The last time that Little Bit had a full crop was the 26th May. He had eaten well for ten days and then the weather changed and then the weekend came and well, Little Bit was going on 72 hours without much food. All your positive wishes have made a difference. The food arrived today. But it was Little Bit’s actions that demonstrate what a brave eaglet he is – and how he knows how to ‘read’ his environment. Little Bit is very careful not to agitate 16. Little Bit appears to feel safe and secure around 15. Oh, how I wish we knew their genders.
Check it out. Food has arrived and Mum has been feeding. That is Little Bit to the right of Mum being fed! No one bothered him. Mum fed well.
You can see his beach ball size crop in the image below.
Little Bit has a huge crop showing at 17:18:09 and again at 17:52:34 – so he did not crop drop immediately from the earlier food. This means that Little Bit had food in his stomach. Crops are actually marvellous storage tanks for the birds allowing them to store food and then drop it down to the stomach when they need nourishment. It is reassuring to see Little Bit 17 with that big of a crop today. It has been a good day – few attacks from 16 and food to eat – a great combination equalling success. Little Bit worked hard to get food off of carrion (road kill) when it was on the nest. The older siblings could not be bothered. In the wild, they will have to bother – to eat what is there and eat even if they are full because it is never known when the next meal will come.
The image of Little Bit looking out beyond the nest with that big drop just brings tears to my eyes.
Little Bit has the energy and the joy of a full tummy so he flaps his wings.
Then there was another delivery! It came at 20:15:50. Little Bit is on the railing to the left.
Little Bit still has a crop from the earlier feeding. What is interesting to me is that the adult is very slow to begin feeding. This is a good thing. Slow feedings always benefit the wee ones hoping to get some bites.
At 28:50 Little Bit 17 begins to make his move from his corner by the tree. Just look. A day of eating has made such a huge difference. Little Bit 17 is getting his mojo back! He is reading his environment – this is crucial for a juvenile eaglet to survive in the wild. Don’t kid yourself. Everything that has happened to Little Bit on this nest is preparing him to survive in the wild. Watching, waiting. Knowing which birds attack and which are friendly. Good skills.
At 20:30:10 Little Bit makes his move to get under the adult to try and snatch and grab from under the tail behind the legs.
But wait…Little Bit doesn’t do that. Instead he goes right up to the adult beak and begins snatching and grabbing food — right from the beak!!!!! Food that might have gone to the big sibling waiting.
The big sibling does nothing. It has to be 15.
At 20:35:30 Little Bit is bursting full and has followed the adult. Little Bit is attempting to pull the last skin of the fish out of the parent’s beak. Yes, I am serious. Big sibling is looking on as this is happening.
Big sibling watches Little Bit play tug-o-war with the adult! Does everyone need a tissue? Little Bit’s bravery is just shining through. The adult ate the skin- they are hungry, too, but the level of confidence that has been shown today is the old Little Bit. Welcome back sweet little one.
Even with his full crop, Little Bit 17 is still eating every morsel of food he can find in the nest. One of the biggest lessons that Little Bit has learned is that you do not always have food. You need to conserve your energy and you have to eat what is available even if you do not like it.
Little Bit ‘staggers’ over to his favourite spot in the nest and heads to sleep.
Sweet Eagle Dreams to you Little Bit and to all your friends out there in Bird World.
This is just the best news in Bird World today. Thank you for sending all of your positive wishes to this nest and, especially, to Little Bit who is so deserving a full life beyond the confines of this nest! Keep it up!!!!!! We still have three weeks probably before Little Bit fledges. He needs to grow lots of feathers and get his strength up.
In other news, the eldest chick of Annie, Grinnell, and Alden – the female – has left the scrape box! Here is a video of this big milestone.
Tomorrow Cal Falcons will announce the final names. Please vote. There will be a short window of opportunity!
Thank you so much for joining me. This has been a miraculous day at the ND-LEEF nest. Little Bit is 55 days old. Fingers crossed for another good day tomorrow. Take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the ND-LEEF streaming cam where I took my screen captures.
The real focus on this blog is this fantastic Little Eaglet. I cannot say enough good things about him. There are a couple of other news items at the end.
If any third hatch deserves to live – and thrive in the wild – it is Little Bit 17 at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest. Oh, he reminds me of Tiny Tot Tumbles from the Achieva Osprey Nest in St Petersburg in 2021. That third hatch was starved and appeared stunted. Tiny Tot Tumbles lived on old pieces of fish she could find buried in the nest until one day in April (she hatched 5 March 2021) her Mum, Diane, brought in a catfish. At some point Diane realized that this third hatch just might be remarkable. So besides being creative and doing the snatch and grab, Tiny Tot persisted and Mum fed her. For all those that doubt Little Bit 17 can grow big and strong – I have lots of examples that say you will be wrong if Little Bit survives.
This afternoon Little Bit 17 really showed the stuff he is made of – he is brave and he is hard working. He is willing to eat the prey that no one else wants to survive. He has gotten smart except that he is hungry and he will be the ‘Snatch and Grab King’ when he can.
A prey item cam on the nest at 13:21:47. I could not make out if it was the squirrel or the raccoon – both road kill so mangled and mucked up.
Little Bit 17 was up next to 15 at the top rim of the nest. A perfect place to be.
Mum comes in with something and 15 moves back to peck at it. Little Bit stays up at the rim.
Mum checks and moves her head up to the rim to feed. Little Bit moves over. He is very afraid of Middle Bob – ND16 – who pecks at him all the time.
Mom feeds for about 4 minutes and then turns around where it is not so advantageous to Little Bit.
Despite 16 reaching over to peck a bit, Little Bit did the ‘Snatch and Grab’ for awhile and got a little more food. Right now he is pretty brave as he has opened himself up to get attacked by the big siblings.
