Tag Archives: Pittsburg Hays Bald Eagles

Ervie, SWFlorida, more eggs…Tuesday in Bird World

21 February 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

Oh, it is nippy cold on the Canadian Prairies. The weather people got everything turned upside down, leaving us thinking that the holiday weekend was to be warm and delightful. We also received a good bit of snow that is causing havoc over the snow that melted and turned to ice. It is currently -19 with brisk 15 kph winds. I am beginning to wonder why humans don’t hibernate! It is to be -29 C tomorrow morning. We are more than back in the deep freeze.

Today I will hop around a lot of nests. They have been neglected because my almost full attention has been on M15 and his eaglets. I will say again that he is doing a tremendous job. There have been enormous hurdles for him, including losing Harriet. I hope she doesn’t mind. My friend ‘A; says that the eaglets gave M15 something to live for after Harriet. It took him a few days for it all to sink in, but he has come about and, quite honestly, is one of the most democratic adults feeding eaglets I have ever seen. ‘A’ reminded me of what I already knew but had lost in the density of it all – that M15 always took care of the underdog on the nest even when Harriet did not. Looking at the history of the SW Florida nest, it was fascinating how many eaglets those two had fledged since 2015 when M15 became the man of the hour. What also interested me was that these eaglets survived…the prior history with Ozzie is not nearly as good. There was good DNA, with Harriet and M15 producing strong, independent, healthy eaglets. What M15 looks for in his next mate, his second by all accounts would be a fierce female like Harriet. As much as we waffle on our feelings about the female with the black talon, she may be precisely what he is looking for in a future mate.

Making News:

Ervie. Our dear Ervie. It is so nice for someone to take and post photos of you living the good life in Port Lincoln. There is no word from your sister, Zoe. Indeed, they are having problems with many of the satellite trackers. Let us hope that is all that is wrong…Glad you are safe!

When you think of Ospreys, do you think of Bahrain?

We all watched and held our breaths, hoping that Karl II and his Black Stork family – mate Kaia, offspring Waba and foster, Bonus – would not travel through Ukraine on their way to Africa. Many asked what the cost to wildlife is. An article in The Guardian examines the cost to nature.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/20/ukraine-war-cost-for-nature-russia?CMP=share_btn_link

Did you know that Ostrich feathers are still considered a luxury item and there is high demand for them?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/20/ostrich-feathers-farming-south-africa-fashion-luxury-a-photo-essay?CMP=share_btn_link

Broken wing and extensive lacerations for this eagle caught in a fence. Help came in time, and today, that raptor is flying again. Thanks, Everyone.

Severely-injured-bald-eagle-flying-again-in-West-Virginia-News-timeswv.com_Download

Two of the 55 Kakapo chicks hatched in 2022 are celebrating one-year-old hatch day. They get their names today. Well done, everyone.

Did you know that the USFWS believes there are now 316,000 Bald Eagles in the US? Many in Florida are making their nests on the old NASA site during the winter.

https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/american-bald-eagles-florida-kennedy-space-center

In the Nests:

Richmond is looking for Rosie to arrive any day! He has arrived at the nest as he will do from now until she returns from her migration.

Staying in San Francisco. There might still be time to vote on Annie’s mate.

All of the eaglets are growing up fast. E22 is so good at stealing fish from Dad and then feeding himself. Nugget was doing the same thing…but, what did Nugget eat?

Connie and Clive are also beginning to teach Connick to self-feed. They dropped a fish into the nest that was unzipped and watched from the upper branches til Connick was interested and pecking and getting some fish. After he gave it a good try, Mum flew down and fed the entire fish to her baby!

At the KNF-E1 nest of Anna and Louis, that eaglet – this has to be a beautiful female – is now self-feeding, too. They are all progressing just as they should.

Meanwhile, B16 is being filled up to the brim by Pa at the Berry College Eagle nest.

Well, I missed it watching M15 and the Es but, it seems that Pearl and Tico have fledged!!!!!!

Gary seems to think things at the Redding nest of Liberty and Guardian are returning to normal. Guardian brings a Coot to Liberty. Liberty loved that meal. The first egg collapsed and the couple have incubated the second egg nearly fully time.

