Tag Archives: osprey development

Monday in Bird World

23 May 2022

It has been ‘one of those days’ in Bird World. A lightening storm has hit the Gainesville, Florida area and the streaming cam for the Ospreys on the light stand at the practice field at the university has been off line all day. It is hoped that the two chicks may be wet, may have had to endure some more hail, and might not have had fish deliveries but, they are alright.

One of the most worrisome events today has been the right eye of Laddie, the male at the Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest. His mate is Blue NC0. They have two chicks fully hatched and eating ferociously and one half in its shell. All day I wondered if Laddie would be able to fish. Is this another instance of an intruder perhaps causing fatal damage to an Osprey nest? It has been one intruder after another since Aran was injured at Glaslyn last year – both in the UK and ‘across the pond’. Not just Ospreys. Bald Eagles. Red-tail Hawks. Peregrine Falcons.

This was a huge concern to me all day. Will Laddie be able to fish? what will happen to the wee ones? can Laddie switch and incubate and Blue NC0 get out of brooding mode and become the fish provider? will the people of Loch of the Lowes provide a fish table like Glaslyn did for Aran and Mrs G? My mind was running at 500 mph.

Laddie has, indeed, been able to fish! Tears. Pouring tears. The camera was such that we could not see his eye but he did bring fish for Mum and the babies.

In the image below the third egg is just cracking. It was fully out of the shell at 20:11.

Laddie has obviously eaten the head of the fish – he has a nice crop. Fingers crossed. Send lots of good positive energy their way.

Awww. That sweet little third one is mostly out of the shell. Hopefully Blue NC0 will give that shell a nudge! Last year there were three but the third one was weak and could not keep up with the big ones and perished.

All three of the Manton Bay osplets are in the Reptilian phase. I so hoped that we would have a little soft downy third one for a day longer but, no…progressing right on schedule.

You can see all the down off their heads. Peek up above and see how soft and light grey it is after hatch. Now look – black and oily. Looks like they have been to Carnival in the Caribbean during Oil Down.

I included this one because even their facial features change! The wings get long and ‘lanky’. They will consume more and more fish at fewer feedings. We can be looking for the beautiful copper red to appear on the back of the head and neck soon. This is the point when the Ospreys most resemble the dinosaurs that they are.

The intruders have been around the MN-DNR with a sub-adult landing on the perch that Nancy uses. Nancy was able to leave and get prey to feed to E1 and herself. That is very good.

Everything could not be better on the ND-LEEF nest. Early this morning, 17 ate most of a fish and was not bothered by a sibling. There was another fish on the nest and 17 ate most of it. That was around 12:30. There he is in the image below working hard on that catfish!

It is around 1610 and a Salmon comes on the nest. Yes, the second one according to people in the chat. Look who is up there eating with its big siblings! There is no discord. Little Bit 17 will has a great big crop – for at least the third time today. What is even more surprising is that when he was eating with the two big siblings, 17 was a little bit aggressive. Fantastic.

It seriously cannot get any better than this! Ever since Little Bit 17 was so hungry – for two days – and then at the end of the third went over, moved an entire fish and ate all of it – things on this nest have started to change. Mum even began to feed her little one. The weather has been cooler, the water is clearer and more fish are coming on the nest. Let us all hope that it continues. If so, we are assured of three fledges (unless something terrible happens – and the lives of our feathered friends is so precarious that it could).

Chase & Cholyn’s Two Harbours 1 has a name! Here is the announcement:

According to my acquaintance Deb Stecyk, the Dale Hollow fledglings have been heard in the area. The parents delivered a fish and then returned and took it. They might have been trying to lure them to the nest – easier to feed them! But the nest is in the middle of a forested area (or so it seems) and it could be difficult for the eaglets to get back to the nest according to Deb.

I had a lovely visit with my daughter today and these are the only nests that I have checked. Will try and do a good run through most of them tomorrow! Thank you so much for joining me this evening. Take care!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: ND-LEEF, Scottish Wildlife Trust, MN-DNR, Institute for Wildlife Studies, and the LRWT.

Late Saturday and early Sunday in Bird World

16-17 April 2022

The garden rabbit, Hedwig, came for a visit this morning. He stayed under the peony bush for about an hour. Six years ago, a mother rabbit left her one month old baby, under that peony bush when it was blooming. The wee bunny lived on the seeds dropped down from the feeders preferring them to the grass or twigs. Whether or not this is the original Hedwig is, of course, questionable but, they all wind up being called Hedwig!

Hedwig often stays back underneath the square hanging feeder where the birds are generous in what they throw overboard. By coming and staying at the Peony Bush it allowed us to enjoy seeing him a lot better. Thank you, Hedwig! It is always nice to see you.