One of them takes exception to Little Bit grabbing the prey and starts to mantle and flap. Little Bit gets over.
Then Mum turns sideways and Little Bit rushes to get to the side opposite the big siblings. You can just see his tail. He got some bites this way, too. Not many but some.
I wish that Mum would just stay in one place. It would be so much easier for Little Bit to eat with the big siblings on one side and it on the other. She seems antsy.
Little Bit is now doing the ‘snatch and grab’ again.
Mum is gone. She has left a part of the squirrel on the nest. Little Bit knows it is there.
Little Bit gets it. ND15 looks down and does nothing.
Little Bit gets hold of the prey item and pulls it and pulls it. It gets stuck but he keeps on eating and pulling. The big siblings are paying no mind. They are not going to work that hard for food so they can stay alive. Little bit 17 will though.
He pulls and tugs and tugs and pulls and just keeps on eating. He is eating skin and fur and every part of the raccoon. That is going to keep him alive. At the same time he is moving back away towards the porch where he might have a little stash of food or where he can continue eating away from the two siblings.
There he is pulling and pulling.
Where in the world did Little Bit find the squirrel? Goodness! He is pulling it back into his pantry too.
By 14:40 all evidence of the two prey items are gone and Little Bit is either saving them or eating in the back area of the nest known as the porch.
At the beginning of this Little Bit’s stomach would have had a little bit of food in it from Mum. Would he have a crop? Possibly if he ate the squirrel, too. He is quite hungry but the squirrel and the piece of raccoon will help. Did I say that Little Bit is brave, tenacious, creative, hard working, and willing to eat the crap food to survive? Well, he is. Send every positive wish his way – they are all working! Tears that he had something to eat.
In other news, the contest to name DC9 at the National Arboretum nest is over. DC9’s name is Takoda which means “Friend to All”.
For followers of the Dale Hollow nest, a parent flew to the nest yesterday with food and a juvenile chased them to the nest to get it. I do not know which one. The Dale Hollow camera only caught a small portion of the action which was posted on their FB page.
@DHEC
If you are a Glacier Gardens fan, a video of the first day of the eaglet’s life has been compiled. How nice!
It is hard to believe but we will be on fledge watch for L1 at the Red-tail Hawk nest starting on Friday! The following is a list of date ranges for the chicks to fledge based on historical data compiled by Cornell:
L1: 2-20 June
L2: 5-13 June
L3: 6-14 June
L4: 9-19 June
Big Red fed them all and also greenery is starting to come to the nest. While it is good to keep away insects, it is believed that Big Red and Arthur bring the oak leaves to get the kids to picture in their mind the tree where they should fly to on their fledge or first flight.
Big Red also sits on the fledge ledge to show them the best spot in which to take their first flight.
L2 and L3 watching a parent fly around the nest.
Cutie Pie L4 with a nice big crop. Hi Little One – and those silly humans thought that you wouldn’t survive. Just look at you.
L4 would like to figure out how to unzip that Chippie but he might need some help.
The bird that is standing to the right of L4 is L2. It has a white terminal band with a dark band and then the other bands are all muddy – no clear stripes on each.
Cutie Pie is trying.
L2 is really a gorgeous bird.
L2 and L3 looking at something on the ground.
After fledging the parents will provide prey while the fledglings learn how to hunt. In the past they have moved them farther and farther away from the nest at intervals teaching them to hunt in different ways at different places.
Just relieved that Little Bit 17 had something to eat. He worked hard for every morsel. Courageous and tough. Keep him in your most positive thoughts. Cal Falcons will be posting the short list of names for a quick vote. Go to their FB page after 6pm to see the choices.
Thank you for joining me today. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: DHEC, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, NADC-AEF, and ND-LEEF.
This has been the wettest year in Manitoba history. Today we are in another special weather situation with the expectation of 30-55 more mm of rain in a province and City where there is hardly room for water to go. There will certainly not be any wild fires we hope this year!
At 20:01:24 the adult at the ND-LEEF leaves the two larger siblings and moves over to where Little Bit 17 has been feeding. Both big sibs were left behind.
They do not take any prey with them. In my last post, I was certain that Little Bit was self-feeding on something while Mum fed the other two elsewhere. When Mum gets over to Little Bit she starts feeding. On occasion she gives the larger sibling a bite. So Little Bit 17 did feed itself some fish and then Mum came to help it keeping the other two back.
At 20:04:34 a big sibling reaches in and grabs the tail. It is possible then that Little Bit 17 for 6 or 7 minutes. Going from nothing to that – we will keep it and hope that there is more food tomorrow. It is very much apparent that the female is aware of what is going on – . I do love how she shut the two bigs ones out. They have eaten today.
I also got a chance to get some images of Little Bit’s had. 16 has definitely been pecking and pulling. More feathers are gone and there is also one beak hole. This is what E1 did to E2 at the MN-DNR nest. ND17 Little Bit can fly without its head feathers but we don’t want an infection.
A half day at a time. Deep breaths.
On Monday morning, Little Bit pulled a chipmunk over to eat it at 09:08:50. I thought – bonus – he can do this! But only a minute later he was attacked by 16. Today the eaglets on this nest are 60, 59, and Little Bit is 55 days old.
Later Little bit 17 played tug-o-war with 15 for the chipmunk. I know it is 15 because 17 and 15 get along well. 16 is the odd one out – the most viscous which leads me to believe that 16 is a female.
Continue to send your warm and positive wishes to this little one. At 55 days old and having gone through a period of 10 days of good eating, the issue is clearly the amount of prey delivered to this nest. It is quite insufficient. I know it is a holiday and it might not be quiet on the river and the trails around this nest. We live in hope that something good will happen. That good would be the Dad bringing in something for the older ones and the Mum arriving and getting Little Bit at the other end feeding it. This is a brave little eaglet and there is no reason for it to be in this condition other than lack of food deliveries.
Someone posted that there had been a ‘dust up’ (my wording) between a couple of the siblings at the Manton Bay nest of Blue 33 and Maya. This seemed interesting to me and I went to check. The time indicated was 17:33. Blue 33 had delivered a fish and it was alive. The fish flapped and hit Big Bob. She straightened up thinking that it was Middle Bob on the other side that had hit her!
That is a pretty big fish!
Notice that huge crop on the big sibling to the left of the fish and Maya.
Big Bob is startled by the flapping fish and pulls back.
He looks over to Middle Bob and tells him what for for hitting him. And then a tiny dust up??
No reason for any of the Bobs to fight on this nest. They are always full. I do imagine the itchy feathers add to them being slightly touchy especially if they think another sibling has hit them on purpose.
Maya has them all full and tucked. Angels. Little angels.
Richmond and Rosie would like you to help name their two chicks for this 2022 season! Here is the announcement and you must post on the SF Ospreys FB page thread.
Aran and Mrs G welcomed Little Bob today!
While Big and Middle were ready for their afternoon tea, Little Bob would rather sleep. Hatching takes a lot of energy and we all know that they have enough to eat from the egg for about 24 hours.
We are now waiting for Louis and Dorcha at Loch Arkaig and for CJ7 and Blue 022 at Poole Harbour!!!!!
It was raining earlier at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn. Looks like Flounder has been on the menu most of the day.
A Mullet just came in for the Bobs afternoon tea. No surprise. Big Bob is up at the table first!
All up at the table now.
At the Loch of the Lowes, everyone is up having their tea. You can see the difference in ages between Laddie and Blue NC0s little ones and Idris and Telyn’s. The oldest at the Loch of the Lowes is now changing plumage to go into the Reptile stage. Middle and Little Bobs are doing well.
Seren and Dylan continue to keep up with the fish and the three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog are up there for their tea. So cute!
CJ7 looking over the edge at Poole Harbour. Her and Blue 022 have been caught staring down at the nest. Can they hear the chicks now? Bets are being taken on when the first egg will hatch – many say today or at the latest tomorrow.
The other nest that is being watched closely is Loch Arkaig, the home of Louis and Dorcha. It could be a race between them and Poole Harbour on who has the first hatch of the two nests.
It is 37 days today for the first Poole Harbour egg. I am thinking tomorrow!
The Ls are restless. They want to flap and run and it is pretty crowded on the light stand nest of Big Red and Arthur at Cornell. Their lovely juvenile plumage is looking fabulous.
Big Red and Arthur are welcoming Monday morning by sitting on the light stand together while the chicks use up some of their energy flapping and running.
Just look at those cute Ls. So who is who? Bottom Row: L1 (left), L4 (right). You can still tell L4 because of the white head easily. Top Row: L2 (left) and L3 (right). These babies have the most beautiful peachy bibs and look at the rust coloured belly bands. Lovely.
Iris slept on her perch last night. She has really been bringing in some whoppers. What a great fisher she is. I am so thrilled that despite the eggs being gone Iris returns to the nest so we can see her. It is extremely reassuring.
‘S’ took some great screen captures of Iris on 25 May. I meant to share them with everyone that day and well – somehow they got a little down in the pile. Forever grateful for these great close up images to share. Thank you ‘S’.
Want to give a shout out to the Manitoba Peregrine Recovery Project for their great work. You can follow Pip and Ella and their three chicks on Twitter @mbperegrines
Ella is feeding three little chicks – imagine posted by Peregrine Chick on Twitter if you want to follow the action. Chick 1 and 2 are 24 hours apart and chick 3 is 36 hours apart. Nice and close!
This is Dad, Pip, in the scrape on top of one of our local hotels.
At the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest and Mum has been in and fed the kids. They are so gorgeous, so alert, and so civil. Oh, how I wish this for ND-LEEF.
Ironically she pulls that fish up and it seems as if by magic fish come out of the side of the nest.
Mum continues to feed until all of the fish is gone at 08:51 – both chicks are happy. She was with her two big babies feeding them for about an hour. Terrific.
The Peregrine Falcon chicks are being fed. What a noise inside the scrape at Manchester NH. You cannot see anything in there anymore the chicks are so big.
Eyases have been fed at the San Jose City Hall scrape and one of them is looking like a big Hulk.
Wow! Just look at the size of the Presidio Trust’s Red-tail Hawks in San Francisco. At one time we were concerned about the second hatch – no more. Great image of these two. you can see the tail very clearly (there are several smudges on this camera – ugh). Four clear dark bands. We have a bit to go til fledge.
We are on fledge watch for the Dulles-Greenaway chick of Martin and Rosa today.
We are also on fledge watch for Spirit at Big Bear. Spirit is picking and food crying at Jackie.
Shadow brings in breakfast and both parents and stay with their beautiful daughter while she eats. These moments must be bittersweet.
It will not be long til we are waiting for the Three Amigos at the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta to fledge.
Mr President has been in to feed DC9 at the National Arboretum nest in Washington, DC. Dad has done a great job being a single parent.
Lots to come, lots happening. Thank you for joining me this morning. Take care. Continue to send all your positive wishes to the ND-LEEF nest. Hopefully fish will come and Mum will feed Little Bit 17. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB or Twitter posts where I took my screen captures: Cornell Bird Lab RTH, LRWT, SF Ospreys, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Loch of the Lowes and Woodland Trust, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Lock Arkaig and People’s Post Code Lottery, Montana Osprey Project, MB Peregrine Network, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Dulles-Greenaway Eagles, FOBBV, San Jose City Hall Falcons, Presidio Trust, Explore.org, and NADC-AEF.
