Tag Archives: Ron and Rita

Harriet and M15 return to nest tree…and other brief news in Bird World

1 October 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

It is a super cloudy day on the Canadian Prairies and the bird feeders and baths are relatively quiet this morning. The visitors have been mostly the Crows who, for some strange reason, have decided they only want to eat the dried corn off the cob this morning – nothing else. No cheesy sandwiches. Nothing but dry corn. It is 11 degrees C as I write.

The big news in Bird World – and there is lots going on – is the arrival of Harriet and M15 back at their nest tree. Thank you bogs for getting images and posting them! With all the damage that the hurricane left behind, there should be no shortage of building materials even just on the Pritchett property. I know that all of you will be so relieved that they survived and this gives us great hope for Lena and the eagles over at Captiva.

Thank you Linda Russo for sharing your image and providing such relief and hope to everyone that the nest will be rebuilt!

Samson and Gabby are fine and they have been seen at their nest near Jacksonville, Florida.

Ron and Rita are back to their nest in the Miami Zoo. It is nice to see that they are also safe and sound. We wait to hear about Captiva – all the wildlife there – and Pink Shell Resort.

There were two and then there were three eyases at the 367 Collins Street scrape yesterday. Mum has done a great job feeding them – and herself – from a single pigeon carcass which appears to be depleted now. Everyone is wondering if her thwarting of male2 is because he is arriving empty taloned? Let us all keep a close eye today to see if she has new prey items. Let us all hope that the young male brings in a nice fat pigeon first thing.

Of course, there were tears and cheers when Xavier and Diamond’s had their first hatch of the 2022 season. What a fantastic falcon family!

For those of you just learning about falcons and hawks, I want you to look at the yellow eye ring, the cere (the part of the beak between the black razor sharp tip and the forehead) and the legs. Notice that deep rich orange-yellow colour. This is an indication of a super healthy bird. To me, Xavier and Diamond seem to be in much better physical shape this year than last.

This is Xavier who is delighted to get time with his newly hatched eyas.

Will there be another hatch at Orange today? We wait.

The Sydney Sea Eagles are still home! They are so big. Dad and Lady continue to fly from the branch showing the sea eagles a good spot to fledge from. Fingers crossed that the Currawongs leave our beautiful SE29 and SE30 alone! I know – it is wishful thinking but, gosh I wish they were otherwise occupied elsewhere when these two fledge.

That was some dust up between Big and Middle Bob at Port Lincoln yesterday. Poor Little Bob got caught, literally, in the middle of this spat for dominance on that nest.

Dad brought a nice sized fish to the nest at 1700 and Mum filled the trio to the brim. The cam operator gave us some incredibly beautiful close ups.

Little Bob was right up there and look at that nice crop before bed. Fantastic. None of the osplets seem to be the worst for the big battle, lasting more than six minutes, that occurred a few hours earlier.

Everything was fine at all four of the Australian nests when lights when out for the night. ‘A’ sent me a note to remind me – and all of us – that Daylight Savings time starts in Australia just about now! I also want to remind everyone that Big Bob is 14 days old today.

In other news, Scottish landowners who have grouse hunting estates continue to deny killing raptors even in the face of the evidence of the 9 found in bags at the Millden Estate. The movement to make Red Grouse hunting illegal continues by those that are concerned about the killing of raptors that are being re-introduced into the UK after being wiped out by shooting, egg collecting, habitat loss, and climate change.

Scottish Land & Estates still refusing to acknowledge extent of raptor persecution on grouse moors – Raptor Persecution UK

Thank you so much for being with me this morning. It is so nice to have you here with us. I will do a round up of the days happenings later today. For now, everyone should be sleeping in Australia! Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for the images and streaming cams which make up my screen captures: Linda Russo, NEFL-AEF, WRDC, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, and Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park.

Poor Lena hangs on as Hurricane Ian comes to Florida and other news in Bird World

27 September 2022

Good Afternoon,

A brief check on what is happening at a few of the Osprey and Eagle nests that are on the edge of Hurricane Ian as it moves towards Florida and a peek at the Australian nests as the 28th of September begins there. At the moment, it appears that Port Lincoln Osprey barge is offline. Maybe that cam will start working again before I finish. The Sea Eagles appears to be offline as well.

I know that our thoughts are always with the people and birds when these treacherous storms arrive. Osprey Lena is hanging on tight to her new nest at Captiva as I write this. On top of having to hunker down and ride out what could be a category 3 or 4 hurricane by tomorrow, Lena also has not seen her mate, Andy, back at the nest. I just feel for her right now. The wind is blowing at 25 mph and the rain is intensifying at both the Osprey and Eagle nests at Captiva.

Lena continues to hunker down in the same spot.

An hour later she is holding on in the same spot. You can see on the live streaming cam the gulls and pelicans flying low to the water’s surface. Rain and wind are picking up.

At around 1700, Romeo, the young male tried to land on Lena and Andy’s nest so Lena not only has to contend with a hurricane coming but also is alarming and trying to protect her nest. She is not impressed.

Lena is blown off the nest.

There she goes.

You can watch the Captiva nest and Lena here:

You can catch the Captiva Eagle nest of Connie here:

The Achieva Osprey nest is starting to sway in St Petersburg and the wind seems to be picking up a bit at the nest of Harriet and M15 in Fort Myers. The nest of Ron and Rita in the Miami Zoo would make you seasick if you were so inclined!

The little sea eaglets – who are not all that little anymore if you look at that wing spread – are acting more and more like adults. Someone took a video clip of them sleeping. Have a look at how grown up they are standing with their heads tucked.

