Tag Archives: prey drops

Brief Bird World News on Sunday late

3 July 2022

Hello Everyone,

I hope that you have had a really lovely weekend. Thank you for taking the time to join me this evening.

There are two important moments in a young Red-tail Hawks life. Their first flight marks them as a fledglings. They need to fly out and return to the nest for the proper definition to apply. They become juveniles only after they catch their first live prey item by themselves. So everyone give a big shout out and congratulations to Big Red and Arthur’s L4 (that little cracker) and L 2 who officially became juveniles today. Wow. Didn’t I say that L4 is amazing. No fear. I will never forget him climbing right over those big siblings to get at the front of the food line. No worries about siblicide on Big Red and Arthur’s watch.

Across the pond, Osprey parents are working hard to get their chicks in perfect condition for migrating. While Osprey chicks will fledge and fly and return to the nest for a feeding from Dad, they normally do not catch their own fish until after they have begun their migration. The parents do not teach them. Fishing is hard-wired into 60 million years of Osprey DNA and memory.

Blue NC0 flew out and brought in a whopper to her two – a big girl and a boy.

Idris is trying to beat every Welsh record that there is for fishing! This is an unbelievable catch! Three big girls and Seren to feed plus himself! Idris is up to the challenge!

Dylan took the approach that more deliveries are the best so he recorded 8 fish deliveries for Seren and the kids before 1700. Wow. It looks like a perch this time.

It was very sad news to learn of Pikne’s demise on the 6th of June on a hydro pole in Turkey. Searchers for her body and the transmitter could find nothing so she has been taken by humans or larger animals. My immediate concern after hearing this is where is Udu, the only surviving juvenile of Karl II and Kaia of 2021. Finally some indication of his transmitter on 16 June but questions lately. He was in the Central African Republic at the time. But this was April 2nd…with battery power at 0%. Since Urdu’s tracker tries to send data but the location is the same as April 2nd. Perhaps someone will be able to establish what is happening. My fear is that Udu’s transmitter is in the hands of a human playing with it and Urdu is no longer with us. Please let me be wrong.

I continue to watch the experiment of Urmas and Dr Madis V with the Black storklet chicks of Jan and Janika with much interest. Bonus was been placed in the nest of Karl II and Kaia and this morning Bonus was not defensive when Karl II brought food. It would appear that Bonus has now accepted he is part of Karl’s family. Amazing news. Bonus has been in the nest for 4 days.

As you know I believe in intervention when it is more likely to benefit the bird. This is the first time that anyone has tried to raise Black Storklets in a clinical setting and then foster them with other Black Stork families. Urmas and Dr Madis V went to great lengths to try and ensure the success including decoy parents, the feeding Toto and making certain that sounds of the forest was present. Urmas also distributed fish baskets to try and take the burden of feeding an extra storklet off the parents. We celebrate today that Eedie has found the fishing basket provided by Urmas. Jan and Janika’s storklet, Janus, is in Eedie’s nest. There is a picture of Eedie going to the fish basket to get food for the family. Thank you ‘T’ for sending us this confirming image. Tears! So many are learning about the behaviour of the Black Storks in these circumstances — this will prove important in the future should another nest lose a parent during the breeding season.

When there were statements about the Bald Eagles feeding ND17 it was important to have ‘proof’ in some form. There wasn’t any. In fact, ND17 was either fed little or nothing due to his condition when the rehabbers picked him up. To demonstrate that the intervention is working and what aspects are helpful to the storks, photos are being taken. This photo proves that Eedie found the fish and now will return to the nest to feed the four storklets.

At the nest of Karl II and Kaia, there were 5 feedings today – 3 by Karl and 2 by Kaia. Bonus has now been part of their family for 4 days. Is he eating enough? Yesterday his ‘ps’ was thin but today there is an image of a healthy ps by Bonus proving that he is eating well.

At 12:12:55 Akecheta flies to the nest with a fish. He looks around wondering which one of the fledglings was going to fly down and grab it.

