3 August 2026
Hello Everyone,
Update: After the heat from yesterday, we woke up to cloudy skies and 18 C. What a blessing! We got to have a little longer walk with Toby. Don is not able to walk a great distance anymore but he made it for four blocks. We were delighted. Rain is to start at 1600. Bravo!
Oh, my goodness. The winds blew hot in Winnipeg on Sunday, with the temperature reaching 31 C around 1700. This is certainly not as hot and horrific as it is in other regions of the world. Still, I have seen a change in the garden wildlife. First, they appear to be needing and enjoying the water – we now have seven little sources for them – before wanting food. We are concerned about the Blue Jays as they do not seem to be around in the numbers they were a week and a half ago; there is one Red Squirrel, and I am only seeing two grey squirrels. The other sadness is, of course, Brock. The last positive sighting of him – along with a photo – was the 24th of June. Since then, all of my neighbours, including Jane, who helped feed him, have been searching to no avail. He disappeared on the same day as another friendly neighbourhood cat, Charlie. It is concerning. Jane and I miss him terribly – perhaps a weird thing to hear, but after feeding him for five years, he had a huge place in my heart. We worry that there is someone who is poisoning animals in our area, and that could be my City! But all of that is another discussion. For now, I just hope Brock shows up and surprises us all. He is certainly loved.
Wildfires in the UK have impacted some of the rarest wildlife in the country.
Wildfire near Sizewell nuclear plant causes ‘total devastation’ to Suffolk landscapehttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/31/suffolk-wildfire-sizewell-nuclear-plant-dunwich-heath?CMP=share_btn_url
The wildfires are, of course, impacting wildlife around the globe. It is devastating if you look at a map where there are fires. I understand that one of the reasons there are so many fires is that with all the early rain, vegetation grew. Then there is the drought, with places not having rain in a month or more. Then the fires.
I can say that the ospreys that live along the shore of Lake Winnipeg are being photographed and are doing well. We do not have lots of ospreys – we have some in our City – so they are not battling for fish as they are in some other places. It makes me happy.
Sol was not renested at Fru Rauer but was placed in another nest. Here is the video of him being taken in a box to the tree and placed in his new home. https://youtu.be/3B5cm7a0gl8?
In the UK, if the mothers are not on their way to their winter homes. Instead, many are fishing and helping the males with the fledglings.
Such a beautiful sight, big fish coming in steadily to fatten up the fledglings so that their first migration is a success. It is a contrast to what is happening in the US, where many of the males have disappeared. It is frightening that the females are struggling to find fish for their chicks and they need to be finding them for themselves.
At Santiam Canyon, the male has been missing for ten days. There are now great fish fights at the nest amongst the fledglings and concern that chick 2 is dominating the feedings so that the others might actually suffer or starve. The oldest and the youngest are decidedly thin-looking, and this will certainly impact their migration.
We are so near to fledge for Wensi at Hellgate Canyon, home to Iris and Clark, that you might not want to take your eyes off that nest! Look at Wensi hover!!!!!!!!!!
Cornell Bird Lab has Wensi’s hovering on video: https://youtu.be/cHvC1zwc4mc?
Look at what good condition Wensi is in. If it should happen that beloved Iris does not return next year, I will always remember what an amazing mother she is. She shielded Wensi from the extreme heat and made sure that s/he ate well every time a fish came to the nest. I will remember Clark being an amazing partner to Iris, more than I could have dreamed of when he first arrived. Iris deserves a good mate like Clark (or Finnegan), and I just wish she could have had mates like them all her life. It was a magical year for this family, and I know that every day our hearts warmed to watch them thrive.
Fledgling enjoying fish on the Clark PUD nest – and then another one arrives.
Healthy fledglings – all on the nest – fish calling at Finland’s #1 nest.
Waiting for dinner at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn in Wales.
It is the same everywhere in the UK – those fledglings fish calling loudly. Parents can’t get the fish on the nest fast enough as these ‘babies’ fatten up for their first big migration. They will head to Spain and Portugal or West Africa.
At the Birds of Poole Harbour, Carey Secret Garden nest of CJ7 and Blue 022:
Geemeff’s Woodland Trust daily summary for Loch Arkaig Sunday 2nd Aug 2026
The chicks and Dorcha were on and off the nest throughout the day, calling for fish and pouncing on Louis when he arrived. The noise when only one is on the nest and calling is quite considerable and it ramps up by several orders of magnitude when two or more are calling – that and getting his toes chewed by eager beaks means Louis isn’t spending very much time on the nest, he drops his fish and departs as soon as possible. There were some alarms today but nothing serious and no intruders seen on nest cam, nothing to interrupt fish delivery and Louis brought four to the nest, taking the Nest Two tally to three hundred and sixty five. Dorcha contented herself with an old tail end allowing the chicks to take the fresh fish from her.
