out – yet – to hold the fish down with its talons.
Dad arrives with another fish at 1805. Titi is in the back with the huge crop from eating the fish in the image above. Boris is going to claim this one and Titi is absolutely too full to care! Lovely. Thanks, Dad.
The four Black Storklets on the nest of Karl II and Kaia are really wanting a food delivery. While they wait it is raining – they shake off their feathers, flap about, and jump on and off the perch. Kaia arrives with food at 16:58, the last image.
Just look at this beautiful juvenile Red-tail Hawk, L4. Stunning. L2 and L4 will probably be soaring in the thermals soon and leaving the Campus. Every moment with them is special as it is with Big Red and Arthur.
The latest update on L3 from the Cornell Lab:
L3 is gorgeous. Looking forward to her release when she is all healed.
Thank you so much for joining me today. It is wonderful to have such good news in Bird World. To my knowledge, all of the UK Ospreys have fledged. They will be eating and gaining weight as will their mothers for migration. Soon these flights will be charted. In the meantime continue to enjoy them. The same with the storks! Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, websites, and postings where I took my screen captures: Osoyoos Ospreys, McEuen Park, Coeur d’Elene, Idaho, Sydney Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, Cornell Bird Lab, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Mlade Buky Storks, Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender, Ojai Raptor Centre, and Fortis Exshaw.
Good Morning! I hope this finds all of you well. For those of you waiting to see Sarafina fledge, she did it at 0655 Sunday morning, 31 July. Congratulations to Louis and Dorcha and to all at Loch Arkaig!
I am so glad that Saturday is over! This means that if the forecast is correct, the nests in the Pacific Northwest that are broiling will begin to get some relief from the heat in two days. Gosh, that seems like such a long time but they have weathered extreme heat for nearly a week and all are still with us.
Olsen and Soo have really done an amazing job keeping the two osplets in the shade on Saturday and, well, anyone who has ever fished know that the fish go down deep to get into cooler water. Ospreys are only able to dive 1m or 3 feet below the surface of the water – so they need those fish swimming around near the top not going deep to get cooler. By 0930 Olsen had delivered quite a number of fish, apparently some better sized than others. I did not count them. There was one delivery around around 19:30ish. It appeared that the two chicks were super full and Soo got some nice fish, too. — They look good at the end of today. Such a relief.
‘H’ sent this image of the ‘unwanted’ fish.
At 08:55 Sunday morning, One chick is sleeping on a fish piece, the unwanted is still there, and Soo has a super nice crop. I sure hope Olsen got some good fish, too. This family is depending on him! And Olsen, you get the gold star for the week. You and Soo are doing amazing.
On Saturday, Ferris Akel ended his tour, as always, with a stop at the Cornell Campus home to Big Red and Arthur. He found L4 prey calling to Mum and Dad. Big Red was also located.
Oh, my goodness, what a handsome fledgling. L4 has lovely light grey-blue eyes that will get darker and darker turning into an exquisite espresso colour in adulthood. He will also get his red tail when he is a year old.
L4L4L4Big Red
The White-Bellied Sea Eagle nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest is becoming much calmer. There is plenty of prey. Lady feeds SE29 and 30 still about every hour. I noticed that the feedings are getting a little longer and that both chicks have nice crops at the end. It will not be long until there are fewer feedings with the chicks consuming much more prey.
What to expect as we end week 2 and prepare for week 3? The chicks will have doubled their size. You might also notice that their shape is changing – they are getting longer and so is their beak! We will begin to see them climb out of the nest or egg cup exploring their surroundings and pecking at leaves. By week 4, some pin feathers on the wings will begin to show.
The last feeding before night fall in the forest. If you look carefully you can see how the down is ‘looking different’. There will be little ‘black dots’ soon.
If you love White-tail Eagles then you will be excited to know that the oldest WTE couple on Mull Island just fledged their 25th chick! Skye is 28 and Frisa is 30. Look at that beautiful baby!
I am certain that everyone will agree that you can see the improvements in Victor. The top image is a couple of days ago- the lower one is when Victor began his physio.
I saw no images but on thee Notre Dame chat, Little Bit ND17 was seen by someone at the park. That is good news.
Our other lad, Ervie, really flew about Port Lincoln yesterday!
You may recall that the Port Lincoln Osprey Project carried in parts of a new tower platform nest for the couple at Turnby Island. Previously their eggs had been predated by foxes on the island. The new tower was to stop that predation with a plan in place to rid the island of its invasive fox population. The time for egg laying is near – and look what is causing the ospreys to alert.
Port Lincoln says this foxes’ days are numbered. He cannot, however, get to the eggs which were previously laid on the ground. Thank you Port Lincoln!
The two Ospreys at the Janakkalan nest are safe from the Goshawk again. They eat and sleep, sleep and eat…
Eating..
Dad with another delivery.
Last but he could never be least – one of our ‘saviours’ of the year – Alden. Alden who insured that Annie’s eggs and the last of Grinnell’s chicks would hatch – with maybe a contribution of his own! (No word on that yet). Alden finally found a little time to ‘loaf’.
Thank you so much for joining me today. It is a little wet on the Canadian Prairies – again. My garden is like a jungle. The three fledgling Blue Jays and the three fledgling Crows continue to visit. Images to follow tomorrow. I hope that all of you are well and enjoying some time in nature today. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, FB postings, etc which have become my screen captures: Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Osoyoos Ospreys and ‘H’, Sydney Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Sydney Olympic Forest, BirdGuides, Ojai Raptor Centre, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Port Lincoln Ospreys, and Cal Falcons.
Good Morning everyone! I hope that your Saturday will be a good one and is already off to a nice start.
Bless their hearts. Friday hit 103 F in Osoyoos or 39.44 C. It had to be hotter on top of that Osprey platform. Gold stars go to Soo and Olsen who did the best they could in dire circumstances. Soo shaded the kids – she went for dips in the lake and came back to cool them. Olsen brought in one last fish for the day at 2031. They are alive- but the heat is not going to let up until Monday night.
It got me to thinking. If the chicks were flying they could go to the lake and cool off like the ones at McEuen Park in Idaho. Will the ospreys in this region adapt by arriving earlier – say a month? Even two weeks earlier for the dates the eggs would hatch would make the world of difference. It wasn’t the heat that caused Lena and Andy to adjust their breeding season on Captiva in Florida. For years the Crows predated their eggs, so this year Andy and Lena laid their eggs one month earlier than they had ever done before. The osplets were too big by the time the Crows came to do any harm. It was brilliant.
Soo trying so hard to keep her osplets cool.
No worse for wear – they seem to be watching something happening below on the grass.
Olsen has delivered nine fish at the Osoyoos nest before 0800. Loud cheers around the world. It is another scorcher there. Thanks to ‘AM’ – the 0753 delivery wasn’t wanted and Olsen got to enjoy it all to himself. Oh, keep this wonderful family in your thoughts.
It was equally as hot at the McEuen Park Osprey Platform in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. Poor Mum. She is trying desperately to keep those big chicks shaded. Just look at them! Dedication.
There were some very unfortunate incidents on nest #4 in Finland yesterday. The cause is unknown by the female, the mother, turned on her osplets. One was on the nest and the other had fledged and returned. It was a frantic, crazed series of attacks that left you wondering if the female had gone crazy? did she think they were intruders and not her chicks? No one seems to have any answers. What is known is that fish is much needed on this nest. It does not have the level of deliveries as the Janakkalan nest does. Is this part of the issue? I was told by someone that I trust that he had seen a couple of these ferocious attacks in the past at other nests. The cause was never known and the nest settled down. — This is such a rare occurrence – an adult attacking their offspring at the fledge or near fledge state that it really does make you wonder what motivated the behaviour.
That is precisely what seems to have happened. Everything is much calmer.
Life appears to have returned to normal. Nuppu is an excellent mother. Positive wishes everyone – for fish and for calm.
Life is much calmer at the Janakkalan Nest since the intruding female that wanted to play at being a Mum left the area some days ago. Dad continues bringing in really good sized fish. One chick has fledged and the other continues to do some flapping. It is interesting that the one that can fly tends to stay on the nest with the other – eating and sleeping. They occasionally look around. So far they have been safe from the goshawk in the area. Unfortunately, we cannot see when Dad has to go into high alert as the nest’s security guard.
‘H’ sent a video showing another fantastic tug -o-war at the Mispillion Harbour Osprey platform in Delaware. This time the chick that missed out earlier got the fish on Friday. Well done. These two are really preparing for the real world of fledglings. Thank you, ‘H’.
Life on the Sydney Sea Eagles nest appears to be settling down. There is lots of food and Lady continues to feed the two at least every hour. You can almost set your alarm to the feedings. This really eases the issue of food insecurity and SE29 is clearly beginning to relax about any issues of dominance. I did not take a clip of every feeding but my goodness, there was sure a lot of harmony on this nest – most welcome! The eaglets are nothing short of adorable and it is an amazing nest to watch – the only sea eagle cam in the world.