The youngest of the West End eaglets is back up with its siblings and Thunder and Akecheta thanks to Dr Sharpe of the Institute for Wildlife Studies who had gone up to repair the camera and wound up with a rescue to do as well.

The sun rained gold down on the three of them as it set on the Channel Islands.

Jasper had a tremendous fledge. No hesitation, just flew yesterday morning. She returned hungry and tired! Flying uses a lot of energy.

The AEF did a nice video capture of that first flight.

Jasper and Rocket seemed to be happy with one another’s company. It will not be long until Rocket fledges – indeed, he could be flying as I write this!

The Dyfi Osprey Project posted some excellent information on incubation and egg development for Ospreys this morning that I want to share with you. Did you know that each of the eggs is a little smaller and lighter than the first so they do not have to develop so long?

The little crackerjack at the University of Florida Osprey nest reminds me of Ervie so much. He isn’t intimidated at all by the big siblings and is right up there eating at the front most of the time.

Stop for a second and look at the heads of the two eldest and even Little Bit. They are starting to enter the Reptilian Phase.

That light coat of down is now giving way (10-12 days) to the darker wool down. They will have dark heads that look almost like they have been dipped in a vat of black oil soon. You will also notice the distinctive coppery colour to the back of the neck also. There will be a period of substantial growth between 15-30 days. In his book, A Life of Ospreys, Roy Dennis notes that blood feathers are often seen coming in at 21 days. Sadly, there is no information on when these wee ones hatched so we more or less have to go by their change in plumage.

The chicks are well behaved. There is another large chunk of fish this morning just like yesterday. All will be fed til they are full. This is a fantastic Mum! She feeds them slow and deliberate. She is quickly getting on the list of amazing Osprey Mums.

The wee chicks of Mr North and Mrs DNF have grown leaps and bounds. My goodness. Forget to check a nest for a couple of days and there is a complete change in development. It is a reminder to us of how fast these birds have to grow between hatching and fledgling!

The two eaglets of Liberty and Guardian still have some of that soft baby down, like the eaglets at Decorah North, on the top of their heads and are doing fantastic. It is so nice to go through the nests and find that all of the eaglets and their parents are OK especially with Avian Flu making its way around North America this spring.

Little Middle has decided to sleep on the remaining fish in the nest. Oh, goodness. Look at the size of that leg! Little Middle is doing very well. No worries.

If any of you were worried about the beaking going on at the MN-DNR nest about a week or so ago (time does fly by quickly), there really is no cause to alarm. Both of the eaglets are doing well. The nest survived the wind and the storm nicely and both were happy eating away this morning.

Cholyn and Chase’s wee babe at the Two Harbours nest in the Channel Islands is growing and doing well – as expected with these very experienced parents. I love the crib rails around the top of that nest. Wish we could get some made for the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta.

I know that many of you are Tom and Audrey fans from the Chesaepeake Conservancy Osprey nest. Did you know that there is a great book showing Tom and Audrey and their nest along with the fostering of chicks there? It is a remarkable story with oodles of images in a nice hardback binding.

Here is the link to Tom and Audrey’s streaming cam:

The Glaslyn nests are settled. Mrs G looks quite content today perched on the nest she shares with Aran.

Pip watch begins later this week for the first of Big Red’s four eggs!

Here is the information about the chat that opens on Monday the 18th for the Cornell Red-tail Hawk cam. All are welcome. The moderators are excellent and they keep the focus on the birds. They also post some very interesting historical and current information about the nest. Everyone is welcome.

This was really a hop and a jump around some of the nests late Saturday and early this morning. Everyone seems to be doing very well, indeed. Such a joy. Tomorrow we will learn the name of Annie’s New Guy. There should be some more eggs on those UK Osprey nests and I am personally looking forward to getting closer to pip watch for Big Red.

Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone. Be kind to one another. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: UFL-Gainesville Ospreys, DHEC, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, Chesapeake Conservancy, MN-DNR, Redding Eagles, Explore.org, NEFlorida-AEF, Dyfi Osprey Project, and Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn.

Is it Tiny Tot Tumbles?

There is never 100% certainty in identifying a bird four months or a year or two after it has flown off the nest unless there are Darvic rings and bands. For ospreys, there are facial features – the head – that remain the same for their entire life once they have reached the age of fledging. I have been told, by Osprey experts that I respect, that an osplet born in the spring of 2021 could no longer have the white curved feathers on its wing tips. I am trusting that information to be true.

