Tag Archives: Osprey books

Day 11 Welcome to Winter

13 December 2025

Good Morning Everyone!

Today, it was -22 degrees C. It was cold. Despite this, Ann braved the cold with Don and Toby to go for their walk along the river.

It’s funny. We know winter is coming when we complain it’s too hot in summer. Still, it takes time to get our heads around the fact that we do need to find all our winter kit. We have coats and boots down to -40 °C. We have scarves and toques. We have ski pants. I have discovered we need a few things because we are finding ourselves outside, walking Toby three times a day, no matter the weather. Today, two out of the three winter wardrobe essentials arrived – Merino wool Long Johns to go layer with those ski pants. They are rated for extreme cold. The next are faux fur-lined bomber hats, complete with flaps. We are just waiting for some much warmer mitts with glove liners. Toby, as you know, is all kitted out with absolutely everything. He doesn’t mind his boots, and those jump suits lined with thermal blanket are pretty amazing. If the ice on the roads would disappear, it would be really nice to go for a long walk through the forest with the chickadees.

We had ‘sun dogs’. This image was taken out of the screened window of the conservatory around 1530. Sunset is an hour later. Sun dogs appear when it is very, very cold on the Canadian Prairies.

So what are sun dogs? Mr Google says, “Sun dogs are bright spots of light that appear on either side of the sun, formed when hexagonal ice crystals refract sunlight in the atmosphere. They are also called parhelia or mock suns, and are most visible when the sun is low on the horizon, like during sunrise or sunset. The ice crystals act like tiny prisms, bending and separating the light into a spectrum of colors, with red on the inside closest to the sun.” There is another one on the other side of the sun that is low on the horizon – too low for me to get an image of the entire scene.

There is a new FB group organised by Cali Condor and a few of their friends. I am putting the link here, and I urge you to step up and join.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/867433012696499

I caught Toby and Hugo Yugo again, so here is another of their ‘loving’ videos! I hope these two cutie pies bring you some joy today.

Want to help support ospreys in South Australia? Why not purchase a copy of Fran Solly’s book about Marie!– – Let’s talk Fran into writing a book about Ervie and that clutch! Hint, hint. The story of Ervie and his brothers, Falky and Bazza, is remarkable. There were no fish fairies that year. It was just heart-warming.

Here is the link if you wish to purchase and have the book sent to another country other than Australia:

https://www.clientstake2photography.com.au/marieslongflight

SK Hideaways caught Liberty and Guardian having a ‘discussion’ over stick placement. Don’t you just wish you could talk ‘eagle’? I bet it sounds something like humans talking about furniture. https://youtu.be/a_YZBv6zTZo?

SW Florida’s M15 and F23 – November 12 was the day the first egg was laid. So today is day 31. The range is 34-38 days.

WRDC nest of Rose and Ron – November 12 was also the day the first egg was laid. So it is also day 31 at the WRDC nest.

Captiva Bald Eagle nest of Clive and Connie – November 16 is the date for the first egg.

This coming week is going to be very busy in terms of pip watches and hatch.

Gabby and Beau’s first egg was laid on November 23 so we have a couple of weeks before we are on pip watch for NE Florida.

The American Bird Conservancy’s Bird of the Week is the Waved Albatross – a new seabird for me. Have a read! These beautiful birds are critically endangered. Like other albatross, there are many ways we can help and changing the nature of long-line industrial fishing is at the heart of it.

Waved Albatross – American Bird ConservancyDownload

Menhaden – Always on my Mind should be a popular song. Wonder what would happen to those osprey nests – the adults and any chicks that hatch – if 112 million tonnes of Menhaden got dumped in The Bay? Check out this meeting!

Wishing you a lovely weekend from our house to yours!

Thank you to Cali Condor, Friends of Osprey South Australia, Port Lincoln Osprey, and SK Hideaways for the content I added to my blog today. I am very grateful for all they do and their love and support for our Raptors. I guess I should also thank Toby, Hugo Yugo, and the American Bird Conservancy, too!

Bird World 15 November 2021

In the first chapter of her book, Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder, Julia Zarankin talks about the rather spartan apartment she had as a graduate student. She talked about the compromises with her husband’s collection of 300 stone elephants only to realize what happened when she discovered birds. She said: “Within a year, the barometric pressure in my apartment shifted. Stuffed-animal squeaky hooded warblers learned to coexist with tigers; bird-shaped vases stood next to the elephant-shaped salt shaker; sculpted owls flirted with the faux-malachite elephant’s plastic tusks…more frightening: a pile of bird-themed stationary of every persuasion and a shelf dedicated to field guides…Not to mention the nondescript felt bird, the two paintings of birds, and the stained glass owl..” Later she adds the parrot notebooks, bird-themed t-shirts and all the bird magazine subscriptions. How many of us see ourselves in those same words?

I was, despite all of the warnings by Zarankin, delighted to see Emry Evans’s book, Monty, in the post along with some pins. The Dyfi online shop is now open. All of the nature centres will ship overseas. Roy Dennis’s Wildlife Fund has his three books and shipping internationally is calculated at check out. Lots of good things at all the on line shops for Osprey fans.

Emyr Evans writing is exceptional as are the images in Monty. Written with a deep, abiding love and respect for a bird – 50 stories from the pen of Emyr Evans.

It is a horribly grey day on the Canadian prairies. Will it snow or will it rain? Do birds get arthritis? Would they like a heated area to warm their little feet? Those are the silly thoughts that have gone through my head today.

Dyson decided it was best to just be off the snow altogether and sit in the tray feeder filling his cute little face.

Dyson doesn’t share. He is like Ervie, the Port Lincoln super star fledgling who grabbed the first fish of the morning from dad at 6:50:24. Oh, I love this image of Ervie in front of Dad grabbing that fish with his leg just like Mum does. Ervie watched and learned. Sorry, Bazza.

Falky just loves to fly and he was much more interested in checking out the area than the first fish. He flew in just a little too late.

Falky’s landings are actually really good. Ervie did a few spins yesterday and wound up landing on Bazza – Ervie needs landing training. That is great form that Falky has on this landing. Ah, the lads will all improve. This flying thing is just new. What fun it must be to whip around the bay!

Now Bazza – it is your turn!

Diamond brought prey in for Yurruga at 07:09. Yurruga was ready!

I thought Diamond would drop the prey and leave like Xavier but she had a different idea.

Diamond who incubated the two eggs during the night decided she was also going to feed her nestling.

Look carefully. Yurruga is changing. The white down is really coming off those wings and the head. She looks like a bird, not a fluffy column with a sort of bird head. Even, the fur boa is disappearing.

You can see the pin stripes on Yurruga’s chest and her head now looks like that of a falcon. Amazing. Equally impressive is the length of Yurruga’s tail. What a gorgeous Peregrine Falcon she is going to be.

Ah, and if you are watching the dates, Izzi fludged a year ago today. Izzi is the 2020 hatch of Diamond and Xavier and quite the character.

Oh, such delight. There is no news – at least not yet today – on Grinnell. I hope he is ready to be released shortly. And no news on WBSE 27 but there was a gorgeous Galah in the nest this morning poking about.

One of the Aussie chatters always said that if someone called you a ‘galah’ it meant that you were rather ‘slow, dim witted’. Ah, terrible. They are such incredibly beautiful pink and grey cockatoos. A few minutes of a cute bird that loves to have ‘tickle tickle’.

Bazza still has plenty of time to fly today but I don’t. Thank you for joining me — and if you loved Monty, you seriously need to get to the Dyfi store and get a signed copy of Emry’s book. I promise you will not be sorry but you will need a box of tissues. Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: the Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, and Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross.