19 June 2022
I started this listing on the 19th of June and here it is the 28th. I expect that the second Pitkin osprey will be added to the list but I have not heard anything. It is disappointing that the wildlife rehabber from Valpo, Indiana was not at St Patrick’s County Park in South Bend, Indiana to do a full assessment of Little Bit 17. None of us are experts and the park staff have done the best they can do – but 17 needs an assessment to determine if there could be any slight fractures, or anything. He needs flight training. He is grounded on a branch. Can he fly? Geez, I hope so but I do not think so – not without some help and encouragement. Perhaps food might do it. We live in hope because it seems that help is not coming. I cannot possibly tell you how upsetting this is after all he has been through.
US Steel Eaglets 4 and 5 went off the tree also. USS5 is fine. USS4 has been taken into care form the fall from the nest. Boots on the ground to retrieve immediately. Feather damage to tail and left wing. Is happily in rehab. Did I say this is where Little Bit should be unless someone takes a photo of flying and eating. The latest osprey death occurred at Mare Island Osprey Nest when a beautiful bird almost ready to fledge fell over the edge. I am grateful to ‘N’ for letting me know of this very tragic event.
I had hoped to add images to each of the entries below and I will continue to work on and update this list. I welcome any images you have of the birds or any additions that need remembering. In the past year there have been others lost that were in care and that will come in a separate posting about the wonderful work the rehab clinics do! Please send them via e-mail to maryannsteggles@icloud.com Thank you!
I don’t know when it happened – that moment when you realize how many birds we have lost either on the nest, after fledging, from an intruder, or from Avian Flu. All of a sudden one day it simply felt overwhelming this year. A list was started and sadly, I continue to add names to it. Yesterday, three osplets drown when nest 2 at Patuxent River Park collapsed. As you read the names, you may think of others. This list does not include all of the birds that have died of Avian Flu. The World Health Organization “estimates that more than 383,000 wild bird deaths can be attribute to the virus since October 2021.” ( “A Gull Flaps Its Wings and a Deadly Virus Explodes” in The New York Times, 17 June 2022).
I will not have images for all of them and the list is only as comprehensive as my memory allows. You will know of other birds that we have lost between 15 June 2021 to today. Please let me know. I tried to find photos of all of them and well, it was not always possible. They are all worth remembering – and shedding a tear over. For as short or as long as their lives were – they had some impact on us.
I can hear my PhD supervisor, Alison Yarrington, telling me the importance of order – is it alphabetical? is it chronological? These are not in any kind of order. No one bird’s death is less or more important than the next. Some have more details than another. It is only because I know those. Each one is a loss.
If there is no specific name or number for the bird, I will use Big Bob, Middle Bob, or Little Bob as a designation for the nestling.
So here goes:
- Grinnell, Cal Falcons. Peregrine Falcon. Killed on the 31 March 2022 while warding off a juvenile female intruder that came to The Campanile. Grinnell was banded as a nestling in 2013 near Martinez, California. He is at The Campanile with Annie in 2016 as a three year old. 15 eyases to fledge (counting Lindsay and Grinnell Jr). (California) 2022

2. DH16, Dale Hollow. Bald Eagle. Siblicide. Killed by Big Bob after DH16 being starved. (Tennessee) 2022
3. 3rd Hatch, UFlorida-Gainesville. Osprey. Siblicide. Killed by Big Bob after being starved. (Florida) 2022
4. Big Bob, Captiva Ospreys. Osprey. Died suddenly. Ironically Big had spent the last 72 hours denying food to the other two siblings and Mum. Went up to eat breakfish and died at Mum’s feet. Sent for necroscopy. Inconclusive. (Florida) 2022

5. Little Bob, Loch Arkaig. Osprey. Got its foot caught in cot rails. Could not get under Dorcha. Died hypothermia in gale force winds and rain. (Scotland) 2022


6. 4th Hatch, PA Farms. Bald Eagle. Hypothermia. (Pennsylvania) 2022
7. Nestling (not sure which hatch), Llyn Brenig. Osprey. Could not get out of nest cup to feed. Siblicide? Weather? (Wales) 2022
8-11. 3 osplets and adult male, Cape Henlopen State Farm. Ospreys. Adult male was 20. Found dead on trail near platform nest. Intruders took over nest. Injured the Mum? It is possible. Mum is fighting the intruder in the image. She could be injured or deceased also. Her fate is unknown. Three chicks died of starvation. (Delaware) 2022

12-13. Harry and E2, MN-DNR. Bald Eagles. Harry was only 5 years old. Believed to have died chasing intruders from territory of nest. E2 was a victim of siblicide. He was pushed off the nest by E1. (Minnesota) 2022
14-17. 3 eaglets and male adult, The Majestics. Denton Homes. Bald Eagles. Avian Flu. (Iowa) 2022
18. Eaglet, Fort St. Vrain. Predated by a raccoon. (Colorado) 2022