Some great highlights of the 20th in Orange Australia. Indigo is still with us!

At noon on 20 February, 8868 people were watching to see if Jackie and Shadow will have a pip in their eggs today.

Still waiting and hoping.

‘H’ sends word that Angus has brought two fish to Florence today at Captiva. She has also caught one of her own. August has also only kicked her out of the nest once! Courtship after losing a mate is interesting, complex, and often confusing.

E21 and E22 are turning six weeks old. M15 has to be given many awards for his dedication to raising these two. He is quite amazing.

The eaglets at SWFlorida had a nice big fish on Monday morning at 10:50:18.

Both ate, but 22 is getting so darn good at snatching and grabbing. He got some of the fish – a nice big piece and then the tail – and put them down with one gulp. 22 is so far ahead in this area of learning. It is grand. This nest is preparing them for anything and everything that could meet in the outside world.

E21’s large wings!

Two fish came in the late afternoon. One was around 15:55, and the other was at 16:54. E22 got the best of those meals. 21 did a bit of nipping at 16:11:45 so that he could eat! Meanwhile, E22 did his famous snatch-and-grab and wound up with a rather great ending to the day regarding food.

22 appears to ‘hork’ another tail. 22 might move away from 21 at times but, he is determined and is really able to deal quickly if a piece of food presents itself. Well done, 22.

At one point, the camera had M15 on the nest tree.

The female with what appears to be a large crop is down by the pond.

At another time, both were at the pond. I will imagine that M15 caught that last nice fish here. It is 14:16. M15 is on the right. He looks like he has eaten and has a nice crop.

Here is a video by Eagle Goddess of the pair at the pond.

Who’s guarding? Who’s sleeping?

The day went without incident on the nest, which is all that matters. And then came the GHO strike at 21:24:40. M15 cannot get a break. Sara McDavid caught the auction for us.

https://www.youtube.com/live/5aL2OA1jOq0?feature=share

Minnesota had some of the snow that swept through this area. Nancy woke up with no snow, and then it came on Monday, and then it was gone again. If there is to be a third egg, it should arrive today for Nancy and Beau.

The eagles at Pittsburgh-Hayes welcomed their second egg on Monday. Congratulations, everyone. The time was just after 17:17. Mum seed to have about a three-minute labour.

The Majestic’s Mum at the Denton Homes nest in Iowa laid her first egg with a new mate, Beau, on the 20th. Dad and the three eaglets died of Avian Flu last year. It was so sad.

There is also the first egg at Decorah North for Mr North and DNF. Happened around 2000.

It appears that Big Red has not decided where the 2023 nest will be but she has definitely rejected the Fernow Tower Light stand potentially because of the construction work across Tower Road. Today Suzanne Arnold Horning found the couple delivering sticks to the smoke stacks.

There is just too much happening all at once in Bird World, which is what we thought when the other Bald Eagle nests came into play. All in all, it was a good day.

Thank you so very much for being with me today. Please take care of yourself. See you soon!

Thank you so much to the following for their notes, news, posts, videos, tweets, and streaming cams that make up my newsletter today: ‘H’, ‘A’, Sandra Wallace and Friends of Osprey, Howard King @BirdsofBahrain, The Guardian, Golden Gate Audubon, Cal Falcons, Tonya Irwin and KNF-E3, Window to Wildlife, KNF-E1, Berry College Eagles, Superbeaks, Gary and FORE, Elain and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, FOBBV, SWFlorida Eagles and D Pritchett, MN-DNR, Pix Cam, Raptor Resource Project and Explore.org, and Suzanne Arnold Horning and the Cornell Hawk Cam Chatters.

Ervie is on the PLO nest! – and other Bird World news

12 April 2022

I want to start with Australia and this will be a quick blog so you can go see Ervie on the nest yourself. Thank you to ‘B’ for alerting me to his presence! Much appreciated.

Ervie has another Puffer fish. He lands in the cave and lands by Dad at 10:11. Oh, I hope they have time for a chat after.

PLO have zoomed in nicely. You can see that missing talon that is growing in ever so slowly. One of my readers commented about the sharp teeth of the Puffer and wonders if one of Ervie’s delicacies might have bitten that talon. Sure could have! It is likely that the Puffers are easy for Ervie to catch with that missing talon. Perhaps Mum and Dad are also supplementing fish???

Whatever caused Ervie to stay around Port Lincoln and the barge, I am liking it. It is the first time that we have been able to watch a fledgling Osprey months after they have flown.

In the image below, you can clearly see Ervie’s missing talon. You can also see that it appears it is growing in – like our nails, it is made of keratin.

The feathers are a little frayed.

Save for the talon, Ervie looks pretty good. It is just so nice to see him. Reassuring in a weary world.

Ervie. You are so adored!

It is always hard to imagine when the chicks are little on the nest that within a few months they will be all grown and flying. This evening I stopped in to check on Little and Middle (or Little and Mini) at the Captiva nest. They are beginning to hover but what caught me was Little. I have always called him a ‘he’ but she stood next to her Mum, Lena, and called out just like a female hollering at the male to get the fish in. Meanwhile Middle was trying to sleep and ignoring it all. Little didn’t stop after I quit taping her calling. Oh, no, she kept going. Every time she saw a bird and thought it might be Dad with a fish. Lena didn’t have to call at all. Too funny.

Little or Mini getting air under those wings. Won’t be long!

Little or Mini.

Middle (or Little). Elegant. Focused.

I wanted to check on the MN-DNR nest of Harry and Nancy. I was hoping to find a new stocked with prey and, with the Avian Flu in the region, a nest of fish. I found some turtles, some eaten, some not.

The winds are blowing much worse at this eagle nest than they are where I am living. I hope this baby gets under Nancy and holds on tight!

This is the link to their camera so you can check on them if you wish.

There is also a Peregrine Falcon cam. the couple have 1 egg in the scrape. I admit to knowing nothing about this nest but have added it to the list of my falcon nests for watching.

Spirit was looking out of the nest at the same time as Jackie. Oh, how cute this little eaglet is. Jackie and Shadow must be terribly proud.

The Pittsburgh-Hayes triplets have crops like Spirit. Nice.

I am going to close so that those who want to go and see Ervie can. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you to my Eagle-eye Readers who spot Ervie and let me know. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: MN-DNR, Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, and Pix Cams.

Late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Bird World

29-30 March 2022

One of the most wonderful things about birds is the fact that they just carry on. Whether or not they are buried in snow, soaked to the core from torrential rains, or thrown about their nests with huge wind gusts, they just get up and get on with it. They give me hope and most always put a smile on my face. There is a rhythm to their lives that provides us as watchers with hope and solace.

Most love to watch as the parents feed their young – from the tiniest saliva bites for new hatchlings to that third week when the crops get so full they look like they will pop to surrendering the prey on the nests when the babies are self-feeding. Most of the parents give it their all. I cannot imagine for an instant what it must be like to feed four bobble heads and keep them alive. A human who has four infants would find that a huge challenge. It makes me appreciate the birds even more.

All lined up nicely for Mum Thunder. There has not been any discord at this nest. I continue to remind people that the youngest, in the middle of the image below, is four days younger than the eldest. Little Bit at Dale Hollow was three days younger.

Thunder taking care and feeding the triplets.

Thunder and Akecheta are up early feeding the triplets this morning.

Both eaglets at the Dale Hollow nest of River and Obey are are 30 days old today. At 06:48:21 a parent flew in with a sucker, not huge but not a bad breakfast.

Little Middle never knows what kind of mood Big will be in so he immediately begins to move to get away and let Big go eat.

He walks down to the rim watching and listening. The adult has not begun to feed Big. The parent is sitting and watching- not only the happenings on the nest but also in the territory of the nest.

Big has moved over to the fish and on a side that would separate Little Middle from the feeding. The adult is looking around and still not feeding. Middle Little is cautious but this time hurries up along the rim making its way up to the table! Smart. Little Middle waited too long last night and lost out on the fish. He is hungry this morning.

The parent feeds Middle Little all of the first bites. Big does nothing. Just watches.

The adult feeds a tiny portion of the fish to the two and then abruptly flies off at 07:17:58.

Little Middle is working on his balance and does a great PS.

Both eaglets settle down and wait for the parent to return. What a great start to the morning. Is it magic when they turn a month old they become civil? We wait to see.