The Mum at Melbourne was doing some ker-chuffing at 0606. She did not take a break for several minutes later -at 06:10:43 -and she was gone long enough to have a nice meal and stretch her legs. While she was away the new male came to the end of the ledge. He did not incubate the eggs. He stayed for a few minutes and then flew off before Mum returned.

There she goes.

Mum appears to be a lot more careful when approaching the eggs and her body appears to be fluffed quite a bit. Can she hear her babies? From the pip to hatch can take anywhere from 24-72 hours. Oh, I wish we could get a real close up on those eggs!

Fluffed out and looking around.

This year Xavier appears to be spending much more time in the scrape box with Diamond.

Port Lincoln still appears to be offline. Send all your best wishes to the people and our beautiful birds in the line of Hurricane Ian. Captiva is S of Tampa and Tampa is expecting strong winds to hit tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you so much for being with me on this quick check as to what is happening. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Captiva Ospreys and Window to Wildlife, Captiva Bald Eagles and Window to Wildlife, WRDC, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam.

Late Monday and early Tuesday in Bird World

6-7 June 2022

‘R’ sent me a lovely note. She had trouble with the link that I provided for the fundraising by the Eagle Club of Estonia for the three surviving storklets of Jan and Janika. If you had difficulties, too, please try this link that ‘R’ sent to me:

https://www.leetchi.com/c/kotkaklubi

There is good news coming from Robert Fuller. The first of the six kestrels raised by Papa Kestrel fledged on 6 June. Oh, what a joyous day! No one knew what would happen when Mum Kestrel did not return. The males are so tuned in to providing prey and security that feeding and brooding chicks can be problematic. Imagine trying to be both Mum and Dad to six fast growing Kestrels. You might recall that Robert Fuller removed the youngest and smallest three. They were kept warm and fed regularly to give them a good start when they would be returned to the nest with their bigger siblings. Father Kestrel learned how to feed his chicks and brood them. The first flight of one of the six really shows how working together -humans and raptors – success can be achieved.

Here is a quick video of that first fledge:

So far, Bukacek and Betty are still feeding five White Storklets on their nest in Mlade Buky. No brood reduction has taken place yet despite the youngest being substantially smaller than the others.

Bukacek has returned to the nest allowing Betty to go for a break and to get some food while he feeds the storklets and broods them.

Here is another feeding. You can see just how quickly the little storklets grow – and it is so nice that the sun is shining and the nest has dried out.

Karl II and Kaia have all their storklets as well. Karl arrived and fed the storklets an enormous feed! You would almost think he found Urmas’s fish basket! Notice how yellow the beaks are. It is a sign of a healthy storklet.

Liberty and Freedom seem to be liking their new nest in Glacier Gardens in Alaska. Didn’t we just get news of a pip and then a hatch and now – . Well. GG7 is named Love and s/he is 8 days old. GG8 is called Peace and s/he is 5 days old. Both are doing well. Gosh, I really appreciate those names. The world could seriously use much more ‘love’ and ‘peace’. Very appropriate for the times we live in. Oh, so delicate. Look at that teeny little flake of fish being held by that huge beak. So cute.

Takota is 70 days old. Mr President and Lotus have been busy bringing in food to their bouncy branching eaglet at the National Arboretum nest in Washington, DC.

The fledge times for Bald Eagles is normally 10-12 weeks so Takota is right at the beginning of that range. Males normally fledge earlier than females. Takota has really been working those wings! They are getting stronger and stronger.

Was it a fludge? or a fledge? When Ahote took off from the West End nest and wound up on Transmitter Hill? Ahote returned to the natal nest and to his siblings, Kana’kini and Sky on Monday after being off nest for 4 days. He stayed 7 hours before taking off again. Don’t blink. The video is short but it shows Ahote totally in command of his flying. Well done, Ahote!

A fish was delivered and Ahote took it so he has eaten -. Well done. You might well notice that the parents do not always fly right in with the kids after fledge. The fledglings are as large as their parents – actually slightly larger – and could injure them in the transfer of prey items. The adults are, thus, very cautious.

It looks like it could be a fledge for L1 today at the nest of Big Red and Arthur in Ithaca, New York. The little red-tail hawk has been antsy for days. The winds are strong. She has been up on the rails doing cute faces to the camera and on and off the fledge ledge all morning.

Just look at that face – sweet. And that beautiful peach plumage. Red-tail hawklets are gorgeous! (OK. They all are!).

So far, Middle has not fledged at the UFlorida-Gainesville nest since all the hovering and flapping activity yesterday. It rained heavy and the nest is soaking. Middle did get the fish off of Big this morning that was delivered at 11:11:01. This is the second day in a row that Middle’s confidence is up and he is taking what he wants.

R2 paid a visit to the nest of his parents Ron and Rita at the Miami Zoo. Normally a parent would fly in with food. R2 waited but nothing was delivered.

Grinnell Jr and Lindsay are losing their baby down quickly. Breakfast came at 0533 and the morning was spent flapping and running and exploring around the scrape. Annie and Alden have done a super job with these two.

Grinnell Jr has the blue leg ring.

It could be building up to be an exciting day with so many set to fledge. It is not clear if Little Bit 17 at the ND-LEEF has had any food. There is the possibility of some when 15 got the fish this morning. The lack of camera coverage on the porch area means that we just don’t know for certain when the little one gets food – or not. Hoping for fish, lots of fish.

Thank you so much for joining me. Have a lovely day! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: The Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky Storks, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, WRDC, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cal Falcons, Glacier Gardens, and the NADC-AEF.