Mum and Dad have been on the nest on the Port Lincoln barge most of the day. No Ervie in sight.
There was a very strange incident on the nest today. I made a video clip because – well, you will know when you watch it why it was difficult to figure out what was going on. Dad is in the nest digging out the nest cup. Mum flies in. Just watch…I promise you that you have never seen Dad in either of the two positions!
I wonder if Mum beaked him to see if he was alive? or to get him to turn over? Dad flies away fine. Here the pair are later in the afternoon.
On their FB page, Port Lincoln posted the following map of Ervie’s travels. I thought it quite intriguing that they say Ervie returned to the barge. Was he on the wheelhouse? I could not see him but, gosh, if he was there would love a photo!
Now that the Ospreys are mostly fledged and gaining fat for their first migrations which will begin sooner than we wish in the Northern Hemisphere, you can switch your attention to this nest in Port Lincoln Australia. I will not call it an easy nest to watch. Last year was marvellous – three lads no female – . Bazza, Falky, and our dear Ervie. There is a history of siblicide which you can read about and 2020 was rather difficult but still, I would give it a chance. There is a loyal group of chatters that are simply marvellous. The owners of the barge and Fran Solly, Take2Photography, provide loads of information and photographs. The chicks are always ringed and for the last two seasons one has received a GPS transmitter.
There is certainly love in the air at the scrape on the water tower at Sturt University in Orange. Xavier has been upping the treats for Diamond including an Eastern Rosella today. In the image below, you can see Diamond quick on his heels — a lovely treat. After watching Diamond for some years, you learn that she really does have her favourite prey items and sometimes if a European Starling appears, she just looks at Xavier and flies out disgusted. It is too funny.
I adore these two. For the past couple of years they have had only one egg hatch. In 2020 it was the ever adorable Izzi who got to fledge/fledge 3 times – he fludged and was brought back to the box, he fledged but hit a window and went to rehab and was returned to the box, and then he flew. But he loved being taken care of and everyone began to wonder if he would ever leave. Eventually Diamond put her talons down and he did. We all miss him terribly. Sadly, Little Yurruga did not survive after fledgling last year. She got caught in a horrific storm and is believed to have perished because of it. Her body was never found.
Xavier has been doing some rather dynamic scraping in the scrape creating the indentation where Diamond will lay her eggs.
There are several cameras – two in the scrape box and one so that you can follow the adults and fledglings flying around the water tower. Here is the link to one of them. There is a great chat group here as well.
This is an Eastern Rosella -the bird that Xavier brought to Diamond for her treat.
An update on Victor who is doing well. It appears that he had elevated zinc levels. He is still being hand fed but is improving. Lovely article. Have a read:
Please keep these amazing bird families in your thoughts today – especially those in the Pacific NW that are struggling with horrifically hot weather and those in care like our dear Victor. Thank you for joining me this morning. Please do take care of yourselves also – if you live in the extreme heat areas drink lots of fluids. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, postings, etc. which have become my screen captures and videos: Osoyoos Ospreys, McEuen Park, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Sydney Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Sturt Falcon Cam, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and ‘H’.
Good Morning everyone. I hope that you are all well. Bird World appears to be quiet although it might not be…there continue to be intruders at nests. ‘N’ expressed some concern about nest #4 in Finland. I will keep an eye and see if there is an intruder there. The visitor is still with Rosie and Richmond and Brooks is living on a nest about a mile away. In my lifetime my home has been the place where the children of my friends or my children’s felt they could come for a ‘break’. Some stayed a night, others a month, and some 18 months. It helps me to understand what is going on with the ospreys in SF Bay. It is fantastic that they take good care of one another’s little ones. Enlightened. So many academic journals speak to the notion of cooperation instead of competition and that in the end, cooperation is better for all of the raptors. We are certainly seeing it played out on the nest of Richmond and Rosie.
Serious romance is happening in the Cal Falcons scrape…Bird World might be relatively quiet but….wow…there are fireworks between Annie and Alden!
Despite areas around Osoyoos being 44 C today, Olsen managed to deliver fish and quite honestly that is all that matters. The chicks are looking food and it is Friday! There is – oh, let’s for once have a correct forest – cooler weather coming after Sunday. Soo has done the best she can do and Olsen is working as best he can…good work everyone. Just look at those two beautiful chicks.
The heat warning for Osoyoos and this beautiful family has now been extended to run through Monday. Oh, goodness.
Olsen has already been out fishing and that is fantastic.