First time mothers with bobble head babies seem to have some difficulty figuring out the right angle to hold the beak and feed the little one. Last year I thought Anna and the Kistachie National Forest nest would never figure out how to feed Kisatchie! They both got it! And Lotus and the wee one at the National Arboretum Nest in DC will get there, too. It is truly difficult to hit a bobbling target!

It looks like Mr President is asking Lotus how much more fish he needs to bring to the nest!!!!!

It is Wednesday morning and all is well with the new hatchling of Mr President and Lotus. Oh, it is so sweet.

Easy to see the egg tooth – the white bit at the tip of the black beak – that hammered away at that shell. Oh, so clean and white.

Turn your beak sideways, Lotus!

Liberty and Guardian have a couple of cuties that are not having any problems getting down to feeding.

I keep asking Liberty if she would please feed them so we could see. It doesn’t seem to be working! The little ones have had lots of meals on Tuesday with Liberty keeping her back to the camera. Too funny.

I wonder how many are following the Great Horned Owls that took over the Osprey nest near Savannah on Skidaway Island? The nestling has grown in remarkable time. It is just starting to get the tufts on top of its head. No one knows what the actual purpose of the tufts is. Does it help camouflage the owls by breaking up the line of the head? or are they there to show the mood of the owl? Little Grey is alone on the nest except when a parent comes to bring food or feed it. Cornell took a video clip of Dad delivering a duck dinner to Little Grey.

It may be cool in Big Bear Valley but the snow and rain have stopped. Jackie and Shadow did super taking turns brooding and feeding throughout the storm. The chick hatched on 3 March making it 27 days old today.

Yes, you are cute.

Before I forget, the results of the naming contest for Jackie and Shadow’s eaglet will be announced after the area has its spring break. That would be 4 April. Can’t wait!

Abby and Blazer’s eaglets have their juvenile plumage. The sun is setting and sending a soft golden glow on the pair of eaglets being fed this evening. They are never too old to want to be fed by Mum.

The surviving eaglet at Duke Farms hatched on the 24th of February making it 34 days old today if you count hatch days. It is really growing and covered in thermal down with its contour and wing feathers growing in nicely.

Mum and Dad were both on the nest for the feeding as the sun gently sinks into the horizon Tuesday night.

It looks like the Duke Farms eaglet is having fresh squirrel for breakfast on Wednesday.

The triplets at Pittsburgh-Hayes are growing and behaving themselves at meal time! What a nice relief.

Mum is up early making sure everyone gets a good start. This nest will require lots of prey and many feedings to make sure each gets enough.

The parents are old hands at taking care of triplets. They fledged three last year!

Wow! What a difference. Just imagine. Before you blink, those three nestlings at Pittsburgh Hayes pictured above will be the size of Jasper and Rocket at the NE Florida nest of Samson and Gabby! And they will be self-feeding.

Here is a video of Jasper and Rocket enjoying a live fish! It is one of the many lessons the parents teach them so they can deal with all situations in the wild and survive.

All is well with Andy and Lena at the Captiva Osprey nest in Florida this morning. It is getting more and more difficult to tell Middle from Little at this nest. That is fantastic. There continues to be no word on the cause of Big’s sudden death.

In the world of UK Ospreys returning from migration, a super Mum, Blue 35 (2010) has arrived at her nest at Foulshaw Moss in Cumbria. She landed at 13:09. Last year Blue 35 was tired of the two older and much larger siblings eating all the fish and Tiny Little Bob not getting much. There is Tiny Little on the far left.

So Blue 35 pulled a fast one. She fed the two large siblings til they were full and flew off with the rest of the fish. When they went to sleep, she returned to the nest and fed Tiny Little Bob. Tears flowed with joy! With the help of Mum and Dad’s (White YW) great fishing, Tiny Little grew and grew becoming the dominant osplet on the nest.

So welcome back, Blue 35. What a great Mum you are.

I continue to follow the Black Stork Karl II’s migration from the Sudan to his nest in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. Here is the route that he took last spring returning home. His migration pattern is in royal blue.

If he stays to the west and if the fighting and burning are not bad, well, fingers crossed! We want them to stay way to the west of Odessa and Kiev.

There is severe weather coming to parts of the United States that will impact many of the nests that you are watching. If you live in this area, please stay safe and watch for the storm warnings. Send all positive wishes for our birds that are outside in a nest when raging winds, rain, and tornadoes hit.

It has been a good start to the morning at all of the nests. We can’t ask for anything better than Little Middle getting to share a fish breakfast with Big without a single second of intimidation.

Thank you to everyone who worried about our snow and ice. The snow is still here on the ground and it is a dreary grey-white morning but everything is fine. Thank you for being with us this morning. Send all your best wishes for continuing prey and health for all of the bird birds. Also, take care of yourself. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Cumbrian Wildlife Trust, NEFlorida Bald Eagles-AEF, Looduskalender Forum, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Dale Hollow Bald Eagles, West End Bald Eagles, Redding Bald Eagles, Pix Cams, Cornell Bird Lab and Audubon, CNN Weather Tracker, NADC-AEF, Eagle Country, and Duke Farms.

Late Monday and Tuesday news in Bird World

28-29 March 2022

This is actually more a quick glimpse of late Monday activities in Bird World up to noon on Tuesday.

At 20:57:27 Monday night, you could see an eaglet with the two halves of the egg acting as book marks at the National Arboretum Bald Eagle nest in DC. It is home of Mr President and Lotus. They lost their first eaglet to a tragic accident during pipping so it looks like once the AEF officially announcements the hatch, it is congratulations!

At 07:07, you can get a good luck of the dried fluffy baby. Congratulations Mr President and Lotus. This is wonderful news. May DC9 stay healthy! This is now the historic moment of having a hatchling in the DC nest for the first time in four years.

Oh, you are cute and you are blessed. You will be an only eaglet like Jackie and Shadow’s baby.

Here is a really short video of that hatch.

Jackie and Shadow have certainly had a terrible day with the strong winds, rain and ice pellets.

There is snow on the Big Bear nest this morning but the winds have lessened. Thank goodness. Everyone is just fine!

What a gorgeous landscape!

Samson made the egg cup quite deep the other day knowing that the baby would be snug as a bug when the storm hit. Lovely family.

Amanda777 made a short video of Jackie feeding the baby in the snow.

The rain and the winds stopped on Monday for the West End eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta. This morning it is beautiful. Someone who knows fish species told me that the red flesh fish that are brought to the nest are Alders. They are apparently quite good if you like to smoke your fish.

How many stared at Annie in the scrape watching for every moment? CalFalcons predicted around 20:10. I hung on waiting for a little longer only to get up later and, thankfully, to a note from ‘B’ discovered that second precious egg of her and Grinnell’s had been laid around 21:18:37. Thank you! Both were clearly visible at 21:41:17 when Annie rose up to display those beautiful deep red eggs.

CalFalcons made a quick video of Annie laying that second egg.

Here are the two eggs this morning! Good thing egg collectors have learned that their actions almost made many bird species extinct in the late 19th century and early 20th. They are beautiful! We will look forward to them being fuzzy white eyases in 33-35 days.

While I was watching Annie I was also checking on Karl II. Oh, bless that Black Stork’s heart! Now if he will continue his north westerly route avoiding the area of The Ukraine…Fingers crossed. Looking forward to having him back on his nest at the Karula National Forest in Estonia.

He spent the night in Motoseni, Romania.

My happiness at Karl II’s route was matched by Obey flying into the Dale Hollow nest at 18:02:32 with a small fish last evening. At 18:02:51 Little Middle went into submission.

Big had finished at least a fish and a half, if not two, one hour earlier. Big could not be hungry!

Watching and watching and listening, Little Middle gets to the rim, head down.

He sits up and looks over hoping, perhaps, that Big wouldn’t finish that small fish! Big did not attack.

Little Middle moves around the nest. Big doesn’t do anything. Is there any fish left?

He gets up there, beside Big.

Little Middle gets his first bite at 18:09:22.

Little Middle got the remainder of the fish thanks to Obey. The tail was gone at 18:14:12. Not a long feeding and not a lot of fish but Little Middle had a crop. Oh, I would love to see this wee one get to eat an entire fish by itself! Talk about a growth spirt.

I loved this image of Little Middle looking up at his Dad. Obey has done some nice feedings for the wee one, holding back, going slower, moving the fish. It is nice to know that Little Middle went to bed with a full tummy.

This morning a really large fish on to the Dale Hollow nest. I cannot comment on what happened prior to 08:14 on the feed as it will not rewind beyond this and I could not check this nest earlier. It appears that the two eaglets were fed half of the large fish with half remaining on the nest. There is no discord between them after 08:14 so maybe there wasn’t any! I live with hope.

It appears that Big ate first and Middle moved in later. That would be my guess based on past experience.

Big is obviously full.

The parent turns the other way to feed Little Middle. Big has moved away already having consumed 1/3 of the big fish. There will still be fish left when Middle finishes eating.

I have included the three images below. It is hard to get a sense of the true difference in size or even the actual size of the eaglets.

It is nice to see them looking out at the big world together. Big has almost lost her dandelions and, of course, Middle Little had his pulled off so he is ahead with that regard.

Little Middle is surely growing and has some nice blood feathers at the tip of its wings coming in. Big has quite a few. Both are doing a lot of preening. Hopefully more fish will come in today – surely there will be!

Everything continues to go well for Andy and Lena and the two Osplets at the Captiva Osprey nest in Florida. Both are healthy and continue to eat well and grow in their juvenile plumage.

Every once in awhile you can get a glimpse of all the triplets at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagle nest. It can be tricky though. I have waited and waited with no luck!

The two eaglets of Liberty and Guardian seem to be going through the bobbling head phase. One had a great PS this morning while the other stood up and watched it. Cute. Their rain has stopped and they are drying out.

There was a Great Horned Owl that landed below the nest in the middle of the night. Hope it stays away!!!!!

There are so many nests to cover and Ospreys arriving or not. It is difficult now to keep track of all that is going on. I have not seen any announcements of any of the monitored nest Ospreys returning in the UK since Telyn arrived at Dyfi late Monday. I will continue to monitor that situation.

Thank you for joining me this morning for a bit of a hop, skip, and jump through the nests. We are expecting rain and then 100% chance of more snow – just when we thought spring was coming!!!!!!! I recall actually having snow on the 15th of May one year. Hopefully it will not be that late in 2022. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures and video clips: Friends of Big Bear Valley, Dale Hollow Eagles, Cal Falcons, Pix Cam, Redding Bald Eagles, Captiva Ospreys, Looduskalender Forum, West End Eagles and the Institute of Wildlife Studies, and the NADC-AEF.

Annie lays her first egg and happiness at Dale Hollow…

26 March 2022

Just as I am starting to check all of the nests, there is an intervention happening on the WRDC Bald Eagle nest in the Miami Zoo. R2 got entangled in fishing line. The camera is down and let us all hope that there are no injuries to this amazing eaglet.

The big news of the morning came as a subject line a couple of minutes ago from ‘B’. “Annie has an egg!” Wow. Thank you ‘B’. (I was very busy watching Dale Hollow).

We have all been wondering how the soap opera with Annie and Grinnell was working out. This says it all. It looks like the egg arrived about 08:30:17 nest time in San Francisco. So happy…..wonder if Annie is going to join the ‘4 egg club’ for this year?

Annie is having a nest rest. She should sleep as much as she can. Once the eggs are all laid she will get a reprieve of 33-35 days and then there will be no rest! So, so happy!!!!!!!!!!! This really is turning out to be a joyous morning.

Cal Falcons just posted a video of this wonderful event.

It started out as a promising morning at the Dale Hollow nest. River and Obey had a big fish left on the nest overnight. Because of this, there was no waiting for breakfast and Big did not get herself into a ‘mood’. River was on the nest and at 09:04 she went over to the fish and lifted it up. Big went up to eat first. Little Middle stayed behind watching. Little Middle moved up to the feeding spot at 09:09:54. In other words, Little Middle let Big eat for about three minutes while listening and watching. It all worked out. River fed both chicks together up at the table. There was no intimidation by Big. Oh, joy!!!!!!!

Smart Little Middle. Test the temperature of Big before moving up. That said, Little Middle duly recognized Big as the dominant allowing her to eat first. Perfect.