Late Sunday in Bird World

29 May 2022

The rain stopped but the grey skies remained. I went in search of Wood Ducks. Last year there were Wood Ducks everywhere – not this year with the flooding. Well, they are not at their old hangouts for sure. I found 11 at one park and none at another.

It appears to me that the Wood Ducks are now laying eggs on the island since the water has gone down at one of the parks. I also noticed more Canada Geese nests.

What was even more surprising were the lack of Mallards. Mallards are typically everyone at the pond. One couple swimming about and I found another in the forest where the water was still high.

I had so hoped that the ND-LEEF nest would improve today. Little Bit 17 is in the other area of the nest without the camera so I cannot check. Tiny Tot Tumbles went without food for 72 hours and she had less ‘fat’ than Little Bit. We are heading to 72 hours now. I really hope that 17 had some food earlier but without actually seeing it myself, I cannot say for sure. Sad when things between May 16-26 went so well. I want to make one comment. I have seen lots of tiny thirds – more than I want to think about. Each and every one that survived appeared ‘stunted’ at some time during their development. Each with the help of the adults got big – three last year being the dominant birds on the nest at the end. Right now, I just want 17 to survive. Then we will see. 17 is little like Tiny Tot Tumbles at the Captiva nest – he has missed out on a lot of food. She had a total of twelve 24 hour days without food. She fledged and she was awesome. I don’t want to give up hope but not every nest will have success. It is heart breaking when it doesn’t happen. The parents are virtually absent – fishing might be rough. Prey items might not be available. With a road closed, bad weather, and weekend people on the river – there is less carrion and well, getting food can be hard.

So, let’s jump to a nest with three eaglets that have thrived. It is always good to step back and be thankful for the joy! This nest had two bad years and just look. We almost had a catastrophe when one of the eaglets fell down and Dr Sharpe had to come and rescue it. But here they are this morning – the ‘Three Amigos’. Gosh, they are beautiful. I cannot praise Thunder and Akecheta any more than I have and, I really want to shout out Akecheta who grew up this year and found out what it is like to be a dad. He was loving it! Kana’kini, Ahota, and Sky will fledge and I hope we get to see them return to the nest for awhile as they get those flight wings.

Lancer is one beautiful bird over at the Two Harbours nest! Chase & Cholyn have done a great job with this Only chick this year.

Of course, we cannot forget about Spirit – a perfect name for a very high spirited eaglet.

Jackie and Shadow will be proud of their only chick of the 2022 season – a real wonderful hatch. We were all so happy for both of them after two years without having any success. They will be ready to deliver fish to Spirit once she fledges so that she has a brilliant start in life.

I love Spirit and Jackie hanging out together! Is Mum giving her daughter tips?

Here is a short video by FOBBV. Spirit almost had lift off on the 27th.

There are three healthy Bobs getting a nice meal from Blue NC0 at the Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest in Scotland. Yipppeeee.

There are absolutely no hints from Louis or Dorcha about any pips or cracks. These two can surely keep a straight face. So glad the bad weather seems to have moved from Loch Arkaig!

Dylan and Seren Blue 5F are doing fine with their three Bobs. The little one is up there and ready for food once the others are passed out.

Dylan arrives with some more fish and pauses to see how things are going. He has heard a rumour that one of the Bobs got caught up in house keeping and was pulled out of the nest cup. He has come to make sure there are still three – and there are. That little one rolled back in. Chicks are very resilient.

Seren feeding Little Bob. Life is good!

There is fish on the nest at UFlorida-Gainesville. One of the osplets has a big crop and the other is fine. There is fish available if it is hungry. Doing good!

R2 is still showing up at the WRDC nest in the Miami Zoo and Mum and Dad, Rita and Joe, are still supplying fish! How sweet is that?

Blue brought a whopper of a fish to Maya and the trio for their bedtime feeding! I sure would love to give a piece of that fish to ND Little Bit 17.

Just a beautiful nest of hawks at Cornell. Big Red and Arthur really showed everyone they could handle four eyases without even breaking a sweat! Gosh, will they try for five next year???

It’s a real hard day when a nest and a little one is in trouble. The parents at the ND-LEEF nest have been absent for the entire afternoon. It is an extremely volatile situation.

Thank you for joining me. All of the other nests are doing really well. We may even have a hatch at Poole Harbour. Remember to turn in your name suggests to Cal Falcons for Annie, Grinnell, and Alden’s chicks! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures: UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Explore.org, LRWT, CarnyXWild, WRDC, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Cornell Red Tail Hawks, and FOBBV.

Late Sunday in Bird World

13 March 2022

As we all know, behaviours of nestlings can turn on the weather. After seeing the three osplets at the Captiva Nest behaving nicely at meals today, it was heart wrenching to watch the Dale Hollow Bald Eagle nest. Just about the time that everything looked good on the Dale Hollow nest, the oldest of the siblings took it upon itself to make certain that Middle and Little Bit got nothing to eat. In other words, she asserted her dominance. It seems that the recent snow storm probably caused these issues. This is precisely what happened at Captiva. Now that the weather system has passed and lots of fish have been brought to the nest, Captiva has returned to its normal state of calm. I hope that the same happens at Dale Hollow. Little Bit is so small, much smaller than Little Bob at Captiva. Fingers crossed.

Neither of the two smaller siblings got any of that meal. River was feeding and pulling off the bones to feed Big. It looked like the remainder of a Coot.

Thankfully another fish came on the nest. Big was right up there but, Big got full and there was fish left. Hoorah! The good thing about prey items coming in close together when there is a dominant sib.

What really impressed me was Little. When it looked like River was going to give the bite of food to Middle, Little stretched its neck and did a grab. It caught River’s attention! Look at Little in the image below stretching that neck. This Little Bit is hungry and is determined to get some food now that Big has eaten its fill.

Now that Little Bit has River’s attention it is getting some nice bites and a little crop is forming.

I noticed that Little Bit kept looking at the fish and at one point was pecking at it. Is this Little One going to be like Rocket at the NEFlorida nest and start pecking at the open fish on the nest when it is hungry? leading to a really early self-feeding? It certainly stretched that neck and did a grab. Give it a week and we will have a really good snatch and grabber in Little Bit.

There is a breakfast fish left on the nest. It is not clear if there are any fish hidden under the straw. Happy Eagle Dreams everyone.

River returned to the nest and was feeding the eaglets again at 18:10. Just look who is up there at the front. Oh, this is good. Everyone will get some of that fish before bedtime.

It was a whole different story at the Captiva Osprey nest. Andy brought in the 11th fish for Lena and the three kids at 17:26:07. You could almost hear the osplets saying, ‘Oh, please Dad, no more fish. Please, no more fish’. There has to be a point when they are just so full they cannot consider another bite.

By 18:24, all three were passed out in food comas. Think we will see a bit of growth tonight?! Maybe. Hopefully they will sleep well for Lena and Andy. What a day it was. I thought 10 fish was a record but 11! The one thing I did not notice was a lot of recreational boat traffic for a Sunday. Maybe I missed it. Could that and a slight dip in temperatures help Andy fish like this?

It is hard to believe but all of these little eaglets will go from being about 7.62 cm or 3 inches to 91.44 cm (nearly a metre) or 3 feet tall in 3 months. Yes. You read that correctly. Pretty unbelievable. All that prey is turned into eagles the size of the parents.

Life is good over at the West End Eagle nest. Look at those little fuzz balls. So cute. I love it when they put their wings around one another.

Then it switches. The wee one is in there somewhere. There is lots of food on this nest. The parents eat really well and feed the babes til they are full.

Thunder might should have been called ‘lighting’ because that is the speed that she uses when she does a feeding!

Akecheta loves being a Dad. Every time I check on this nest he is brooding. What a great partner you are this year, Cheta.

It is 16:14 on the Big Bear Valley nest. I have never heard or seen wind like this. The gusts have gotten stronger throughout the afternoon. Jackie is hanging on with the baby underneath her. There have been six feedings at the nest today so everything is fine. They are just going to have to hold on – nothing new for Jackie and Shadow. They can handle it.

Oh, the camera could do with a really good wipe at the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest of Samson and Gabby. Rocket and Jasper are so gorgeous. They have both been self feeding and parents come and go helping out once in awhile. I have not seen any move to branch yet with either Rocket or Jasper.

Gabby loves being a Mum and she is going to enjoy every minute with Jasper and Rocket that she can.

Cheta just doesn’t want to get off the nest this evening!

Have a look at these two! R1 and R2 have grown like weeds!

Right now you can tell R1 who is on the left from R2 because there is a large white patch on his chest. But gosh, if it wasn’t there, it is very hard to tell the two apart. This Papadam chair nest has really worked well. Just look at both of them standing up so straight. They will be up on that branch before long.

Or maybe they won’t branch and will flap on the rim and fly off. R1 is doing a great job of getting some exercise into its wings.

As the sun sets, it has turned out to be a really good day for all of the nests! I am so hoping to have some news about Grinnell and Annie who seem to be in some kind of standoff with one another and of course, our dear Ervie. Wasn’t that a wonderful picture of him in the pine tree? There will be more Osprey arrivals in the UK tomorrow. Wonder who we will see?

Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone. Look to the birds for joy in a weary world.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, Dale Hollow Lake Bald Eagles, West End Bald Eagles, the WRDC, NEFlorida and the AEF, and Friends of Big Bear Valley.

Thursday in Bird World

3 March 2022

It is afternoon on the Canadian prairies. The skies are partly blue, the sun is shining really, really bright and as I look out my window, I can see that Little Red has now been joined by several other Red Squirrels chasing one another up and down the telephone poles. It must be spring in their minds! It is -14 and hopefully it will warm up before the astronomical spring is officially here.

A hospital architect, Roger Ulrich, did a study about nature and healing/recovery or gall bladder patients. The paper he wrote for Science, ‘View Through a Window May Influence Recovery From Surgery’ compared gall bladder surgery patients who had windows that looked out to trees with those who had a brick wall view. Ulrich found that those that had the tree view ‘spent less time in hospital, required fewer painkillers, had better evaluations from nurses and experienced fewer post-operative complications’. This leads me to believe that it is important – for each of us – that the place where you spend most of your time has a view of nature! This is the primary reason my desk is located where I can look out on to the garden with all of the birds flying in and out and the squirrels running around. Having moved from a space with no windows, I know that what Ulrich discovered works on normal daily living. So turn your world upside down and move your favourite chair to a window! Your spirits will be lifted and it could be of great benefit to your health, both mental and physical.

Thankfully my posting of the Pip at Big Bear last evening was true. Often times it is easy to think a dirty smudge is the little chick pecking away with its egg tooth. That pip is bigger this morning. Thankfully. Along with 6589 other people, I am holding my breath (well, figuratively) until this chick has hatched. These are anxious moments for this lovely couple.

The two images below were captured at 07:28 nest time. You can still go back and rewind if you wish. The pip hole is clearly bigger. Jackie looks down with great hope – as she hears her baby working to hatch.

The pip is noticeably bigger. It began at 15:47:26 on the 2nd of March.

Send your most positive wishes to Jackie and Shadow and this wee one. Tears from around the world will flow when it is free! Get the tissue box ready.

It is -3 in Ithaca, New York. The snow on Big Red and Arthur’s nest is slowly melting with the bright sun shining in on the Fernow light stand.

I have not seen Big Red or Arthur at the nest today – oh, but I could be so wrong. Arthur is so quick delivering those sticks that if you don’t go very slowly on the rewind you will miss him.

I ached for Lena and the trio at the Captiva Osprey nest last night. Lena kept calling for a fish delivery for the evening so the babies could go to bed full. I did not see that happen. Lena flew off and brought up a small piece of fish tail at 07:27:31 this morning, you can imagine how hungry the three were. Still there was no beaking. The second fish, a really nice one, came in at 09:37:27.

Here is that tiny piece that comes in first thing. I am not sure where Lena found it. Perhaps there is a stash under the tree or she went under the tree to Andy to get it??

It is easy to see that this 09:37 fish will fill all the little ones up and provide some nourishment for Lena, also. Little Bob is right up front with Middle Bob. Big Bob will join them as s/he turns around to get in line. The two older siblings continue to be noticeably darker than Little Bob whose head is clearly turning oily black in the image below. Little Bob will enter the reptile stage soon enough.

Lena filled them all up. Despite the irregularity, the chicks are growing and developing according to schedule and Mum looks alright. Would I like for them to have the 7 daily fish deliveries like Dad provided at Port Lincoln, absolutely.

Fans of Ervie continue to check in at the Port Lincoln Barge. Yesterday, the cam operator zoomed in on a beautiful Cormorant that has taken a liking to Falky’s perch.

This is an Australian Pied Cormorant. They are large black and white birds. They fish in the shallow waters around the barge.

If you are used to the dark brown Double-crested Cormorants of North America, it might take you awhile to recognize these Australian versions on the barge.

I did a couple of nest checks. My goodness, R1 and R2 at the WRDC nest at the Miami Zoo have grown in the last couple of days. They are walking much more steady and both are self-feeding and doing quite a good job of it. Beautiful beautiful birds.

Both are really tearing up the pantry to try and find some more food!

This has turned out to be a fabulous nest design. I really wish that something like this would be placed on both the Dahlgren and the Achieva Credit Union Osprey nests. It could make a huge outcome to the success of any future breeding seasons. — Richmond and Rosie need some help, too, with their nest on the Whirley crane. My goodness they no more than get the twigs and the Ravens and Crows take them! Can you hear me screaming unfair????????????

Despite some shenanigans by the oldest of the twins at the Dale Hollow nest, DH16 seems to be doing alright. So cute and fluffy with their tiny little wings.

In the next photo they are lined up by hatch time with the biggest in front.

Those three wee ones are quite a contrast to Kincaid at the KNF Bald Eagle nest of Anna and Louis. Kincaid is 50 days old today. Wow. And what a beautiful eaglet he is!

Louis and Anna have done a superb job raising their second eaglet.

It is time for me to get ready and go for my walk. It will be so nice to be outside in the fresh winter air. If you have been longing to move your chair near a window and cannot do it yourself, ask someone to help you. Don’t try and do it by yourself! It really will improve your day.

Please continue to send your warm and special wishes to Jackie and Shadow! Remember that tomorrow, Friday, 4 March at 2pm San Francisco time, there will be a Q & A on Annie and Grinnell by the Cal Falcon team. Here is that link. You can set it to alert you.

If you need more falcon activity, the couple at the New Hampshire falcon scrape are doing a lot of kerchuffing lately at the scrape box.

There is an adult on the perch on the left top.

Their eggs are normally laid in less than three weeks. Here is the link to that nest cam:

Thank you so much for joining me today. Take care everyone. Stay safe.

A deep thanks to the streaming bird cams sponsored by the following where I took my screen captures: Friends of Big Bear Valley, Cornell Bird Lab, Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, Port Lincoln Osprey, WRDC Bald Eagles, Dale Hollow Lake Eagles and the KNF Bald Eagles.

Wednesday in Bird World

2 March 2022

Annie’s return to the Campanile warmed all of our hearts. A ray of sunshine in a weary world. I imagined that the researchers at CalFalcons were completely dumbfounded when they looked on the screen and saw her sitting on the ledge. We have seen female eagles disappear for a day or so right at the height of breeding season but this is not common in falcons. Thanks to ‘B’ who sent me the note about Annie’s return, we have an interview with CalFalcons about how it felt to see her return and what might have prompted her absence.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/03/01/annie-the-falcon-presumed-long-gone-returns-to-berkeleys-campanile/?fbclid=IwAR1lkVWNa9QDjws5DHZefB5mNMMWWxIYGTUNLuQ-WMfw5FsnDt5t5mG1qyw

Mark your calendars. Cal Falcons will have a live Q & A session on Annie and Grinnell on 4 March at 2pm nest time. Here is the link. You can set the timer as a reminder. This should be a really interesting session.

The osplets at the Captiva Osprey platform have had their morning fish at 09:32. You can count on Little Bob to be right up front at the table – a mini-version of Ervie! Little Bob will do well in the world.

There is some condensation on the camera and their appear to be boats and some other animal ? in the water under the platform at times. This must make it difficult for Andy to get fish.

There’s our Little Bob right up front. Good for him.

The fish actually arrived several minutes before Lena started feeding at 09:32. It was very difficult to see the size of the fish or the species. All continue to do well.

Nearly 4000 people are watching and waiting for any news on a pip at the nest of Jackie and Shadow at Big Bear Valley.

Beautiful Jackie at first light.

Oh, I so hope these eggs are viable.

Shadows wears the same tight black jeans as Samson. Look at him. What a cutie. He would very much like some incubation time. I don’t know if Jackie is going to give in!

Pa Berry and Missy’s eaglet is walking strong and has most of his contour and wing feathers coming in or in. What a beautiful little eagle B15 is. S/he has been amusing itself by playing with one of the feathers in the nest.

B15 has really been working its wings lately – getting those muscles stronger and stronger by the flap.

No matter how big they are, thee aglets still like to be fed by a parent. Self-feeding is hard work when you are first learning.

Speaking of self-feeding. Remember when we worried about how dominant Jasper was at blocking NE27 from eating? We know that NE27 became the Little King of the snatch and grab. This morning a fish was delivered to the nest. NE27 went over to feed itself. Jasper sat next to it watching – not having a single clue how to go about eating. Jasper also did not beak NE27. I was thinking Jasper might be hoping that NE27 would feed her!!!!!! LOL.

Lots of preening with the first glow of the sun in the morning at the NEFlorida nest of Samson, Gabby, Jasper, and soon to be named NE27.

Beautiful image of our hero.

This is one beautiful eagle. Reminds me a lot of Legacy.

I couldn’t decide whether to cry with joy or laugh at loud. NE27 will be able to take good care of itself when it is out in the world. Yesterday, NE27 did not hesitate to steal food right out of Gabby’s talons. It was hungry and she was ignoring it and just feeding Jasper. I shouted ‘hoorah’ when that happened.

In the image below it looks like Jasper is wondering what in the world 27 is doing.

NE27 has learned to turn its back to Jasper, hold down the fish with its talons, and pull. This is an amazing little eaglet. And look at those beautiful wing and contour feathers coming in with the thick grey thermal down underneath.

Gabby is keeping a watchful eye. It won’t be long before 27 grabs the fish out of the talons again!

I have not been checking in on them but the WRDC nest with Ron, Rita, R1 and R2 seems to be just fine. We are going to have a lot of eaglets branching and fledging around the same time. At this point in time, I am not certain who is who on the nest.

Ron is feeding one of the chicks after the other was self-feeding.

I believe it is R1 self-feeding.

It is 2 degrees C and partly cloudy in Ithaca, New York. Our favourite Red-tail Hawk couple, Arthur and the Queen of RTHs, Big Red, are working and working on their nest. Since the problems at the Achieva Osprey nest with the squirrels and the eggs falling down into a dark abyss, I have noticed that there are layers of soft material alternating with twigs so as to build up a strong and tight nest cup on this light stand where…in two weeks, we could have eggs!!!!!!! I will be deliriously happy as will thousands of others.

You can see how much this couple has been doing. That nest is nice and deep now with a well defined egg cup.

Here comes Arthur. He is an amazing mate for Big Red. As this couple moves into their 6th year being together and their 5th breeding season, Arthur has proved that he is really up to the task.

Putting on the brakes. Once I was privy to watching Arthur flying through the buildings at Cornell to catch some prey. He was like a jet going between and around the buildings. Very impressive.

Arthur carefully arranges the twigs as he thinks Big Red would like them. She will, of course, come and finish the fine tuning and decorating.

The birds carry on with their lives. They give me solace and hope.

Thank you for joining me today. My granddaughter is coming over later and the plan is to cook for her. You might not well hear from me until tomorrow unless something extraordinary happens – like a pip at Big Bear! Take care everyone. Stay safe.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Cornell Bird Lab, Captiva Osprey and Window on Wildlife, NEFlorida Bald Eagles and the AEF, Berry College, the WRDC Bald Eagles, and Friends of Big Bear Valley.

Late Wednesday and Early Thursday in Bird World

1.23-24.2022

I have to admit that I can’t stay away from the Captiva Osprey nest for long. After dinner, I decided to stop in and see what I had missed. It was two things! There was a fifth feeding. The last two ran together and the fish were lovely Mangrove Snappers. The other one happens around 12:33 nest time. Little Bob is in the back. Big and Middle Bob are not that interested in food. Lena begins to cut through the two older chicks and she feeds Little Bob full to the brim. The other two paid absolutely no mind.

All the thoughts that keep going through my head keep asking: Is this a clutch of three males like Port Lincoln?

You can see that Little Bob’s crop has filled up in the image below.

That was an excellent feeding for Little Bob. The fifth feeding so close to the fourth insured that Mum also had some fish before she went to bed. Marvellous family working so well together!

After all my praise for Andy having a fish right at the dawn, today Lena called and no answer. Andy flew in with a fish at 09:07:36. Lena checked a couple of times, each returning to brood the kids. In the image below she knows that Andy is coming with a fish.

It is now 11:30 nest time. Lori, the owner of the property, has posted on chat that Andy is below the nest in the mangrove eating the head of a huge fish. Looks like the kids will have a big lunch! Despite the late breakfast, the trio were well behaved. Just like Port Lincoln.

Here is that big fish being delivered at 11:37:08. No doubt Lena is going to fill herself and the nestlings up to the brim! Nice one, Andy.

It took a few seconds for Little Bob to wake up and get himself around to the side where Lena is feeding. Ah. Now they are all lined up. It looks like it will be another great day at Captiva!

Oh, Little Bob got himself right up to the front so he can get lots of fish! Just like Ervie. Gosh, I miss Ervie. That Port Lincoln Osprey nest is so lonely.

Big Red and Arthur continued work on their nest today – almost at a frantic pace.

You can really see the nest cup much clearer at night.

Big Red and Arthur are on the edge of a system that could bring up to 30 cm or 12 inches of snow to the Northeastern parts of the US. It looks like it could just miss them. Fingers crossed.

It looks like Big Red and Arthur might have escaped the storm.

The Dahlgren Osprey nest of Jack and Harriet now has its streaming cam live. You might recall that Jack brings in a lot of toys to the nest. Sometimes there is so much stuff that the eggs get lost in the jumble. This year there is a brand new platform for the Ospreys to fill up! You can see it in the image below in the link to the streaming cam.

It is 08:52 in Big Bear Lake, California. The sun is filtering through the snow covered nest of Jackie and Shadow. That nest is 44 metres or 145 feet up at the top of a Jeffrey pine tree. You can see the eggs as they are being gently rolled. It will be hatch watch for Jackie and Shadow this weekend. Thousands are holding their breath for this couple in their quest to raise eaglets.

Egg 1 was laid on 22 January with egg 2 laid on the 25th.

Here is the link to Jackie and Shadow’s camera if you do not have it on your list.

There has been a fight between two White-tail eagles on the nest of Milda near Durbe in Latvia. It was posted as a short video on YouTube. It was a younger eagle, perhaps 4 or 5 years old, fighting with Mr S. Thankfully Milda was not involved.

It is snowing on Bonnie at the Great Horned Owl nest in Newton, Kansas. The one egg of Bonnie and Clyde was laid on the 16th of February this year. Last year, the couple fledged two fantastic owlets, Lily and Tiger. They have taken over the nest of a young Bald Eagle couple.

The human made nest at the WRDC is looking a little bare to the wire this morning. R1 and R2 – Rita and Ron’s kids – are looking good. It is lovely to see them doing so well. I know that many of you worried, like I did, about R2 in the early days. He is a big strong creative eaglet. His early attempts at self-feeding really helped.

Kincaid had a Red-eared Sunfish for breakfast this morning at 10:15:18. Like R1 and R2 his juvenile feathers are really coming in now although not as advanced as the Miami duo. He is doing a good job at self-feeding but loves when Anna stays and does the honours.

They are all doing so well. Put a smile on your face! It is so nice that the egg laying is staggered from region to region so that we have the time to enjoy these wee ones growing up into beautiful juveniles!

For the first time in I can’t remember when, all three Grey Squirrels – No Name (the great big one), Dyson, and Scraggles were all in the same area at the same time. I had eyes on all three. Then Little Red ran along the telephone lines. So everyone was around the garden. Dyson was eating on the solid seed suet and in the snow and Scraggles was eating seeds on the snow. I took lots of photographs – none of them great quality but, I wanted to find out if any of them had been injured by the cat yesterday. (Of course, that was only an assumption based on the two locations of blood). No Name is fine. Tail in tact, no scars. Both Dyson and Scraggles have tail issues. There are no marks anywhere on Dyson other than his beautiful tail seemingly thin to the skin in one area. I know it is Dyson because of the tufts and his sweet little face. You can see what would be a nice solid busy tail. It doesn’t quite look like it does when Dyson is moulting.

Little Scraggles seems to look the same as it did the other day. So I think that it was Dyson caught by the cat.

Dyson is fine! He is vacuuming up every seed he can find! It is such a relief.

And we are now heading out to fill up all the feeders so there will be more for him. It remains terribly cold here. It is now only -23 C but temperatures are dropping throughout the day to -31.

Take care everyone. Thank you for your warm wishes for the injured squirrel. Tails will grow back!!!!!!! No real damage done, thank goodness. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Window on Wildlife and Captiva Ospreys, KNF Bald Eagles, WRDC Miami Eagles, Dahlgren Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab, Friends of Big Bear, Farmer Derek, and CNN Weather Tracker.

Late Tuesday in Bird World

22.2.22

Most of you know by now that I am not a great owl fan especially those that take over nests belonging to successful Osprey couples. That doesn’t stop me from thinking that they are also cute and adorable. This is a sweet little video of Mum eating a rodent and chewing it to a fine mush and feeding the owlet at the Savannah Skidaway Island nest.

The plumage of the female Great Horned Owl is simply gorgeous. The camera close ups of the feed are wonderful. You will note that the eyes of the owlet remain closed. It will be a couple more days before they are open.

Before I was able to post this, Cornell made a video of this Mum defending her nest. She really opened her wings fully. She had a look like ‘You had better not mess with me today!’

Ithaca, New York is in line for some of the rain in the system that is going through the Northeastern US. It has already started raining at the nest of Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell University campus.

Andy and Lena’s trio had a really nice feeding – several of them – and they are now sound asleep!

There were four feedings in total today at the Captiva nest according to the chat moderator. I caught the times for three of them: 6:52:18, 08:59, 12:48. The last must have been later and for the life of me, I can’t find it but I know it has to be there. Four feedings. If you want to do a comparison, the average number of feedings per day at Port Lincoln was seven.

Lena had a break. Andy took over brooding and did a pretty nice job.

Lena continues to dry off.

Diane is busy incubating three eggs on the Achieva Osprey Nest in St Petersburg, Florida. Those eggs will be looking to pip the middle of March. Oh, it is exciting. This is Tiny Tot Tumbles nest!!!!! I hope the third hatch is as determined and creative as TTT. If so, it will thrive.

At the Minnesota DNR nest of Harry and Nancy, Nancy was shocked to find a racoon coming up to eat the eggs. Harry successfully defended the family!

R1 and R2 both had big crops this afternoon. R2’s was large when he started getting fed. It is just so nice to see these two doing well. I worried for awhile and my friend that watches this nest said not to – it would all work out – and it did! Thank you!

These two little darlings are Fern and Thunder. They are chicks of Blazer and Abby over at the Eagle Country nest. Adorable. Just look at them staring straight at the camera! It is nice to see a couple of bobbleheads! All of the other eaglets are growing so fast!