As many of you know, I have a very special interest in Osprey third hatches. I am particularly focused on these little ones that survive but who have been denied food by their siblings and who might have died due to siblicide. I will be collecting data from nests for the next decade to see if there are any patterns on these particular survivors. Do they do better in the long haul than their siblings? It is extremely difficult if they have not been ringed. The best way to study their survival is both a Darvic ring and a sat-pak with a battery that would last for four years, like the one on Solly who hatched in 2021 at the Port Lincoln nest.

Over the past month or so, a number of Ospreys have landed on the Achieva Osprey Nest in St Petersburg, Florida. Several remind me of the intruder that Tiny Tot Tumbles battled last summer. Have Jack and Diane visited? Maybe. I admit to being so focused on Tiny Tot Tumbles that I ignored the other two siblings and parents in terms of identification markers.

On 30 October an osprey landed on the Achieva nest. I stared at that ‘face and head’ for two days. Could it be?

Staring at me every time I open the fridge or close it is a large magnet of Tiny Tot Tumbles. The screen capture was on 20 June, two weeks before she left the nest for good. Tears began to flow.

There are thousands of images of Tiny Tot in my external hard drives. From the moment she hatched, to the little one running around the rim of the nest trying to get some food. There were days that I counted each bite of food that she got. Notebooks full. That fridge magnet image was taken on a day when Tiny Tot was at her loveliest. She would sit on the perch for hours – she was elegant! And she was a formidable opponent. Any intruder was ousted from the nest. She often battled them alongside Jack, her dad.

A slider to move back and forth to compare.

I am convinced that the amazing osprey that landed on the Achieva nest in St Petersburg at 12:57 on 30 October is, in fact, Tiny Tot Tumbles. She has been away and survived for four months, grown and matured. The white plumage forming the V is very thin on both of those images.

There have been visitors that have, of course, a similar V but the amount of white plumage varies with each of them. The bird below has visited the nest often but it is not Tiny Tot.

This was Tiny Tot Tumbles on 3 July. Look at the white lines from the beak forming a ‘V’. They are thinner on Tiny Tot than on the bird above.

Here is Tiny Tot Tumbles on 27 June mantling.

This is an image of Tiny Tot Tumbles on 26 June. I had enlarged it from a screen capture so that everyone would note the very specific head – the thin white lines, the heart shape of the white. Sadly, the resolution is not good.

These following two images were posted on 20 and 21 June, respectively. The top one is the one on 20 June that I used for my fridge magnet. The next one is the following day, Tiny Tot on the perch.

She is so elegant. She has grown and filled in since she flew off the nest. There she is on the perch looking like she is applying to be on the runway for the most beautiful Osprey of 2021!

Here she is as a wee babe. It was easy to imagine with the difference in age and size that Big Bob might cause problems. In the end, both Big and Middle Bob, sibling 1 and 2, prevented Tiny Tot from eating for a total of 12 full 24 hour periods during the first six weeks of her life.

There is Tiny Tot submissive and hungry over to the right. Big Bob has been unmerciful in its attacks on her on this day.

What changed on the nest was Diane going out and fishing. She began to bring back big catfish and there was always enough to feed Tiny Tot. By 7 April, Tiny Tot has grown and is getting big enough that the older siblings might try to thwart her from eating but she is unstoppable. If she did not get enough to eat, Tiny Tot would root around in the nest. She always found scraps and was known for even cleaning off fish flakes from discarded bones. It is difficult in the ‘real world’ and it takes this kind of tenacity to survive.

Tiny Tot has a nice big crop on 9 April! Just look at her there in the middle of the image below.

This is 10 May. Tiny Tot is gorgeous. She is beginning to get that characteristic head that we all recognized. Her juvenile feathers are coming in and she has survived! In the end, Sibling 1 fledged and returned to the nest once, the following day. Sibling 2 fledged returning for a bit for food. Then Tiny Tot was all alone. Jack brought in fish for her and she stayed – as she should – honing her flying skills and getting ‘street smart’ protecting the nest. On 5 July, precisely four months after she hatched, she flew off the nest. We never thought we would see her again.

I am grateful that Tiny Tot has paid a visit to the nest to show us all that she is thriving. She has put on weight from the elegant pose on the perch post but that striking head remains the same.

I hope that Tiny Tot visits the nest over and over again. She was gallant in her protection of it for Jack, her dad, and with him on occasion. And, for the record, she could be a he. There were never DNA tests taken or any banding. Just keep your eye out for this beautiful osprey. Could we be lucky enough to see s/he raise osplets on this very nest in the future?

Take care everyone! See you soon.

Thank you to the Achieva Credit Union for its streaming cam in St Petersburg where these screen shots were taken.