Little Middle moves up and River stretches to give some great bites to her youngest.

Little Middle’s crop was flat at the start of the feeding. Now look! And also have a look at the size of Little Middle’s feet——– this kiddo is growing. Yippeeeeeeee.

What a wonderful start to the day at Dale Hollow.

River and Obey have found a stash of corn stalks and they are using them to create new railings around the nest. Smart. Big and Little Middle are going to need them. Several times I thought Little Middle was going to fall out of that nest.

By 10:00 the parents are away perhaps retrieving more rails. Meanwhile, the two eaglets are resting and the sucker Obey brought in is hidden.

At 10:50:30 River removes the Sucker from the centre of the nest to the rim where she can feed the eaglets. Little Middle watches and listens but does not go up to River and the fish allowing Big to be there first.

At 10:54:57 Big drops a bite, River holds it up and Little Middle does the snatch and grab!

Big was not happy and attacks Little Middle. Little Middle immediately goes into submission and moves away from the feeding to the rim of the nest.

I could hardly believe my eyes. River stopped and turned so that she could feed Little Middle at 11:01:20. This is quite the change!!!! Wow.

The wind almost blew her off the nest. It is so windy that River is going to have to go back to being parallel with the rim of the nest.

This gives the feeding advantage to Big.

By 11:08 Little Middle has moved up to get some fish.

By 11:17:18 Little Middle has a nice crop that has built up. The feeding finishes at 11:18. There is little to no fish left! This has been a good morning for Little Middle. Some intimidation but nothing that would have harmed him. Just reminders to remain cautious.

The Canada Goose at the unused Bald Eagle nest in Decorah, Iowa laid her second egg last night. She is using the twigs from the former eagle nest to cover them.

The sun rising over the Decorah Eagle nest home to a Canada Goose now!

It is a Cormorant food fest at the West End Bald Eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta. In the image below they are enjoying the one that Thunder brought in yesterday. Dad Akecheta’s performance at feeding is excellent. Look at all three of them lined up. No problems. Nothing. Serene and solace. There is a new Cormorant behind the big stick that appears to have been brought in today. By the time the season is over will there be any Cormorants left in the Channel Islands?!

At the Two Harbour’s Bald Eagle nest of Chase and Cholyn, Thunder’s parents, Cholyn is incubating. Pip watch should be soon.

The parents at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagle nest are feeding their three now!

Everything seems to be going well at the National Arboretum nest of Mr President and Lotus. The eaglet hatched at 14:55 on the 25th and is the first hatch at this nest in four years. Well done!

Wonder where that gold fish came from????

All cuddled up next to what could be a younger sibling.

The two eaglets at the Redding nest of Guardian and Liberty have been enjoying a lot of Coot for their first feedings. The oldest hatched on 20 March with the youngest three days later on 23 March.

Liberty is 23 years old and Guardian is 8 years old. Another nest where the female is much older. Liberty has fledged four sets of triplets – in 2009,. 2010, 2015, and last year, in 2021. It is a nice eaglet nest to watch and here is the link:

If you missed it, Mrs G arrived back at Glaslyn today. She is waiting for Aran and in the meantime, she is enjoying a fresh fish that she caught herself!

It has just been a pretty good day all around the nests. I am off to check on the arrival of geese and ducks here on the Canadian Prairie.

Thank you so much for joining me today. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Dale Hollow Lake Eagle Cam, Cal Falcons, Redding Bald Eagles, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, National Arboretum Bald Eagles and the AEF, Pix Cams, and Explore.org

Ervie and the fish

Before I begin, I want to thank ‘A-M’ for alerting me that Ervie had caught a fish and brought it to the nest yesterday. I was not watching at the time and in my excitement to tell you, I forgot to thank her. My sincerest apologies. I always appreciate all of the news you send me, especially when I can only be in one place at a time! Thank you ‘A-M’.

Yes, Ervie caught a fish and brought it to the nest yesterday. It was magnificent and happened at 13:37:14. Ervie had to be so excited.

Ervie was so proud of his fish and rightly so. Indeed, he was so happy that he wasn’t paying full attention. And the fish was still alive. Yes…if you are thinking fluttering fish on nest, you have it. Ervie was a bit shocked when the fish started moving away and fell into a hole at the top right of the nest!