The ND-LEEF nest is hard to watch – partly because of the camera and you cannot see what is going on in the other part of the nest. I went to check on Little Bit 17 as he had not had food for almost 72 hours — or he had had a little food off camera.
At 19:59:29 Mum is feeding the two big chicks. But, Little Bit 17 is facing the other direction on the other side of the nest. He is self-feeding. You can see it from his body’s movements – the tail going up and down as he takes a bite. There is no indication of the size of the prey/fish that he is eating but he is eating something!
Then the adult moves over to where Little Bit is on the other side of the nest. It appears that they have moved to make sure that Little Bit gets some of the food before it is all gone. The bottle neck there allows Mum to go in close to Little Bit while keeping the other two big siblings back. I see the larger sibling getting some bites. Do I dare believe that Little Bit 17 is once again snatching and grabbing like the ‘King of Snatch and Grab’ that he is? Did we get a little miracle?
Two last things before I close. Holly Parsons posted an update on the Peregrine Falcon who had the eggs in the Flower Pot at the Field Museum in Chicago hoping I would see it – and I did. Thanks Holly!
And last but never least, Glacier Gardens. I missed it completely. Liberty and Freedom have their first hatch!!!!!!!!!! In their new nest. Wow. It seems like it was only yesterday that they discovered the new nest and now a chick. Congratulations Liberty and Freedom!
Here is that announcement by Sherri van Syckel for Bald Eagles Live FB.
I am going to go out into the garden with a smile on my face. I so hope that Little Bit gets some more food and that 16 leaves him alone. I wanted to get a good look at this head so I am going back to rewind later this evening.
Thank you for stopping in. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Holly Parsons posting for the Chicago Peregrine Programme, Sherri Van Syckel for Bald Eagles Live Nest Camera and News, and the ND-LEEF.
The rain stopped but the grey skies remained. I went in search of Wood Ducks. Last year there were Wood Ducks everywhere – not this year with the flooding. Well, they are not at their old hangouts for sure. I found 11 at one park and none at another.
It appears to me that the Wood Ducks are now laying eggs on the island since the water has gone down at one of the parks. I also noticed more Canada Geese nests.
What was even more surprising were the lack of Mallards. Mallards are typically everyone at the pond. One couple swimming about and I found another in the forest where the water was still high.
I had so hoped that the ND-LEEF nest would improve today. Little Bit 17 is in the other area of the nest without the camera so I cannot check. Tiny Tot Tumbles went without food for 72 hours and she had less ‘fat’ than Little Bit. We are heading to 72 hours now. I really hope that 17 had some food earlier but without actually seeing it myself, I cannot say for sure. Sad when things between May 16-26 went so well. I want to make one comment. I have seen lots of tiny thirds – more than I want to think about. Each and every one that survived appeared ‘stunted’ at some time during their development. Each with the help of the adults got big – three last year being the dominant birds on the nest at the end. Right now, I just want 17 to survive. Then we will see. 17 is little like Tiny Tot Tumbles at the Captiva nest – he has missed out on a lot of food. She had a total of twelve 24 hour days without food. She fledged and she was awesome. I don’t want to give up hope but not every nest will have success. It is heart breaking when it doesn’t happen. The parents are virtually absent – fishing might be rough. Prey items might not be available. With a road closed, bad weather, and weekend people on the river – there is less carrion and well, getting food can be hard.
So, let’s jump to a nest with three eaglets that have thrived. It is always good to step back and be thankful for the joy! This nest had two bad years and just look. We almost had a catastrophe when one of the eaglets fell down and Dr Sharpe had to come and rescue it. But here they are this morning – the ‘Three Amigos’. Gosh, they are beautiful. I cannot praise Thunder and Akecheta any more than I have and, I really want to shout out Akecheta who grew up this year and found out what it is like to be a dad. He was loving it! Kana’kini, Ahota, and Sky will fledge and I hope we get to see them return to the nest for awhile as they get those flight wings.
Lancer is one beautiful bird over at the Two Harbours nest! Chase & Cholyn have done a great job with this Only chick this year.
Of course, we cannot forget about Spirit – a perfect name for a very high spirited eaglet.
Jackie and Shadow will be proud of their only chick of the 2022 season – a real wonderful hatch. We were all so happy for both of them after two years without having any success. They will be ready to deliver fish to Spirit once she fledges so that she has a brilliant start in life.
I love Spirit and Jackie hanging out together! Is Mum giving her daughter tips?
Here is a short video by FOBBV. Spirit almost had lift off on the 27th.
There are three healthy Bobs getting a nice meal from Blue NC0 at the Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest in Scotland. Yipppeeee.
There are absolutely no hints from Louis or Dorcha about any pips or cracks. These two can surely keep a straight face. So glad the bad weather seems to have moved from Loch Arkaig!
Dylan and Seren Blue 5F are doing fine with their three Bobs. The little one is up there and ready for food once the others are passed out.
Dylan arrives with some more fish and pauses to see how things are going. He has heard a rumour that one of the Bobs got caught up in house keeping and was pulled out of the nest cup. He has come to make sure there are still three – and there are. That little one rolled back in. Chicks are very resilient.
Seren feeding Little Bob. Life is good!
There is fish on the nest at UFlorida-Gainesville. One of the osplets has a big crop and the other is fine. There is fish available if it is hungry. Doing good!
R2 is still showing up at the WRDC nest in the Miami Zoo and Mum and Dad, Rita and Joe, are still supplying fish! How sweet is that?
Blue brought a whopper of a fish to Maya and the trio for their bedtime feeding! I sure would love to give a piece of that fish to ND Little Bit 17.
Just a beautiful nest of hawks at Cornell. Big Red and Arthur really showed everyone they could handle four eyases without even breaking a sweat! Gosh, will they try for five next year???
