Late Wednesday in Bird World

23 September 2026

Hello Everyone,

I’m reading Alan Stewart’s Prelude to Murder. If I hadn’t been so tired, it might have been a book I’d consumed in one long binge read. The combination of a murder and wildlife atrocities – and the people who commit these – boggles my mind. Aberfeldy is the setting, and it is very close to where I would go and fly hawks when I stayed in Scotland at Hospitalfield on an artist’s residency. Stewart also wrote other books on raptor persecution, including The Peregrine Thief, which is excellent.

A handful of ospreys were still hanging about. Cowlitz’s dad is still feeding a chick. Many are concerned or curious about why these two are so late leaving for their migration. It is good to remember that ospreys migrate because their food source is diminished. With climate change and habitat loss, ospreys may begin to stay longer in specific northern regions where fish are plentiful, and the weather is changing. We continue to have ospreys in Manitoba, for example. The geese are now beginning to fly low in the mornings to find grassy areas and fields to forage. In the evenings, I can hear the honking, and they look for a safe place on the water for the night. (They can sleep in the water and not worry about predators!)

Here are some articles on osprey migration that might be of an interest to you:

https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-raptor-research/volume-48/issue-4/JRR-14-00035.1/The-Spring-Migration-of-Adult-North-American-Ospreys/10.3356/JRR-14-00035.1.full

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354609516_Autumn_migration_of_Ospreys_from_two_distinct_populations_in_Poland_reveals_partial_migratory_divide

https://www.lrwt.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-03/Day%203%20Migration%207-11.pdf

https://watermark02.silverchair.com/condor0715.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAmQwggJgBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggJRMIICTQIBADCCAkYGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMnfkxSYsVFpY-E9PuAgEQgIICF-aYpVRzH6B4aaKe3cl2amjY9LnQTbKN-2fGwA_-eQ1RRRE36DTSGbOn-1mmg1_VAVNAUs7tub_f9lVOTH5ifOGOy0s1K0c38Dnlv-DkiEmM9jy9mPSZMP5YkcaYabKGLtmgdLour7EVCKM7WI0Ewx5TragKXQaly5Tox95YAc5Ml_teb38wJqcpU18sQTTsDiIVfSdA0HKCfqKD9tdTiarK-Wl9cpEidFeEntW9zx9m_cA_nvvCKPzffFoQQO2m7uIJOpRZ3MWDAPygqCf6CEWZQ8pj_ZExeVsfUM6WkVaJVWZooujGMDjea2ibcz8Z5jfvVf6AB79-gkbf68CjHvYfkLjk3-SNNOsdhRmFqpAOESlPMcrfiCspZdKdezRd4BVAutMM-AS7qqa_fybfR7iJt06EGU80U3lt016snCQz52Fr1vzmw3gbFiAcroSlQEvGVgvsia31nf4zrETx6-W9ZHhi-ETPI7nkyq0oJOW4KWrJWwMXixO_k-vXUhqErgxBJjLUof-ues_XT1ryRCVkLaMbvfGuHvm-mYUwqOb2vmz4Sa1TAwGbo-0pnBRZrQ9BPF0vYK0wp4dioPgm3LkV4l6jLU59rdvrd2FXghh4oUlWnvhi7VAPQNzQy1PcD8lDAj9Cu85Uup7BT1yIyudrVN3coHdWJ4YMJbLUL3SxL6Y6-4Bolvsro1sBtZkxG–qca6jy3M

Oh, romance is in the air in South Australia as Bradley is courting Partney.