Before I close, it is time to start paying attention to some of the White-tailed Eagle nests in northern Europe. One of the ones that I follow is the nest of Milda near Durbe in Latvia. Last year Milda last her mate and her two miracle chicks to very unfortunate circumstances. She has arrived at the nest and there is another ‘new’ (?) male with her or is this is a dangerous interloper? I really hope that she has a reliable partner like she had in Raimis and we get to see some lovely little chicks this year.

Every nest does seem to be doing well. Bella and Smitty have been alerting and chasing an intruder – probably the new female that fought with Bella. It is so nice to see Bella feeling well, healed. Life is good!

Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Window on Wildlife and Captiva Osprey, Cornell Bird Lab, Achieva Credit Union, Eagle Country, and the WRDC.

Saturday in Bird World

First of all, thank you to everyone who sent a note or an e-mail over the tribute to Ervie. It warms my heart to know that so many people, around the world, loved this bird so much. I was over joyed when he showed up on the nest. It was as if he stopped in to Mum and Dad’s house to say hi and see how they were doing and showing them he is OK. I hope that he returns often like that! And, of course, my real wish is that he takes over the barge when Dad and Mum retire. Now wouldn’t that be something!

We are in the midst of yet another blizzard. I really enjoyed the notes from those of you that are missing snow. I wish I could send you a truck load of it! I have tried to take some images today and will put them at the end. One is the garage aka Little Red’s penthouse. The snow is almost to the top of the peak on the gable end. I would so love to share!!!!

In Bird World news, something shocking happened at the Skidaway Island GHOW nest. You might remember it as the Savannah Osprey Nest. It is hard to believe but a Red-tail Hawk knocked the female GHOW off the egg and the newly hatched chick. Cornell Bird Lab posted a video of their encounter.

The two little osplets at the Captiva Osprey nest continue to do well. Andy and Lena are working together like a well-oiled clock. Andy stays on or right around the nest while Lena is busy feeding the babies. Hopefully his presence will deter any predators. Equally important is that one or both are at the nest site around the clock never leaving the babies exposed.

If the third hatch is to be, it should be happening today. The two on the nest get along well and Lena is very good at feeding them. Two healthy osplets would be grand. Oh, I do hope this lovely family is successful. Their streaming cam is here:

I know that I am not even going to try and keep up with what adult is on the Royal Cam Albatross Nest in NZ. Last time I checked it was OGK and then I saw a note that YRK was back! This revolving door is also happening at the NCTC Bald Eagle nest. If you have forgotten, let me bring you up to speed. It is the home of Bella and Smitty. They have been bonded mates for awhile. Bella got into a dispute with an unidentified female and Bella was injured. There were a number of search parties that went out to check on her. They could not find her and people worried that she was severely injured or dead. After more than week, Smitty and the new gal had been on the nest and he was bringing her fish. Well, guess what? Bella returned to her nest this morning!

The eaglets on the nest of Samson and Gabby, NE26 and 27 are doing well. A big fish was delivered and NE26 tried to feed on it and then 27 went over. Gabby flew in and made sure both were full. The discord on this nest is not gone but 27 is doing well. He is still a little submissive but bless his heart, he has his work arounds and manages to get fed well. They will both be fine!

How can you not love a Peregrine Falcon? This showed up on my feed. What is wonderful is that these falcons are living in nature on the cliffs in Japan. It is so beautiful. You will immediately appreciate why the urban falcons love tall buildings with ledges like the 367 Collins Street Nest in Melbourne or the scrape box of Diamond and Xavier at Orange. Enjoy! It will make you anxious for Annie and Grinnell!

This is a good one, too!!!!! Can never get enough of little falcons being fed by their parents.

There were praises all around for the rangers in the Kisatchie National Forest, Steve and Cody, who arranged tours to the forest and a chance to see the nest and the eagles through lots of scopes – one for each attendee. So lucky! The rangers are really promoting the love of wildlife. So happy for those that lived close enough to go.

Kincaid is doing well. Louis broke his fishing record with 20 fish being delivered to the nest between dawn and dusk! Many are covered with moss. Kincaid and Anna are not going hungry! Never.

I have not checked on the WRDC nest in Miami. R1 and R2 have really grown! And both are doing exceptionally well. The cam does not seem to be on line today but I did find a video of the two eaglets eating yesterday. Be prepared to be surprised at how big both of them are! Everything is fine on this nest.

Some nests are having bad weather problems as that system moves through the NE. But everyone seems to be coping really well. The Mum at Pittsburgh-Hayes is incubating three eggs and she has been rolling them seemingly nonplused by the snow. Good for her.

The birds and squirrels in the garden are doing well. You are looking at Little Red’s penthouse. You will notice all the vines. We let them grow thick and deep so that the small birds can get shelter and have a place to hide from Sharpie. In the spring the vines are full of small nests. You can see that the snow is almost up to the roof!

The birds will eat away the snow at the top of the vines.

I am taking these images from inside the house. There are European Starlings eating the snow off the back wood holder.

It just gets deeper and deeper. The paths had about a foot or 30 cm of snow on them this morning when we went out to fill the feeders.

Wishing each of you a wonderful day. Thank you so much for stopping in and checking on the birds. It is wonderful to see they are doing so well and what a joyous day with Bella returning to her nest! She still has some blood on her neck and some scars around her eye and feet but she has healed and that brings much joy. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Captiva Osprey Cam and Window on Wildlife, Pix Cams, NE Florida and the AEF, and the KNF Bald Eagle Nest.