It’s a real hard day when a nest and a little one is in trouble. The parents at the ND-LEEF nest have been absent for the entire afternoon. It is an extremely volatile situation.
Thank you for joining me. All of the other nests are doing really well. We may even have a hatch at Poole Harbour. Remember to turn in your name suggests to Cal Falcons for Annie, Grinnell, and Alden’s chicks! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures: UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Explore.org, LRWT, CarnyXWild, WRDC, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Cornell Red Tail Hawks, and FOBBV.
Saturday was an incredible day for a long walk at the nature centre. Thankfully individuals have donated benches in their loved one’s names and they are scattered about the trails. Much of Ft Whyte has been covered with water and there are areas that are more wetlands than anything else. Those are the interesting places. The Red-winged Blackbirds and the Yellow-rumped Warblers seemed to love eating the seeds? of the bull rushes. It was a fascinating day. Way across the lake were two adult Double-breasted Cormorants and nine juveniles. The Cormorants make their nests on islands or in the tops of trees or platforms. Normally there are 5-7 eggs that are incubated for 25-59 days. This couple seems to have hatched 9!
They were at a great distance and the sky was getting very dark. Not touched up but a lovely scene.
The usuals were around – beautiful Yellow Warblers, American Goldfinches, the Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Downy and a Hairy Woodpecker.
What a striking difference between the male Red-winged Blackbird and their female mates, below. She is having a wonderful time gleaning for insects and seeds on the ground.
This female American Redstart flitted around the Cattail branches. She was very difficult to photograph! She was hovering around the pools of water foraging for insects.
The Canada Geese are still incubating. No one seems to know when the eggs are due to hatch at Ft Whyte! (or not anyone that I could find).
You often see evidence of the woodpeckers presence but, most times, you do not actually see them. So to see both a Hairy and a Downy over by the songbird feeding station was quite a treat.
A female Hairy Woodpecker.
The female Downy Woodpecker.
In fact, today was a fun day because so many of the female birds were out feeding. What a joy!
I had hoped to head out today, Sunday, but right now it is raining. The birds in the garden are not happy! Hopefully the sun will come out later for them and they can dry off and I can go for my walk.
Sadly, Saturday was not a good day on the ND-LEEF nest. The lack of prey coming to this nest is becoming highly problematic. The two older siblings have figured out how to self-feed. Little Middle 17 had an advantage when they didn’t know how to do this! There was someone on chat that made a comment that Little Bit 17 had some food from Dad last evening – a heron?? I did not see it. Perhaps some of you did. My notes indicate 48 hours without substantial food. Let us hope that the fish get on the nest tomorrow and are plentiful. In fact, one of the older siblings – I do think it is the Middle one 16 – attacked Little Bit today and Mum flew down from the branch and intervened. We need fish on this nest quickly. Send all positive thoughts to Little Bit 17.
Two fish have so far come to the ND-LEEF nest on Sunday morning. The second one right before 10:58 when Mum flies down and feeds 17. Originally the fish was left on the nest but no takers and Little Bit seemed reluctant to eat it. He is staying back in the part beyond the camera. After a few minutes Mum comes down and takes the fish. Little Bit eats. Then in a few minutes 16 steals the fish. How much did Little Bit get? It isn’t clear but when 16 stole the fish, there was only about half of it left. I know Little Bit can eat fast – he has had to. Let us hope he got enough and that another fish comes and then another. We need to get out of this bad loop on this nest. 16 continues to attack Little Bit. 16 is one nasty bird.
If you are at all sensitive, I would not watch this nest for a few days. Let it sort itself out. I am very concerned about the level of hunger and the attacks by 16 on Little Bit.
The eyases on the Red-tail Hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur are changing by the day. Those juvenile feathers continue to grow and grow. Watch their tails. It is best if they have 5 or more dark tail bands for fledging.
That is little L4 showing off his beautiful wings. Big sister is in front. It is awhile til fledge from the look of the tails!
At the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest, Middle was busy eating a really nice fish. And guess what? He did not share!
This nest is so civilized now. If you just tuned in you could never imagine that the third hatch died from siblicide or that the Middle chick had been beaked and stopped from eating. It is a lovely nest to watch.
Middle was making some headway 9 minutes later. It is hard for the osplets to figure out how to hold the fish down and unzip it at the same time. They need to watch Mum carefully when she digs her beak into the skin and pulls hard!
Both of the osplets have been eating on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest Sunday morning. Each has had a turn at a fish and there are fish on the nest if you look closely – well, pieces of them. These two are healthy and doing so well.
As the sun went down on a beautiful Saturday at the Loch of the Lowes, Blue NC0 was feeding the three nestlings. I am cautiously hopeful for this third hatch. It is a nice strong little one.
It was so windy earlier in the day that Blue NC0 was literally blown off the nest.
It is Sunday morning and Blue NC0 and the trio of Bobs are waiting for Laddie to deliver a fish!
Laddie came through – of course, he did! They have all eaten well and Little Bob felt like he wanted to start a fight. He is a little toughie. LOL. You can see the plumage changing on Big Bob.
Telyn had gone for a break at 0503 and Idris flew in with the breakfast fish two minutes later. He thought he was going to get to feed the Three Bobs but, no. Telyn had a different idea. Gosh, they are so cute…I wish they would stay this soft grey downy chick for awhile longer before becoming a Reptile-Dinosaur showing their DNA chick.
It is quite amazing how quickly they get stronger. Adorable. Nice dark bands around those eyes.
The Dyfi Osprey Project created a video log of the hatching.
Aran and Mrs G now have two Bobs at the Glaslyn Valley Osprey nest. One more egg to go!
These two look like they will be a hand full.
