2-3 June 2022
It has been a good morning for the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest!
Big has been wanting to fly – itching to get up in the air. Thanks to ‘R’ who sent me the time stamp I was able to rewind and see her go once I woke up this morning, Friday 3 June. It was 09:03:06. Big returned and did a wee bit of a crash landing on Middle at 09:03:25. She took off for her second flight at 09:09:07. Middle is watching. He will not want to miss the fun for long!
There she goes!
She’s up!
Middle is watching!
“Big sister, you need to practice that landing!”
And she’s off for the second flight. Congratulations Big! You are a fledgling. I wonder when Middle is going to join you?
That is the headliner for Friday morning. Fantastic news for the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey group.
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Sometimes I am shocked by the passage of City By-laws but today I am applauding my City’s new ban on the use of sticky glue traps and rodenticide! (We have long had a ban on allowing cats outside). If the Province would come in and ban lead in fishing and hunting equipment that would be a giant step to help the birds that migrate here for the summer leaving in the early fall. We do not have the lead issues that the US has because the larger raptors have migrated to the South by the time hunting season comes but it certainly impacts the raptors that remain and that now includes some Bald Eagles.
I don’t like the word ‘outside’ because it implies that you can use the rodenticide and glue traps inside. Must write the City Council!
There is updated news coming out of Australia about White-Bellied Sea Eagle WBSE27.
Talk about a gorgeous bird.
One of the adults came to the ND-LEEF nest with a fish at 21:02:37. 15 got the fish. Little Bit was watching. Then 16 stole it. As Little Bit 17 went to go to the porch, 15 attacked him. Little Bit goes on the porch area where Mum feeds him ‘something’ – can’t see just the motions of feeding from the tail. Mum went to get the fish from 16 to feed Little Bit and 16 snipped at Mum. At one point, 15 stole a piece of fish from 16. Little Bit tried to steal the fish a couple of times from 16 around 21:22. 16 moved with the fish to the rim at the top and horked down the rest. Mum took the old bird away from 15 and horked it. I have a feeling that this entire family is hungry!
The fish has arrived.
It is actually a nice chunk of fish. Little Bit is over in his corner by the tree. Mum has gone to the porch.
Mum is feeding Little Bit 17 something on the porch.
Little Bit is smart. He stayed in the porch area while Mum tried to steal the fish from ND16.
Mum goes back to feeding Little Bit whatever it is on the porch. I am thinking some of the road kill.
Mum goes to see what 15 has and she takes it – the dry remains of the Rye bird from yesterday. Mum is very hungry and she horks it. Meanwhile Little Bit is reading the environment.
Little Bit went to try and snatch the fish tail from 16. He tried twice. He did not succeed but he did show his Mum that he is brave and will try to get food. This is important.
It appears that the adults and two of the chicks are very hungry. 16 has consistently taken the prey. Everyone had something but oh how nice it would be for all of them – the parents, too – if quite a load of fish came in tomorrow. Positive wishes!
Friday morning Little Bit 17 has grabbed a fish off the nest and pulled it over by the tree leading to the porch and ate it. The time was 08:36:02. It must have been 15 looking at the fish because he did not do anything to harm Little Bit.
Little Bit is eating that nice fish!
Little Bit is still working on that fish!
It is a very windy morning at the National Park at Sooma in Estonia. Mum Kalju and the female chick, Margit, are just waking up. Margit is 5 weeks and 1 day old today. She is very, very special. The adults – Helju and Kalju have been together for three breeding seasons. Margit is only the second chick to survive. If you watch you will notice how tender both Helju and Kalju are with their baby.
Just look at Mum Kalju looking at her sleeping eaglet with such loving eyes!
Here is the link to this camera in the beautiful forest area of the park.
Sadly, in one of the Black Stork nests in Estonia with five chicks, the male has been missing since 1 June – two days. It is the nest of Jan and Janika in Jegova County. Here is a picture of Jan feeding the chicks on the 27th of May.
Here is a video of the five storklets being fed on 1 June.
This is such a very bad situation. Urmas loves these Black Storks and has worked hard to find ways to save nests from tragedy in the past. This is the statement that he made today:
“I’m in touch with situation here, but don’t know more as you.
Think in course of evolution there is no solution for disappearing of one adult. But there is working probably the instinct, that other adult will not leave easily chicks alone. Up to a point, of course. Other sides, predators are around and have to use every gift provided.
I have no good solution for case if Jan will not come at all. It is possible to make nice view here and rise up the chicks artificially, but these storks will be not really wild. We do not have experiences and technical sources to make it properly. Theoretically, it is possible to provide fish for Janika and she would feed chicks well, but problematic is how to make those fish quickly findable, discoverable for Janika? We do not know, where she forages usually as territory is huge and no any glue to install a fish-basket…
There was a fish basket for three weeks since beginning of May, in less as one km from this nest, in quite open place on stream. But no storks visited it, so removed the basket and placed in another territory.”
It might be possible for volunteers to do what they did at Mlade Buky which was to supply fish directly onto the nest for the chicks and a fish table for the parents. Malde Buky in The Czech Republic was successful but that nest had easy access – right by the houses in the city.
This has been a year where there have been so many challenges but one of the main ones has been intruders killing off one of the adults at a critical time in the breeding season. Just so many this year. It is so sad.
My friend Wicky sends me book recommendations and links to articles. I was going to spending some time talking about a new book, The Hawk’s Way. Encounters with Fierce Beauty by Sy Montgomery but she has sent me another link and reminded me to post the one for you that I had found! It is so hot in India that birds are falling from the sky dead because of climate change.
Climate change is impacting all of our feathered friends in so many ways – warming of oceans, droughts, the warming of rivers and streams where Montana Ospreys used to get their fish, etc. Another thing going hand in hand with intruders – everyone wants a nest in a good territory – and the ill effects that they have on our bird families.
We are waiting for the first fledge at the nest of Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell campus. L1 is really looking like she wants to flight just like Big at UFlorida! What a beautiful morning sunrise on the four who are busy preening those feathers to keep them in tip top shape. Thursday night was the first night that Big Red did not sleep at the nest. Things are moving forward.
There is a storm brewing in Wales with the temperatures dropping. There is also hail being reported. Hang on everyone.
All of the males are busy getting fish on the nests before it hits. The nests have all done well. It is quite a different start to the breeding season so far – let’s hope that wet cold weather dissipates soon. The first egg for the Pont Cresor nest for Aeron Z2 and Blue 014 is 35 days old. Looking for hatch.
Idris is a great provider for Telyn and the chicks at the Dyfi nest. The Bobs are full and sleepy and Telyn is going to have some lunch after the most recent delivery.
Aran has delivered a whopper to Mrs G and the kids at the Glaslyn Valley nest. Just look at the size of that fish!!!!!!!! By evening that fish will be gone.
Aran looks down at his three kids with love.
The temperatures are also dropping at the Llyn Clywedog Osprey nest of Dylan and Seren. Their chicks are also doing fantastic after the early scare of Dylan missing for more than a day during bad weather.
The textures and colours of the two are interesting.
Laddie is busy being Daddy Door Dash Fish delivery person, too. The three chicks on the Loch of the Lowes nest are doing great!
It has been a really good morning for most of the nests. Hopefully that storm coming straight in to Wales will not do any damage! Those great Mums will be hunkered down over those wee chicks. Congratulations again to UFlorida-Gainesville on their first fledge. No doubt Middle is going to follow quickly. It is lovely to see Little Bit get the most of an entire fish. So happy. Jan has not returned to the Black Stork nest and Urmas is going to try a fish basket but it is possible it is too late. So sad.
Thank you so much for joining me this morning. Take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Sea Eagles @ Birdlife Discovery Centre, ND-LEEF, Eagle Club of Estonia, Dyfi Osprey Project, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, CarnyXWild, and Cornell Bird Lab RTH.