So far the two osplets – one has fledged -on the Janakkalan nest in Finland are doing so well. The second has yet to fledge. We hope that the goshawk that visited the nest two days ago does not return. These two need to eat and build up their strength for migrating south – what a dangerous journey for them it will be.
Only one on the nest at Loch Arkaig as the light begins to cast such a beautiful glow on the valley and loch below. Yesterday this chick was flapping and hopping and today could be fledge day. Hoping you get some wind, Sarafina.
Dawn finds one fledgling on the Manton Bay nest at Rutland of Blue 33 and Maya. Waiting for a delivery of fish by Dad no doubt! But look at the crop..was there something already on the nest??? I wonder.
At the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn, there appear to be three fledglings on Dad’s perch – not on the nest!
Kielder Forest is celebrating the fledge of the 100th chick from its osprey platforms since they started in 2009. That lucky chick was Fourlaws, a female from nest 6. Of those 100, Mr YA from Nest 1A was responsible for 26 of those. Sadly, he is not longer with us but Mrs YA gets several gold stars. She brought in 3 large trout today! I do not know if you knew but Nest 1A originally had four beautiful osplets. 440 Farne fledged but he has not been seen since and is believed perished like his father, YA.
The four fledged. that is a tremendous undertaking. Mrs YA is really amazing taking on all parenting roles now.
Victor is at the end of this short video clip about the sound Bald Eagles make. No new news but we all hope that he is doing splendidly in the great care of the Ojai Raptor Centre.
Oh, I haven’t mentioned the California Condors for some time. Shame on me! The chick in Tom’s Canyon (parents are 462 male and 846 female) is doing fabulous. Huge hopes for this one.
This is the link to the camera:
The storklets of Bukacek and Betty are doing fantastic. They are so white now compared to when they were younger and it was raining. They looked like they had rolled in soil rich in Red Iron Oxide.
Betty is calling to Bukacek who is in the ‘adults only’ nest in the background.
Look at how beautiful the four storklets are. Oh, my goodness.
Karl II has brought in lots of fish for the first meal for the four Black Storklets on the Estonian nest.
‘H’ caught the two fledglings at the Mispillion Harbour platform doing a great tug o war over a fish. Super shot. The oldest won but no fear. Dad or Mum will arrive on the nest or out on some of the perches with something for the youngest. What a great nest this one turned out to be and few people watch it. Definitely one to put on your list for next breeding season.
Notice the already nice crop on the one in front and the long legs of the fledgling behind. Beautiful birds. They are, of course, doing what they need to do to flourish on their own — fight over food and win!
I had a note from ‘N’ yesterday with a question about an osprey platform in Idaho. It is not a nest that I knew about and I have written to the parks manager to find out more because it seems this nest had four fledglings! Four. It is rare as we know. All survived. There is no rewind and there were only two on the platform this morning. Yesterday when I was watching there were three birds on the platform.
There are three cameras,, not all of them are on at the same time and there is no rewind but the clarity is excellent.
Here is a map of the location. The area looks like it would be great Osprey territory with all of the lakes. It is also in the region of the heat wave that has been hitting the area. Osoyoos is actually directly north and just a wee bit west.
This will give you an idea of the area.
Sure enough…this area is going to be even hotter than in Osoyoos. Keep all of these ospreys in your thoughts until we can get the end of Monday finished then there is hope for cooler temperatures.
Here is a link to McEwan Park Ospreys, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
There are few Bald Eagle fledglings that we can catch coming to the nest. Thankfully Lilibet is one of those – I wonder if she is still missing Victor? Hopefully we will get an update on his improving condition this week. For now, Andor and Mama Cruz are providing really well for their girl.
Lisa Yen caught this great capture after Lilibet had consumed several fish and a bird about a week ago. Goodness…that is a crop.
Just a couple of images of the Sea Eagles nest in Sydney. One of my readers ‘C’ says it is a hard nest to watch. It is! Yesterday SE30 had a really good feeding when 29 was asleep. These are going to help it. It seems a long way away but this nest really should be settling down in another week. My suggestion is to simply watch another nest…check on this one in a day or two or even three. As long as the food continues to come on the nest and there are feedings every hour or so, I am not thinking there is going to be a problem. But, as always, we know that nests turn on a dime and anything can happen.
The ‘official’ word coming out of Sydney is that the nest is doing fine. No worries.