CJ7 and Blue 022 have already made history by laying the first osprey eggs in a nest at Poole Harbour in more than 200 years. The eggs were laid on 23, 26, and 29th of April. That means that the first egg is 36 days old now. I am thinking pip watch in a couple of days?? This morning CJ7 ate her fish off the nest so no hatch yet! Gosh this is going to be a difficult nest to see those historical hatches!
Oh, those three Bobs on the Manton Bay nest of Blue 22 and Maya are getting huge. It seems it was only yesterday that we were worrying that the flapping Perch had killed one or both of the nestlings. It was 13 days ago!
This is such a good nest. A fish is right there when Maya gets the chicks up in the morning. It must surely help to have a stocked lake that is free from leisure vehicles and people.
You can almost hear Maya saying, “Oh, please, just have one more bite.”
Maya looks like she is in shock as Blue 33 arrives with a fish.
And what a fish that was!!!!!!!!!! Oh, gosh, is it going to land on the chicks?
All lined up like the Osprey lads at Port Lincoln last season. No need to fight over food on this nest – everyone is fed regularly til they are full. Would love to send this fish to Little Bit 17.
Blue 33 also brought in some nesting materials this morning and dropped them over the chicks. The look on Maya’s face was priceless!
After Blue flies off, Maya turns and looks at the camera. My goodness she is a beauty.
I haven’t mentioned them for awhile – shame on me. There are three osplets in the Osprey platform at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware. They are doing fine and from their heads you can see they are now moving into the Reptilian phase.
Bukachek and Betty have five White Storks this morning in their nest in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic. Everyone is so excited. There is one more egg to hatch.
Here is an adorable video of the six storklets at the nest of Jan and Janika!
There are wee ones on the nest of Karl II and Kaia, too. With all the nesting material it is hard to see how many.
It is rainy and blowing at the MN-DNR nest. Nancy has gotten food on the nest and E1, Harriet, continues to do very well. Hopefully Nancy will have a new mate next year. So many of us still miss Harry. What a real shame to lose him – he was only 5 years old. Just starting his life really as an adult. And what a wonderful mate he was while he was with Nancy!
There are way too many nests! And too many things happening. There is Annie looking up at us at 05:53 this morning in San Francisco. She is asking you to pick ‘nice’ names for the two chicks that her and Alden have raised. Suggestions stop and then there will be a vote…it seems that there will not need to be a run off for the name of the male. Grinnell is running away with the numbers! How could it not be Grinnell, seriously?
To suggest a name go to https://calfalcons.berkeley.edu and click on the Facebook tag. Scroll down a few entries and put in your desire names. Suggestions end on the 30th with voting starting immediately for the finalists once they are listed. They are giving us a short time so do not delay choosing your favourites of the short listed. I will try and remind everyone, too.
Take care everyone. Have an absolutely fabulous Sunday. Thank you for joining me today. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Cal Falcons, MN-DNR, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky White Storks, Osprey Webcam for Cape Henlopen State Park, LRWT, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Brwyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab RTH cam, and ND-LEEF.
Do you like condors? If so, then you should be listening to the once monthly Condor discussions and updates from Ventana Wildlife. They take care of Central California’s Condors – Big Sur and Pinnacle. The home of Iniko 1031!
Part of today’s discussion touched on the issue of lead toxicity. The Bay Area has high levels of lead caused by the old mining industries. Because the California Condors and the Buzzards in the areas feed on carrion – dead carcasses – they are susceptible to the lead from the ammunition used in hunting. Did you know that part of the programme of thee Ventana Wildlife Society is to get lead-free zones? Since 2012 they have been providing lead-free ammunition to the farmers and hunters in their area to attempt to eradicate the problem in their area.
Before the pandemic there were 100 California Condors in the Central California area. Today there are 87. That is the bad news along with stories about those special birds lost – some just turning 2 years old, others just getting to their prime and ready to breed. Condors normally live to be 50-60 years old in the wild so these were significant young loses. Those who work with the birds talk about how each is such an individual and how they get to know them so well – losing one is a very personal issue. The good news is that the hatch rates in Central California are catching up with those in Southern California and they are hopeful that next year will be better.
The next discussion is slated for the 30th of June. Here is the link to the presentation of 26 May. Very informative.
Little Bit 17 really deserves a standing ovation. I am so impressed with this wee eaglet on Friday! Little Bit 17 had some big meals on the 26th – the last being an overly stuffed crop at 21:25 Thursday night. Indeed, Little Bit had full crops every day from the 16th of May to the 26th.
It was rainy today. A small fish was dropped off by one of the adults after 20:15. The oldest ND15 got the fish – it was not that big. What was significant was that Little Bit 17 went right up into 15’s face for the entire time Big Bob was eating the fish. Little Bit 17 really earned his name as the ‘Snatch and Grab King’ today, though. Yes, he got a little fish that was dropped – actually one nice piece. But the heroics was when the snatched and grabbed and got the fish tail!!!!!!! I know you don’t believe me. It is true.
There is 17 moving to get right up at the front where the action in. Little Bit is clearly a very brave eaglet that given half a chance can survive in the wild because he is not afraid of the hard work in getting food.
Little Bit 17 showed no fear when ND16 was coming up from behind.
Little Bit has the tail – it still has a nice bit of tender fish left! Go 17!!!!!!
Little Bit 17 is mantling his cache. So far 16 has not noticed that 17 has the fish tail. Remember 16 is also hungry.
Then 16 notices and starts to try and get the piece of fish. 17 mantles harder. 17 will also keep the fish in its beak and mantle turning around and around.
Little Bit gets his treasure over to the other rim of the nest away from 16. However, he is alongside 15 and 15 would very much like to have that fish tail as well.