19. Solly, Eyre Peninsula. Eastern Osprey. 2021 hatch at Port Lincoln. Eldest. Electrocuted on power line. (Australia)
20. Hatch 4, CBD, 367 Collins Street. Peregrine Falcon. Ready to fledge. Died of an infection/illness. (Australia) 2021

21-22. 2 Eaglets, Hilton Head. Avian Flu. (South Carolina) 2022
23. Adult male, LGB parent of Royal cam chick. Royal Southern Albatross. Tracker contact lost. Believed dead. (New Zealand) 2021
24. Yurruga, Charles Sturt University Scrape. Peregrine Falcon. Only 2021 hatch of Xavier and Diamond. Violent storm after fledging. Died in storm. (Australia) 2021


25. Malin, Collins Marsh. Osprey. Only hatch in 2021. Intruder. Forced Fledge. Found dead at the base of the old fire tower. (Wisconsin) 2021


26-28. 3 nestlings, Cowlitz PUD. Osprey. Pacific Northwest Heat Wave. 1 died of siblicide. 2nd probably died of starvation plus heat stroke along with third. (Washington) 2021


29-31. 3 nestlings, Cowlitz PUD. Osprey. Predated by a Bald Eagle. (Washington) 2022
32-34. 3 nestlings, Glaslyn. Osprey. Starvation. Aran was injured by an intruder and could not fish. There was also a violent storm and it was cold and wet. (Wales) 2021
35-37. 3 nestlings, Osoyoos. Osprey. Sun stroke and starvation in the Pacific Northwest heat wave. (British Columbia) 2021
38. Jan, Jogdeva Black Stork Nest. Black Stork. Believed to be killed by an intruder. Did not return to feed storklings. (Estonia) 2022
39-40. Black Storklings, Jogdeva Black Stork Nest. Black Stork. Janika could not feed, tried to be both parents, left storklets in nest. Rained. Of the original five storklets, 2 died and 3 were taken to the Vet Clinic by Urmas Sellier and Dr Madis Lievits. (Estonia) 2022
41. Osplet 2, Kieldner Forest. Osprey. Nest 4. Unknown cause. (Scotland) 2022
41. Osplet, Kieldner Forest. Osprey. Nest 6. Unknown cause (Scotland) 2022
45. Little Bob, Loch of the Lowes. Osprey. Siblicide on 14 June 2022. (Scotland) 2022
46. Eaglet 2, GROWLS. Bald Eagle. 15 May. Unknown Cause. (British Columbia 2022
47. #5 storklet, Mlade Buky. White Stork. Brood Elimination by Betty. 15 June 2022. (The Czech Republic) 2022
48. Biological osplet, Pink Shell. Osprey. Siblicide. Killed by foster osplet placed in nest. (Florida) 2022
49. Eaglet, Fort St. Vrain. Bald Eagle. Predated by a Raccoon. (Colorado) 2022
50-51. Little and Middle Bob (?), Dahlgren. Osprey. Youngest could not get up to eat. Siblicide? (Virginia) 2022
52. Nestling, Lake Murray. Osprey. Predated by Great Horned Owl. (South Carolina) 2022
53-54. Eaglets, White Rock. Bald Eagles. Avian Flu. (British Columbia) 2022
55. Little Bob, WRDC. Bald Eagle. Siblicide. (Florida) 2022
56. K2, Cornell Campus. Red-tail Hawk. Beak and jaw issues. Euthanized. This is the only hatch of Big Red’s that has failed to fledge in all the years she has raised chicks. (New York) 2021

57-59. Three nestlings, Patuxent River Park. Ospreys. 18 June 2022. The nest collapsed into the River. Drowning. (Maryland)

60. Kestrel Mum, Robert Fuller’s. Kestrel. Attacked by an owl and died. Left 6 chicks on the nest. Dad Kestrel learned to be both Mum and Dad. (Yorkshire UK). 2022
61-62. Two Osprey chicks, Kielder Forest Nest 5A. Osprey. One caught, possibly hypothermia; the other unwell. (Scotland). 2022

63. Osprey Chick, Pitkin Country Osprey Nest, Roaring Fork Valley. Osprey. Female knocked the pair from the nest and one died and the other is in guarded condition. (Colorado). 2022

64-65. Two chicks, Snow’s Lane Newfoundland, Canada. Osprey. A day old and just hatched perhaps. One egg left. Known as the ‘Hopeless’ nest. (Canada) 2022
66. Osplet, Mare Island, Vallenjo, California. Osprey. Older chick fell off nest. (California) 2022