Thank you so much for being with me this morning. Unless there is a major incident or announcement about a bird in care, I will begin what I normally do during the month of August and write only one blog a day until we have some more nests with eggs in Australia. Almost every osplet has fledged in the UK. Sarafina at Loch Arkaig should fly today. I will continue to monitor the nests that are suffering from these extreme heats caused by climate change. Please keep them in your thoughts. It is so very tough for them. Take care everyone. Stay safe. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their posts and/of streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Osoyoos Ospreys, SF Bay Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Cal Falcons, Mlade Buky Storks, Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender, Explore.org and IWS, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and ‘H’, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, McEwan Park Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab, Dyfi Osprey Project, Kieldner Forest, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Google Maps, and LRWT.
It remains a very hot day at the Osoyoos Osprey nest in British Columbia. Olsen brought in his last fish at 13:09:18. It was small but ‘any’ fish is welcome! They all have to eat including Olsen and Soo so that they can have the strength to care for the two children. Prior to this Soo was working so hard to keep the chicks shaded.
I did manage to get a short video clip of SE29 and SE30 earlier – each has a little crop which is always good news.
Dad brought a big mullet to the Sea Eagles nest and Lady has been feeding the chicks with it. Yes, there are times that SE30 is timid of 29 but it appears that the feedings are going rather well this morning. It is early in Australia now and there have been two feedings in an hour at the nest.
The sea eaglets were eating again an hour later at 0738. Once things get sorted the two will line up nicely. There is no shortage of food and we want it to continue that way through to fledge!
Huge fish continue to be the norm for the the Janakkalan Osprey nest. There is, indeed, enough for both of the birds but, as always, the second waits for when the older sibling, now a fledgling, eats. You will recall that when the mother was ill, the now fledgling was eating well by itself but the other one was behind. It will catch up!
Even after 2300 one was still eating but then at 2311 both look down below the nest – startled. Not sure what it was but they eventually settle down once it is dark and go to sleep with huge crops.
Calling all Takoda lovers! The AEF has done a tribute and you will need a tissue…it is a glimpse of the last day on the nest, 22 July 2022.
If you are missing Lindsay, Grinnell, Jr, and Annie and Alden, please head over to moon_rabbit_rising on Instagram for all the latest photos. This is one she did of Lindsay flying. It won’t be long til the kids leave the territory!
The Patuxent River Parks Osprey cams are back to being operational. Progress has been made by the adults that lost their beautiful near to fledge babies when the old nest collapsed. The new nest is nice and strong.
I did not spot anyone on the Mispillion Harbour Osprey nest or perch this afternoon — just Mum’s beautiful yellow mat.
But ‘H’ found them and she knows where they hide until a fish delivery arrives somewhere. Thanks ‘H’ for the great shot of the two fledglings.
Aren’t they simply gorgeous fledglings? Beautiful.
Lilibet paid a visit to the Fraser Point nest at 11:22. I have not seen Andor or Mama Cruz this afternoon.
Lady Hawk captured some ten minutes on the West End Eagles nest of Akecheta and Thunder yesterday.
Quiet is good on the nests. It is great that people are getting some images of ND17. I hope that continues to put a smile on your face. It sure does mine. Take care everyone. Thank you for being with me. If this is a long weekend or a Bank Holiday where you are – enjoy. Get out and listen for the birds, smell the air, look at wildlife or spend some time in nature. You will not regret it! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their postings, websites, and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Lady Hawk, explore.org and IWS, Osoyoos Ospreys, ‘H’, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and the DDNR, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, Cal Falcons and moon_rabbit_rising, Patuxent River Park, AEF-NADC, and Finnish Osprey Foundation.
I am starting to write tomorrow’s blog on the evening of the 26th because there is good news at Osoyoos. It is a lovely evening on the Canadian Prairies. It is nearly 2100 and the garden animals have departed to their sleeping quarters. I would love to know where they go. It is cooler here, we have had lots of rain and the hot weather seems to have passed – for now. The clouds, however, are coming and looking strange and you can hear thunder in the distance.
It was certainly a relief to go onto the Osoyoos Osprey cam and see the time stamps that ‘A-M’ had listed for the fish deliveries by Olsen. Fish at 0510, 0524, o554, 0616, 0943, 1103 and 1633. Apparently all of the fish were a good size but the first one. This is fantastic. It just seems unthinkable that anything could cause these two beautiful osplets not to fledge.
It was also a good evening because Ferris Akel was on the Cornell campus in Ithaca looking for Big Red and her family.
Big Red looks as if she is beginning to moult. L2 has a much whiter than L4 but in these images it is truly hard to tell which juvenile is which. What is important is that all are safe and sound.
One of our readers, ‘J’ has written about the Sydney Sea Eagles SE30 and its attacks on SE29 when the two are alone on the nest. Yes, it is true that is happening and yes, 30 does, at some feedings, become submissive to the older sibling which is larger.