It was Sky!!!!!!

That is a great mantling job!!!!!!

At 16:02 it is Ahote’s turn to get the fish drop! Oh, I so admire these parents who continually risk their legs and talons to feed their fledglings. It is amazing.

If you see an empty nest at Two Harbours, do not despair. Lancet has been seen eating on the overlook cam.

This is a very short report. It was warm on the prairies today with a beautiful blue sky and lots of happy people. I was out counting American White Pelicans and Double-Crested Cormorants. I will not bore you with the panorama of photos that I took to ensure the count was accurate but..they are such beautiful birds. It is an honour to see them fishing and raising their little ones in the summer. There are places where sport fishing is popular where the pelicans are not appreciated. Authorities can, even with the Migratory Bird Treaty, give permission for people to shoot them! Pelicans were fishing out of the rivers long before people were sport fishing. If people needed to fish for their survival that is one thing (and some do) but…I will let you finish the sentence. You know me well and what I would say.

If you are ever sent to help out with a bird count, it is much easier if you take various shots of the stationary birds and then try, as best you can, to count those flying about.

Take care everyone. Thank you for being with me this evening. See you soon.

Thank you so much to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB or forum pages: Looduskalender, ‘my friend T’, Explore.org and The Institute for Wildlife Services, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyXWild, Eagle Club of Estonia, Scottish Wildlife Trust, and Ferris Akel Tours.

June 14. Double Fledge. J3 goes first at 8:46, 46 days old. J1 goes two hours later, 50 days old.

Wow. What a busy morning. The oak leaf and thorn plus withholding food certainly motivated the last two chicks out of the nest. J2 came over for a visit expecting to get some food but Big Red and Arthur must have had a confab last evening and decided it was thorns and oak leaves, no food. It is incredible how food can be used to motivate behaviour.

At 8:46 nest time, the hungry and light Little J3 decided it was time to go. After bouncing around on the nest, he slipped over to the front railing where everyone has expected him to fledge. In fact, Little J3 has spent most of the past several weeks looking out to the world from that very spot. He could often be seeing jumping around on the nest cup like it was his own personal trampoline but always stopping to look out to the world through the railing.

J3 after running across the nest and flapping stops to watch J1 flapping.

Over the course of the last few months, from the time of incubation, hatching, and changing, preparing to fledge, J3 won the hearts of many. For one thing, he is so tiny compared to J1 and J2. Speculation has always been that “he” is a “he” because of his size. Only a couple of us think that “he” is actually a very small female hawk. That is because “it” has very large feet in proportion to its size. Additionally, J2 always picked on J3 including sleeping on prey to keep it from him. As the chicks matured, Little J3 or Little Bit as he was often called was protected and cared for by his/her big sister, J1. Even this morning before J1 fledged, she was taking care of the nest bowl completely oblivious to the rest of the world. But because of her attachment to J3, it is believed she finally took the step and just joined her sibs (see later in post).

J2 was sitting on the railing and J1 was pleasantly resting in the nest cup as J3 made his way over to his favourite spot.

Look carefully above the road. J3 is winging it across the street. BOGs on the ground said it sounded like a little helicopter motor as opposed to when J2 (sitting on rail) fledged yesterday which was like a stealth rocket, totally silent.
J3 has his white pantaloon legs down from the previous shot and you can see that if this were video, he would be flapping his wings. When he gets more experienced he will tuck those legs up tight so there is no drag when he flies. Imagine if you will the problems that airplanes have if their landing gear gets stuck in the down position. It is the same for hawks.

The BOGs (Birders on the Ground) thought that J3 had landed a great distance from the nest because he was so light and going at such a clip. There was even speculation that he had flown all the way to a nearby lake. Even Big Red was circling around to find her chick.

In the end, J3 landed in one of the trees in front of the Fernow Building close to where J1 had fledged yesterday. After looking for some time, the BOGs found him. His descent was not as smooth as his take off. What a little guy! His great long life journey, we hope, begins.