There is Ervie looking down that hole in amazement. It ate his fish!

Everyone had faith that Ervie, the chick who could dig out old fish tails from the nest, would be able to retrieve his fish ——- and he did!

Well done, Ervie. Today you gained some confidence and you learned a lesson – pin your fish down hard while you eat it!

The very curious thing is that Ervie, who was obviously hungry, did not gobble up his fish. He also walked around the nest like something distasteful was stuck to his foot. One of the knowledgable chatters suggested that it was a ‘toadfish’ and that maybe he didn’t like the taste of it.

So what is a toadfish? The Common Toadfish grows to approximately 15 cm or 6 inches in length. The fish is actually covered with some prickles which could account for why Ervie didn’t like it stuck to the pads on his feet. They are found along the coasts in shallow water and sometimes bury themselves in sand with only their eyes showing. The fish is toxic to humans who, if they consume the fish can die of respiratory failure. It carries the same neurotoxins in its tissue as the Blue-ringed Octopus or the Pufferfish. Those toxins are Tetrodotoxin.

I asked a biologist if this could harm the transfer of information from Ervie’s nerves to his muscles and they were unclear as to the impact. Perhaps the toxins do not harm the sea hawks like they do humans. Still, as my grandmother would say, it is a good thing Ervie did not like the taste of the fish and didn’t finish it just in case. Over time, Ervie will discover the fish that are good to eat and those that aren’t.

“Tetractenos hamiltoni Common toadfish has a deadly secret #marineexplorer #underwatersydney” by Marine Explorer 

Dad watched his son closely. At 17:52, he brought Ervie a nice fish to eat. Thanks, Dad!

Dad has a nice crop. It looks like he made sure that the fish was dead by eating its head before delivering to our sweet boy.

Ervie has spent the night in Dad’s shed hanging on to Dad’s favourite blue rope sleeping.

Other Bird World News: The Ravens came to attack the nest of Jackie and Shadow. Shadow was not home. Jackie defended the nest of two eggs valiantly. This will not be thee last time they come. They know there are eggs in there and Jackie and Shadow are going to have to be vigilant! It is believed that E20 at the SWFlorida Bald Eagle nest of Harriet and M15 has officially started self-feeding. Jean-Marie Dupart has counted 220 Ospreys at the Langue de Barbarie Park in Senegal. This is a record! Ferris Akel will be hosting his birding tour of the area around Ithaca today starting around 1pm Eastern time. Go to YouTube and Search for Ferris Akel Tour Live. For those fans of E19 and E20, they are some of the feature wildlife that are in CROW’s 2022 calendar. The calendars are now 50% off. Here is the link to order: https://bit.ly/2022CROWCalendar There is no news on Bella at the NCTC nest. She has not returned to the nest since the last time she was seen injured on 1 February. The search party was not able to find her. The new female and Smitty have been exchanging fish on the nest. We are on egg watch for the Redding Eagles. Lots and lots happening. The poor weather seems to have moved out of the nest areas!

This is Pittsburgh-Hayes a few minutes ago. We are on egg watch there, too.

The sun is shining down and the snow is melting in Ithaca for Big Red and Arthur.

Not-so-little Kincaid has a big crop this morning at the Kisatchie National Forest Bald Eagle nest in Louisiana. The thermal down is coming in nicely and just look at those big feet! Oh, you are growing way too fast Kincaid.

It is a cloudy day on the Canadian Prairies. No snow warnings and it is now a balmy -15 C. Someone asked me how we stay warm. For the most part, the houses in Canada are well insulated with double or triple pane windows. Central Air is pretty standard. We pay very high heating bills (very high) in the winter even if our homes are insulated well and have great windows if the extreme cold weather lingers for several weeks. Smart persons really bundle up before going out in -35 degree weather. Coats, boots, ski pants all rated to -35 or -45 help tremendously along with gloves and toques (knit hats). I prefer the dry snow over the wet – that makes you cold to the bone!

Thank you so much for joining me today. Stay safe. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Pix Cameras, Cornell Bird Labs, and the KNF Bald Eagle nest.