I remember when I began watching the Sea eagles. One of the moderators at the time told me that typically the second egg is the ‘insurance ‘ egg. It is only there if something should happen to the first hatch. Of course, I was horrified. At the time I had not had any experience with some of the other eagle species where the eldest hatch always kills the youngest. In some instances, the age difference impacts this even though there is lots of food on the nest. In other instances, it is simply ‘standard practice’ for the eldest to kill the youngest. This is known as obligate siblicide. I want to be clear. I am not saying this is what is happening at the Sydney Sea Eagle nest in 2022.
At the Sydney Sea Eagle nest there has been plenty of fish so far this year. The chicks hatched relatively close together and, observations over the past five years show that there has always been some initial competition on this nest;; once this resulted in siblicide. In fact, sibling rivalry with SE23 began on day 5 in 2019. The rivalry ended in week 6. In 2018, there was also sibling rivalry with SE21 becoming dominant often pecking 22 who would retreat in submission. That rivalry period lessened after 3 weeks. Sadly, there was a period of 6 days when the male did not bring any food to the nest. The female hunted but the prey was so much less and SE22 was constantly attacked, becoming weaker and finally dying on day 33. In 2019, 2020 and in 2021 both eggs hatched each year and both chicks fledged. So the last time there was siblicide on this nest was 2018 and that was the result of 6 days when the male did not bring food.
For those constantly watching the Sea Eagles nest, just take a deep breath. Hope for continued good prey deliveries and wait. There is a strict no intervention policy at the nest (or there has been in the past) and I have no reason to believe that this has changed. Wishing it to be so will only cause personal angst and frustration. If things get bad, this is what I suggest – take a three day break. Then go in and check on the nest and see how the younger one is doing.
Whenever individuals – and we all have – worried about dominance competition, I like to go back and look at one of the videos from the SW Florida Bald Eagle nest. In particular, one of E19 and E20 who, at the end, were the best of friends. The year prior, many will remember E17 having to go to ‘time out’ at the CROW clinic when it was so aggressive to E18. They were inseparable twins when they fledged.
Here is the announcement for the discussion with Christian Sasse and those wonderful folks from GROWLS. Please note the time in the posting below. This will take place on YouTube.
For those of you that love those UK Osprey nests, take note. I was reminded by my calendar and friends in Wales that the countdown to migration has started…by 4 weeks from today, the females should have or be departing, followed by the fledglings and finally the males. So enjoy them while you can!
Just a few images from the UK nests this morning.
Idris and Telyn by the Dyfi RiverIdris, Telyn, and one of the fledglings hanging out by the river with the cows.Idris at Dyfi Aran with one of the boys from 2022 at GlaslynAran on the perch, Mrs G and kids on nestMrs G and three in nestDylan at Llyn ClywedogDorcha with Willow and Sarafina at Loch Arkaig
Of course, migration begins in North America also. If you want to keep track of North American migration in the east, there is no better place to go to see the numbers than Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania. What is Hawk Mountain? Founded in 1934 by Rosalie Edge, Hawk Mountain became a sanctuary for migrating birds – not a killing club. Edge initially purchased 1400 acres of land which has now been extended to 2600. The thermals over the mountains are perfect for the migrating birds to soar. You can visit the centre and even take part in the great migration count or you can watch the numbers increase from August to mid-December. Here is the link to the chart for the Hawk Mountain fall migration count.
If you are wondering about the drama playing out at the Whirley Crane in SF Bay home to Rosie and Richmond, here is the latest news. Please not that Brooks has come to the nest at least once but was chased away by the visitor.
The day has started early in Osoyoos with Soo feeding a small fish to the two chicks and herself. Hoping for lots and lots of early fish today as those temperatures are set to soar in the afternoon.
Those two are growing and they are so cute….wish for fish everyone!
There is sad news coming out of Estonia. The camera at the nest of Eedie had gone down. One of Jan and Janika’s chicks had been fostered there. Urmas has just announced that all four of the Black Storklets have been predated. This is a terrible loss. Of the three nests, Eedie, Jan and Janika, and Karl II and Kaia – only 4 storklets survive. The four in the images below will now have to fledge and then survive flying through the Ukrainian War zone and other dangerous places to reach Africa during the fall migration.
At the Karula National Forest nest of Karl II and Kaia, there is good news. Karl II did find the second fish basket that Urmas set up for him. This is wonderful as the feedings had been getting quite lean. Here is Karl arriving with a feeding for the four. Now, Bonus, the foster chick on this nest is the only surviving storklet of Jan and Janika.