Little Bit 17 was able to get a few bites of the fish before Big Bob took the tail back but, what a brave little eaglet to go up against both wanting his food. I am so proud of Little Bit. That is really something to go up against these two – just look at how big they are compared to him.
We really need more fish brought on to the nest. If the adults just drop off small fish Little Bit might lose out. He does better when Mum comes in and if he can feed on an opposite side. Little Bit can also self-feed as good or better than the older siblings. So if they are full and there is fish available there is no issue with this ‘Little Eaglet Who Could’ feeding itself! We just need fish!!!!!! Lots of fish. No time for parents to be cutting back the fish. Both of the adults should be out fishing and providing 5 or 6 fish to the nest. We would really see a huge growth spurt in 17 because the other two are levelling off now.
Saturday morning has not been good for Little Bit. The big siblings are really hungry today with so little food since the evening of the 26th. There have been three deliveries: 08:44, 09:01, and 10:54. The power of the bigger siblings was really pronounced. At 08:43 Little Bit was attacked by one of the big siblings. We are now assured that it is not a lack of feather growth on its head but a bigger sibling – I suspect 16 – pulled it out!
The parents at the ND-LEEF nest need to come in with a huge fish and then another one and another to get this back on track after that single day of bad weather.
The two osplets at UFlorida-Gainesville cannot blame the parents for being hungry today. A catfish with its head came on the nest a little after 08:00. Catfish are problematic for the best self-feeders until they figure out how to unzip them. Both chicks had a bit of a go at it and then the fish was moved over to the rim of the nest.
Their looks were priceless. Think they learned a lesson today – keep the fish in the middle of the nest!
Thankfully Dad arrived a few minutes later, at 08:13:52, with a nice chunk of fish.
Looks like Big Bob gets it.
Middle is sniffing around for that fish. Stop for a moment though and look at the dark bands on their tails.
Middle gets it! Remember Middle is really good at snatch and grab. Meanwhile the adult was watching everything that was going on with its kids. There will be more fish today. Th adult did not have a crop so he needs to eat, too.
Middle really enjoyed that chunk of fish. Big did not try to take it nor did she try to attack. This nest really turned around with two nice osplets that are healthy and will fledge. Middle finished the fish tail at 08:48.
I wish every eaglet, storklet, eyas, or hawklet – whatever you wish to call them was fed as well as the two osplets on the nest of Richmond and Rosie in the SF Bay. Today the duo were fed for over half an hour – you can compare this with the length of feeding at some of the nests with much larger offspring. They were so full that when one rolled backwards with a flake of fish in its mouth – it could not get up!
Mom is on the nest at the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge. Is she thinking that Ervie might be going to land with one of his puffers and she wants to be there to chase him away? While it is true that other parents like Diamond and Xavier had to chase Izzi away as breeding season approached, I lived in some kind of ‘delusional’ hope that Mum and Dad might tolerate Ervie at the barge.
Ervie’s talon has not grown in but he has brought a significant size fish to the nest, not just puffers. That demonstrates that he can catch larger fish. We should not worry about that. We will just miss him as he has been such a character – and oh what joy he has brought to our lives!!!!!
Hats off to Dylan and Seren who did a tandem feeding at the Llyn Clywedog Osprey nest today. I had said that I was concerned about the third hatch on this nest – it looks like they were, too. Well done – great parenting! Now if we could only get Laddie to stay in that nest and feed Little Bob (Loch of the Lowes).
This is just wonderful to see. Tears!!!!!
As the sun rises, Seren is feeding the trio. They are all lined up and it looks like everyone will have a wee crop. Nice.
Idris has the fish on the nest and Seren is doing the first feeding of the day at the Dyfi Osprey nest in Wales.
And then – there were 3 at the Dyfi nest! I love how Emyr Evans at the Dyfi Osprey Project collects and puts the data out there. Chick 1 hatched on 25 May at 39 days in the shell. Chick 2 hatched on the 26th of May at 36.9 cays in the shell. Chick 3 hatched on 28 May at 35.7 days in the shell. All look great and all hatched within the normal range with the eldest being the longest and the third being the shortest gestation period. Let’s see if this impacts their growth over the season. The closeness of the hatches will certainly bode well for the third osplet as it is only two days younger. Telyn really ‘nailed’ that incubation. These three should thrive. Congratulations Telyn and Idris!
Daddy Longlegs (Idris) has brought in a nice fish for Telyn and the trio.
Good Morning Dorcha at the Loch Arkaig nest. It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day! Now where is Louis with the breakfish?
Blue 33 has the fish on the platform as the sun rises over the water at Rutland. Maya is waking up but the Three Bobs seem to be wanting to sleep in on Saturday!
Blue NC0 had to take a personal break at the Loch of the Lowes. There are the three wee ones in the nest. They look good.
She is back and is waiting for Laddie to bring the first fish of the day. Just look at those lovely rose gold kissing everything at the loch. Beautiful.
Sometimes Blue NC0 makes it difficult to tell who has been fed and who hasn’t. At one feeding where I could clearly see, all three chicks were fed. Nice. I do not think that Little Bob is out of the woods yet. Fingers crossed.
The falcons at the Manchester NH scrape are really losing their baby down. The flapping of the wings sends it flying all over the scrape. Their legs are strong and – well, this has been an amazing nest to watch in terms of the sheer effort by the parents to make sure that each of the five survived and thrived.
Spirit hatched on 3 March. She is 86 days old today. Bald Eagles generally fledge from 10-14 weeks. Spirit is certainly looking out to the territory!
Kana’kini has been doing a lot of hovering and today she actually did that with a stick in her mouth. Here they are the three of them – whoever dubbed the trio ‘The Three Amigos’ is so right. What a fabulous group of eaglets to watch and the thanks goes to Thunder and Akecheta who kept feeding them and kept bringing food to the nest! Great parenting.
