5 September 2026
Good Afternoon,
Toby and I are relaxing after an excellent two-hour visit with ‘his daddy’ at the hospital. I am happy to report that his psychiatrist was chatting with me at nearly 10 pm last evening, concerned about his hydration and electrolyte balance, and giving me tips on how best to care for him in the hospital. What an amazing doctor. Toby and I took fresh fruit, a Ginger Ale (great for the salt and sugar needed), and some chocolate Tim Bits (doughnut holes). Don and I showed them how he works with me, and he was not agitated when I left. I believe the antibiotics are working, but they now understand that he was not an invalid at home, and that I am more than capable of looking after him and keeping him calm. They are going to get a physiotherapist to work with him – and, well, I am feeling so much better. Thank you again for all your letters, your concern, and your support.
Many of you will recognise the name ‘Pam Breci’. She reports on many Osprey nests and loves our fish eaters so much. Please send her warm wishes and virtual hugs. She lost her father today.
The good people trying to defend the cessation of industrial fishing in and around the Chesapeake by a Canadian company are saying this is not a drill. It is time to step up. Read about the plight of the Ospreys from Connecticut to Long Island and step up to help as if their lives depended on it – because that is precisely what is at stake.
A heartwarming story I found online this morning. It aligns with stories of resilience in wildlife. This time, with the helping hand of some compassionate humans.
“A captive-bred peregrine falcon released at Point Loma in 1986 could not catch a pigeon. She flew into a wire. Sea gulls attacked her. A falconer named Dan Brimm spent months driving to the coast and feeding her by hand because she recognized his car and came whistling in from over the ocean every time he showed up. She was one of 12 peregrines released at Point Loma between 1982 and 1988 as part of a program to restore the species to Southern California. The other 11 left. She stayed because she could not feed herself.
The female had been released in June 1986 by the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group as part of a joint restoration program with the Peregrine Fund. Five months later she was found injured on Pacific Beach, where gulls were attacking her. According to Brimm, she had flown into a wire badly enough to sever a muscle, and the gull attack left a permanent scar around her right eye. After rehabilitation she was released again in June 1987.
Around that time Brimm and his wife had seen Cats. The battered falcon reminded them of Grizabella, the worn-out character who returns after years away. “We named her Grizabella and resurrected her,” Brimm later told the Los Angeles Times. Keeping her alive after release remained a problem. Brimm said she never managed to catch a pigeon, so he and others continued feeding her for months. When they appeared, she recognized them and sometimes came whistling in from over the ocean.
Brimm began tossing quail for Grizabella to catch. This she learned extremely well. “She’d never miss,” he recalled. The humans then began leaving longer gaps between meals, sometimes withholding food for as long as three days to encourage her to hunt independently. Eventually Grizabella disappeared. Her last known sighting was in September 1987. Nobody reported seeing her again for more than a year and a half.
On April 14, 1989, biologist Mark Pavelka found a peregrine nest beneath the eastern end of the San Diego-Coronado Bridge. Four days later he could see four nestlings. San Diego County had gone 39 years without a documented breeding peregrine, after DDT and other organochlorine pesticides had helped drive California’s population down by more than 95 percent. By 1970, only two known nesting pairs remained in the entire state.
Photographs of the bridge female showed three details Pavelka could use to identify her: a federal aluminum band, a dead radio transmitter still attached to her leg, and the scar around her right eye.
Grizabella had made it.
Her mate was an unbanded, unusually pale male. Their nest was not much of a nest at all. It sat about 90 feet above the ground on a bridge support tower, on a ledge only 12 to 14 inches wide. Grizabella had scraped a depression into roughly an inch of pigeon droppings and accumulated dust. After Pavelka brought Brimm to meet with California Department of Transportation officials, the portion of the maintenance catwalk nearest the nest was closed.
All four chicks reached fledging age, although their first attempts at flight were rough. Two males fledged successfully on May 14. The only female collided with a San Diego trolley but suffered only superficial injuries and was returned beneath the bridge. Two days later another young male missed a landing on the tower, slid down its concrete face and broke a wing. He was sent for rehabilitation. The fourth chick, another male, fledged on May 20. The three youngsters remaining at the bridge were fed by their parents for several weeks and appeared to reach independence.
Source: Mark A. Pavelka, Western Birds, 1990, “Peregrine Falcons Nesting in San Diego, California” / Rich Roberts, Los Angeles Times, December 22, 1990 / Linda Roach Monroe, Los Angeles Times, April 1989.
Our lovely couple at the scrape in Orange:
Great news is coming out of Orange. Diamond laid her first egg of the season at the Charles Sturt falcon cam on Friday! Congratulations, Gimbir and Diamond.
A thorough history of our dear Jackie from hatch to passing: https://youtu.be/sY3U1jYyhLM?
Did you know that 2025 was the first time Jackie and Shadow fledged two chicks? Her first known chick was in 2018. Jackie and Shadow were again successful in 2026, her last year.
Juveniles appear to be heading for migration at Kielder:
These portable barbecues should be banned everywhere. We have certainly had firefighters trying to save entire communities in Canada that were victims of wildfires that were started by humans.
Idris is still delivering fish at Dyfi!
Wensi is at the nest – apparently she is very loud when fish calling, according to the neighbours who live near the river!
Loch Arkaig 2 appears to have gone quiet – Dorcha, Amber (not seen for some time), Jupiter and now Louis are on migration (or so it appears).
SK Hideaways has the video of Diamond and Gimbir’s first egg being laid this season: https://youtu.be/sr_i_zVwODg?
In Australia, Myna birds ride the trains wanting some lunch.
Moveable feast: myna birds on Sydney train looking for food not ‘joyride’ in viral videohttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/04/expert-explains-myna-birds-on-sydney-train-viral-video?CMP=share_btn_url
It’s a gorgeous day, and Toby and I are going to spend some much-needed time working in the garden. We’ve neglected many things over the last two weeks. The rain and the humidity have added to a ‘tropical growth spurt’ in both shrubs and weeds!
Please take care. We hope to be with you again soon.
Thank you to everyone who contributed images and information to the various FB groups that I have shared with you today. Thank you to the owners of the streaming cams, SK Hideaways, The Guardian, and I especially want to thank everyone working so hard to stop the industrial fishing of Menhaden. We need to be diligent everywhere, not just in the NE of the US. Companies are scooping up fish and contributing to the depletion around the world.