One of the chicks at the Janakkalan Osprey nest in Finland is really getting some height to their hovering. Expect a fledge soon! It is so exciting. So much has happened on this nest – illness and presumed death of the Mum and starvation death of a sibling, an intruder – that we shall really celebrate when these two surviving youngsters fledge.
One last check this morning and that is at the Boathouse. The dancing diamonds from the sunrise make it nearly impossible to see what is happening on the nest but…it looks as if one of the chicks of Dory and Skiff is trying self-feeding! Oh, fantastic.
Thank you so very much for joining me this morning. Keep sending your best wishes to Osoyoos for fish deliveries today as those temperatures climb to 41 C or 102.5 F. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thanks to the following for their streaming cams, videos, and/or FB posts where I took my screen captures: Osoyoos Ospreys, Ferris Akel Tours, Audubon Explore.org, Sydney Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, CarnyXWild, Eagle Club of Estonia, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Lady Hawk, SF Osprey Cam with Richmond and Rosie, and Bald Eagles 101.
It has been a beautiful day on the Canadian Prairies. The temperature is just right after our midnight thunderstorm. The forecast shows we could be in for another unsettled night. There are intruders everywhere in Bird World. Some are harmless – others not so much.
There is wonderful news coming out of Norway. Efforts to lure Ospreys to better locations after they have been impacted by extreme weather and deforestation are working. The number of Osprey chicks in 2022 is up 50%! In 2021 there were 54 chicks and this year there are 70. Fantastic.
Sadly, the news out of the SF Bay Osprey nest of Richmond and Rosie is not good but, worrisome. On 25 July Brooks was sent off the nest by an intruder. in a rather violent attack.
At present, 1118 PST, neither Brooks or Richmond have returned to the nest. Rosie is there somewhere with the intruder who has returned and is eating a big fish on the nest.
Since the intruder arrived, Richmond and Rosie have provided six fish. The intruder has not let Brooks return to the nest. The location of both Richmond and Brooks is unknown the last time I checked.
Thanks to ‘A-M and Burky 4’ for the time stamps at the Osoyoos Osprey nest. They are sooooo appreciated. We know from the weather report that it is going to be a scorcher. According to our avid hawk eyed chatters, there have been at least 6 fish deliveries, some of good size, to Soo and the chicks. The last one was at 11:03. The chicks were full from the previous deliveries at 0554, 0616, 0944, 1955, and 1103. There was some indication that the 0554 delivery was either the 2nd or 3rd of the morning. This is great. They need all the hydration they can get as the temperatures rise during the afternoon. Thank you, Olsen!
A lovely tribute article to Big Red and her two mates, Arthur and Ezra, and the chicks on the Cornell Campus.
Many of you have written letters and e-mails to BC Hydro. I still get the most welcome letters asking “What else can I do?” Tomorrow Christian Sasse will hold a discussion on that very topic. It is on YouTube and it is free. The time below – 3pm – is, as far as I know MY time which is CDT. The Pacific time would be 1pm or 1300. Go on line and check to be sure. YouTube should give the time locally at the event! Let’s try and have a good turn out. BC Hydro needs to know that we care!!!!!!!! And that we are not giving up. It will help everyone in other regions and countries when they go to demand their hydro poles protect our much loved raptors and storks.
Good to know.
At least three large fish have landed on the Jannakalan Osprey nest in Finland. Dad is taking very good care of his youngsters who are 51 days old today.
At 1904 both are working on fish.
Not quite 2 hours later, Dad arrives with another! I wish we could courier one of these to Osoyoos.
The little Sea eaglets could share some of the five fish on the nest in the Sydney Olympic Park. The cute little fluff balls finally got interested in breakfast. Sometimes there is just too much fish!
In fact, too much fish is what ‘H’ is report about the two fledglings at Mispillion Harbour. It appears that they are eating both on and off the nest. So much fish! That is another one of the Dog Fish Sharks landing on the nest in Delaware. Thanks, ‘H’.
Rescues of our beautiful raptors caught up in fishing line are always inspiring. Two surfers and a fisherman came to the rescue of an exhausted Osprey. Stories like these reach large audiences and help those who fish at least become aware of the problem and, hopefully, if they love wildlife they will become part of the solution. Thank you ‘B’ for calling my attention to the good news!