Those little ones at Cal Falcons are so adorable. I was sooooo shocked at the little male. He reminds me so much of the male at Captiva Ospreys – Middle Little. He was really loud too. You could hear him fish calling in Fort Myers. Alden and Annie are doing a fantastic job. It was very interesting to me that Cal Falcons noted that Alden was ferocious in his protection of the scrape with Annie yesterday whereas Grinnell used to leave that to Annie.
Want to take part in the naming. See the band at the bottom of the image.
The sun is beginning to come out. The weather forecast is for rain for four days but I am hoping to get out to our other nature centre sometime. Maybe today! Thank you so much for joining me. Wish for fish for ND-LEEF. The river should be going down and clearing after the storm so Suckers and Catfish will be easier to catch for the eagles. Little Bit 17 needs a lot of fish to be delivered so that it can get some. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Ventana Wildlife Society, ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, CarnyX Wild, Dyfi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the People’s Post Code Lottery, LRWT, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Peregrine Networks, FOBBV, Explore.org, and Cal Falcons.
The two eyases at the University of California-Berkeley were banded today. Annie and Alden both did fly bys while the humans were with the two chicks. The oldest is a female and the youngest and loudest is a little boy. Poor thing he looked terrified to me. I am sure that that pose he took will make it into some falcon literature.
You have to be quick with the naming. Suggestions will only be taken until 6pm or 1800 on Monday the 30th of May (Memorial Day in the US). The time is Pacific time as a deadline. The finalists will be announced on May 31 and the public can then vote for two names. Winning names will be announced on 3 June.
Here is an article showing the banding, the action today, and information on where to go for the naming contest. Please take part!
I have been away most of the afternoon and have not been able to check on all the nests on my return. It was raining on the two osplets on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest and it looks like they have been at the hair salon, too!
It has been terrible weather at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest. As I understand it the last big feed for ND17, Little Bit was last evening at 21:25. Little Bit was quite full. Eagles do not have to eat every day but 17 would benefit from having more regular food. I saw a discussion about the feathers on Little 17s head. Chicks show stress in their feature development if they have not had regular feedings or as much food as they should be having. In addition, siblings can during beaking pull out feathers. For 17 it could be a combination of both. He will be fine when food comes in later – except that the big siblings will also be hungry. Fingers crossed for lots of fish once the storm passes and the waters clear for fishing.
Sean and Lynn have posted the banding and Q & A session for Cal Falcons. There is some really interesting information in there and if you are interested, please do take the time to listen. Make sure to start it back at the beginning.
Mrs G and Aran now have two chicks as of 20:42 at the Glaslyn nest in Wales! This is the 51st chick for Mrs G and the third egg is cracking!!!!!! These three will be very close together. Fantastic. I continue to worry about the third hatches at both Loch of the Lowes and Llyn Clywedog.
Idris and Telyn have two of the cutest little osplets on the planet at their Dyfi nest, also in Wales.
Idris has two fish on the nest for Telyn and the kids. He is eating some of the second fish before departing for security duty.
There are three chicks on the Llyn Clywedog nest of Dylan and Seren. Yesterday, Dylan had been missing and the weather was terrible. A fish finally came to the nest. Everything seems to have been fine since then. Things have dried out. The third chick is quite small. A nice fish was delivered at 20:51.
The chicks at Manton Bay are so big compared to these wee hatchlings. They no longer fit well to be brooded by Maya.
Blue 33 was acting like there were intruders around. He kept looking around with his snake eyes.
I can hardly believe it. The rain and wind are gone. Dorcha has been able to dry out. We should be on hatch watch by the 31st for her and Louis’s chicks.
I am very concerned about the third hatch at Loch of the Lowes. Blue NC0 has a tendency not to feed them if they are not right in her face and beak. The two oldest at Llyn Clywedog are a bit of a handful, too. This was the early morning feeding at Loch of the Lowes. The wee one did not get any food and I haven’t seen it get fed today – I hope I missed it and please tell me if I did.
So the worries are Llyn Clywedog and Loch of the Lowes. A great nest to watch, if you are looking for one with little drama is going to be Idris and Telyn at the Dyfi. They are as steady as you go, just like Blue 33 and Maya at Rutland. Mrs G and Aran are the favourites of many and I personally like Foulshaw Moss with White YW and Blue 35 but I do not like their camera – no rewind!
Take care everyone. It was great to know that Annie was in the scrape with the two eyases – a daughter and a son – five minutes after the banders left! That is fantastic. Thank you so much for being with me today. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages: Cal Falcons, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the People’s Post Code Lottery, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, and LRWT.
The banding at the University of California-Berkeley scrape is over! My goodness! The male chick is so loud you need noise cancelling head phones. Seriously.
Hatch 1 is a girl. This is Annie’s only 4th female in all the chicks she has hatched. You might remember that last year they were all male. Hatch 2 is a male.
Here are some images of the banding – which went very smoothly!
The female is being banded first. The female was quiet during the whole procedure. Her little brother was very vocal. Just look at him in the corner when his sister is moved.
Measurements.
Clamping of one of the bands.
The federal silver band has a different kind of rivet.
“I want my sister back!”
Taking a tiny piece of feather for DNA testing.
All done. Weighed, measured, health check and banding. The little male is vocalizing and in the protective mode.
This is my favourite image of both of them calling at once!
Measuring.
Banding.
Removing a feather from the back for DNA testing.
Checking and measuring the wing.
Both back in the scrape safe and sound.
Cal Falcons have posted the view from the north during the banding. You can see Annie and Alden flying around The Campanile while the chicks are being banded.
Thank you! There is a banding discussion and Q & A session at 12 noon Pacific Time.
Thanks Cal Falcons for your streaming cam and for the video of the banding!