Steve Quinn posted his usual thorough weekly analysis of Louis’ fishing stats, with interesting info on fish numbers in years with female chicks and years with male chicks and documenting Louis’ remarkable consistency. Details for his post in the bonus section. Aurora waited on Nest One but got no fish today, Garry turned up but only to do some nest tidying. His tally remains at one hundred and eighty nine. The weather was settled today but is forecast to change to light rain and light winds overnight and tomorrow, with a low of 11°C and a high of 17°C.
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/p2sheGainoM N2
Instead of fish one,Amber grabs Louis by the foot – again! 05.38.50https://youtu.be/Qlf9ZCp3ue0 N2 Juniper grabs fish two and lets Dorcha have the F1 tail end 06.21.45https://youtu.be/VafesrHDAzk N2 Dorcha again gives way to her chicks and lets Amber have fish three 13.35.59https://youtu.be/KJzg1f6mayc N1 Garry flies in quietly with a stick and does some nest tidying 15.33.14 https://youtu.be/VM54yBlwoWM N1 Aurora flies from Pole Tree and waits in vain on the nest 19.28.00https://youtu.be/AH7xKoaQwcg
N2 Dorcha follows Louis with fish four but lets Amber take it 22.10.19
Come and join the friendly community at Woodland Trust’s Osprey forum, it’s fun, free and everyone’s welcome:
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam
Our fish-tossing heroine, Viki, saved the chick and two adults – the chick fledged! Imagine a small place, St George’s Island, where up to 60 osprey chicks would have hatched five years ago, and now only one survived to fledge thanks to our brave human!
“Junior fledged a week ago. He practiced dragging his feet through the creek today, buzzed a couple of gulls who were simply minding their own business. His landings are spot-on and he hangs in the NCopse as do his parents. But he has not ventured out of sight of the nest.
After Junior fledged the female began making more appearances at the nest and surrounds. She has twice swooped down to grab one of the frozen menhaden I throw but did not feed any to Junior and otherwise ignores the frozen fish, even if Junior is fish calling for someone to bring it to him. She will bring and share live fish with Junior, as does the male. These fish are tiny and infrequent.
The male avoids directly providing the female with fish. A couple times she joined Junior on the nest and shared with him the frozen fish the male brought. But if she’s already on the nest he won’t bring a frozen fish to Junior.
The male and female seem to avoid sharing either of their two nests simultaneously and keep a greater distance between one another in the NCopse. But both seem committed to prepping Junior for migration.
I’m still tossing out 8 – 10 fish a day, sometimes fewer, and the male continues to fish, more so with the return of the female. But no matter how long he’s out fishing, there aren’t even medium-sized fish around.
No other chicks on St. George Island have survived.”
What is happening at St George Island, Maryland, is reminiscent of events where both Omega’s gill nets and industrial fishing, along with heat and storms, have wiped out the osprey population. This isn’t fiction. It is happening right before our eyes, and it is human-caused. Thank you, Viki, for saving these three!!!!!!! I only wish that those individuals who ‘observe’ the deaths on the platforms would step up for the wildlife they are hired to protect!
Things are very good for Sally and Harry and their three osplets in Seattle. Thanks, Ping Shen, for doing these observations and sending us images.
“Here in Seattle Harry and Sally and the 3 young continue to do really well! My visit today saw 3 fish deliveries in 45 minutes (2 from dad, 1 from mom), and I left with all the kids contentedly eating (2 on their own with their own fish, and 1 being fed by mom). Also saw some almost-flying, short trips across the nest, vertical flight up to a few feet above the nest, etc – I’m sure fledging will begin within the next day or so! They continue to look really good and mom and dad have clearly kicked fishing into high gear, with obvious success…can’t wait to see the little ones flying from the nest!
This is so wonderful – the adults will be healthy and fattened up for migration along with three fledglings. It has been a great year. I am delighted after the horrors of the NE.
There has been a fledge at Finland’s Loumais nest this morning.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care of yourself. We will see you again for a late post tomorrow. Ann and I hope to take Don and Toby to Oak Knoll Farm to pick up eggs and veggies along with some flowers tomorrow.
Thank you so much to Ping Shen, Viki Volks, SK Hideaways, and Geemeff for their wonderful monitoring, images, and videos. I am so grateful to them. Thank you to all who posted on FB and the owners of the streaming cams that let us watch these incredible birds striving to survive.