Oh, please keep Richmond, Rosie, and Brooks as well as Olsen, Soo, and the two kids at Osoyoos in your positive wishes. Those two chicks at Osoyoos are big and walking around. So far Olsen is doing good going out early. That might pull them through this week if he can keep it up———— . Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care of yourself. Remember Christian Sasse’s discussion tomorrow!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cam and/or FB postings where I took my screen captures: SF Bay Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Osoyoos Ospreys, GROWLS, and Cornell Bird Lab.
While it was pouring down rain and thunder and lightning were rattling the skies on the Canadian Prairies, little Willow was being tossed off the side of the Loch Arkaig nest by a Tawny Owl. I caught it in a very very short video.
Willow returned to the nest and appears to be unharmed.
Tragic news has come out of the Dyfi Nature Centre this morning. Normally, if a fledgling survives its first migration to return at the age of two and then again at three, that Osprey will live a long and fruitful life. So the news today of the death of Hesgyn is particularly troubling.
Hesgyn was Bobby Bach, the third hatch of Monty and Telyn (now with Idris) in 2019. He and his sibling Berthyn had returned to the UK in 2021. It was the first time the Dyfi Osprey Project had two chicks from the same brood return after their first migration.
Hesgyn was three years old when his body was recovered from Criccieth Beach in north Wales yesterday. Emyr Evans wrote a lovely tribute to this promising son of Monty.
When you read about Ospreys you will sometimes see that their diet is 99% fish. This mourning Asha at the Loch Garten Osprey nest brought in a young Grebe and fed part of it to the two chicks on the nest.
It is clearly an example of Ospreys eating something else although I suspect if the Grebe were under water Asha might have thought it a fish. What is so troubling about this – and I have yet to see anyone mention it – is the highly pathogenic Bird Flu that is across the area. It is a nest that will be monitored with the hope that the young waterfowl did not carry H5N1.
At the Llyn Brenig Osprey platform in Wales, it was a very special afternoon. at 12:45 X6 Olwen fledged. Perhaps her brother Gelert KA9 will fly tomorrow. You might recall that this was the nest cut down with a chainsaw in 2021. Congratulations to everyone today!
There have been two fish deliveries so far at the Osoyoos Osprey nest (it is currently 0920). The first was a little fish at 0554 and the second was a fairly good size one at 0616. Keep sending all your good wishes their way – a heat warning is in effect and the temperatures will climb to 41 C or 105.8 for almost the entire week. This is a tragedy…look at those beautiful osplets standing so nicely. We want them to survive. Will someone supply them with a fish table or fish basket if it is necessary? Certainly Urmas, the state Ornithologist in Estonia would do this exact thing. These beautiful raptors certainly didn’t cause the planet to heat up catastrophically!
My heart just aches for this beautiful family who have struggled for weeks with low fish yields, a chick falling off the nest, and extreme temperatures. If they were in NZ, they just might have a mister and lots of supplementary fish like the Royal Albatross.
In comparison, the Fortis Exshaw Osprey platform at Canmore, Alberta will be hot but significantly cooler than at Osoyoos. Last year all of the chicks on the nest of Soo and Olsen died because of the heat wave that hit the area. They were considerably younger but this nest on the border of British Columbia and the US will need fish – it is the only hydration the Ospreys get.
The three osplets of Dory and Skiff at the Boathouse Platform – not on Hog Island but often called the Hog Island Ospreys (thanks ‘H’) – are doing fine today despite temperatures rising to 29 C or 84.2 degrees this week. Osoyoos would really welcome that weather – although I wish for all of them that it would be about 24 degrees C or 75.2 F.
At Mispillion one of the chicks was on the nest eating a fish alongside Mum’s little treasures – the yellow mat and the yellow grid metal ornament. Both could get tangled in the legs of the birds. But, on a good note, the chicks are being fed by the parents off the nest. This one lands with a small headless fish on the nest – a nice safe place to eat.
Dad is bringing in lots of fish to the Sydney Sea Eagles nest and Lady made sure that both had big crops before it was light’s out.
Lindsay is not quite as loud as Grinnell, Jr but she sure tries to be!
On the Notre Dame Eagles FB page, there is mention of all three eagles again being in the trees. The notes are confusing so I am not copying them here but I do join in with everyone hoping that the trio are learning to hunt and are eating. I wish for Little Bit to find a prey rich area to build up his strength before migration.
Thank you so very much for joining me this morning. I do not see any new news on Victor who continues his rehabilitation at the Ojai Raptor Centre. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their FB posts, web page announcements, and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Loch Garden RSBP Ospreys, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Osoyoos Ospreys, Fortis ExShaw Ospreys, Audubon Explore, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and the DDNR, Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, and Cal Falcons.