J3 landing, rather awkwardly, on a tree near the Fernow Building. As he gains confidence and experience, these awkward moments will stop. J3 is, I am told by those who have trained and watched hawks for years, a typical fledgling, struggling to figure it out. But because of J2’s stellar performance the day before, us first timers thought his fledge would be like J2s.

While J3 was settling in the tree away from the eyes of the BOGs hunting him, J2 is on top of the Brueckner Building. J1 is on the nest cup rearranging the oak leaves that Big Red brought in the night before. At 10:36, after much back and forth, J3 gives up and reluctantly fledges between the rails at the front of the nest facing her siblings (J2 is on Bruckner and J3 is in the tree in front of her across the street).

J1 hems and haws for several minutes before taking flight. J1 will be a fantastic mom one day – she had a great teacher, Big Red.
And J1 is off!
J1 has spread her wings and she has cleared the light box. A well intended, albeit reluctant, fledge. Not a fludge.
Last night Big Red brought in oak leaves and thorn branches to the nest. Laura Culley, a falconer and owner of Mariah, a red tail hawk aged 28, speculates that the chicks will use the visual clues to find the oak trees across the road when they fledge.

J1 had a slow flight across the street but remembering those oak leaves, she landed beautifully in the oak trees just as Big Red suggested! Isn’t she gorgeous? Like J2, she has beautiful blue eyes which will get darker in time. Ironically, her little brother (sister?), J3, already has dark eyes. It was a good way to tell them apart even if he was smaller because sometimes it got confusing.

Big Red tries to lure the trio with food at noon. She stands on top of a wooden pole with a chipmunk and is tempting them but no takers so far.

Arthur brought a chipmunk to the patio and it was picked up by Big Red. She took it to a tall post where the chicks could see her. She waited to see if any of them would come to the post for their food. None did.

When none of the chicks came to the post to retrieve their lunch, Big Red eats some of the chipmunk taking the rest to J2 on top of the Bruckner Building. It was the first prey drop of the season to the chicks. J2 was delighted. He even carried the chippie around for awhile and mantled it when Big Red arrived with an oak branch. Some think that is a clue for him to spend the night on top of the Bruckner Building where it is safe.

J2 suns himself on top of the Bruckner Building after he eats his lunch. Big Red often can be seen on the Bradfield Ledge in this same position.

As J2 suns himself after his lunch, J1 flies to the top of the Rice Building, a site that would have been very familiar from the nest. Meanwhile, J3 has decided to come down from the tree and get itself in some mischief around the road. Thanks to the BOGs on the groud and especially Karel and BOGette, he did not get run over by a truck and eventually made his way to the roof of one of the buildings. From here he can work his way to a point where he should be able to see and fly to his sister, J1. He first has to manage his way up onto a slate roof and then over to the metal corners before flying over to the Rice Building. It is definitely not easy walking on slate with talons!

J3 discovers it is difficult to hawk walk up roofing slates. He eventually gets to the metal corner and makes his way to the ridge where he sees his beloved sister, J1, and flies over to join her hoping to get some supper from Arthur or Big Red.
J3 joins J1 on the top of the Rice buildings air conditioning unit.
J1 is waiting alone for his prey drop from Big Red or Arthur.

Wow. What a day. And it easily came with tears at the end of it. We leave J3 on top of the air conditioning unit waiting for food from mom or dad. It is the first day for all three of the chicks to be out of the nest.

But for Big Red and Arthur it is a day to be proud. Big Red has successfully fledged all of her babies since the time the cameras were installed in 2012. They know that she also had at least two broods pre-camera and probably more before. In all she has fledged 24 chicks on camera and at least another six off camera, 30 in all.

In the coming weeks Big Red and Arthur will help the chicks to hone their flying skills and will teach them how to hunt for their future survival. I will bring all of you updates as they become available.