Tag Archives: Royal cam chick is too big to be brooded

Time to check in with the birds

Wonder what Port Lincoln’s female Osprey fledgling is up to today? Solly was born on a barge tied at Port Lincoln. She is 163 days old today. For research purposes, Solly was fitted with a satellite tracking systems. You can see it on her back in the picture below taken by C. Crowder at Streaky Bay, Australia several weeks ago.

Solly at Streaky Bay. Photo by C Crowder posted on Port Lincoln Osprey FB Page.

The transmitter has worked perfectly and early on Solly’s travels away from her natal nest changed what was known about the movements of the Eastern Osprey. Solly travelled north to Streaky Bay and then further to Eba Anchorage and on to Perlubie and then on to Haslam. At that point she turned back, spent several days back in Eba Anchorage and today is back in Streaky Bay.

These are the latest satellite images of Solly’s tracking. In the images below, you can see Solly’s movements. She has a central place of interest and from there she flies out to fish.

Solly seems to love this house for some reason. @ Port Lincoln Osprey
Solly’s movements around the house at Streaky Bay. @ Port Lincoln Osprey

The most fascinating information coming from these satellite images is that Solly has chosen to stay close to people. The image below shows the house where Solly spends much of her time.

Solley loves the trees around this house! @Port Lincoln Osprey

Just think how much our knowledge of these large birds is changing with the introduction of satellite tracking devices, light weight enough to fit without harming the bird.

“Golden Eagle” by Just chaos is licensed under CC BY 2.0

In 2018, satellite trackers became part of a criminal investigation into the loss of a Golden Eagle. Raptor Persecution UK investigated a ‘highly suspicious’ disappearance of Fred, a golden eagle, in a nest in the Scottish Borders. Scotland is trying to reintroduce Golden Eagles and Fred was one of a breeding pair in that region. At the time, investigators thought that the Golden Eagle was killed and the body and its tracker dumped in the North Sea to hide the evidence. The Environment Secretary for Scotland, Roseanna Cunningham, said that they were taken this disappearance ‘very seriously.’

The Golden Eagle was in the Pentland Hills before its tag signal was lost. That signal was then picked up on 26 January 2018 off the coast of Scotland near St Andrews. The problem is this. Golden Eagles do not, of their own accord, fly out over large bodies of water. So what happened? Did someone accidentally kill the eagle and want to dispose of the evidence? was the eagle stolen and the transmitter destroyed? Both are sad possibilities.

“snowy Pentlands 02” by byronv2 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Royal Chick is too big to brood. @ NZ DOC and Cornell Labs

The Department of Conservation in New Zealand gave permission and provided two solar powered GPS satellite trackers to follow the parents of the Royal Albatross Cam Chick at Taiaroa Head, New Zealand. Those Royal Albies with the trackers are Lime-Green-Black (father, LGK) and Lime-Green-Lime (mother, LGL). The twenty gram trackers were carefully and quickly attached to the feathers on the back of these large sea birds. Like many other trackers, they will continue to operate until the Royal Albatross molts in about a year.

Lime Green Black has just had his solar powered satellite transmitter installed. @NZ DOC and Cornell Labs.

What do trackers tell us about the birds? The Department of Conservation is hoping that the tracking will help them understand more about the locations where the birds hunt for food, the legal and illegal fishing activities that attract these birds (and sadly some become bycatch), and how climate change is impacting them. It is getting hotter and hotter in the Southern Hemisphere where these lovely seabirds live. How can people and government agencies support the Albatross long term survival? That is another question the researchers want to ask. Tracking information will be shared on the FB page of the Royal Albatross group on a regular basis.

Below is an image of the last posted tracking information on Lime Green Lime, the Royal Cam chick’s mother.

@NZ Doc provides tracking images for the Royal Cam Albatross FB Page

You might enjoy the comings and goings of the Royal Albatross at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head. These are extremely social birds and the little fluff ball who will be given a Maori name before it fledges is now in the ‘pre guard’ stage. This means that the parents will leave it alone for periods of time easing it in to when both parents will go to sea to forage to feed their baby. As the chick grows so does its needs for more and more squid shakes! The Royal Cam is on twenty-four hours a day every day of the week. You can access it here:

https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/albatrosses/royal-albatross-toroa/royal-cam/meet-the-royal-family/

“Dunedin. Taiaroa Head at the end of Otago Peninsula. The buildings on the headland are the Royal Albatross Centre. The only mainland albatross nesting site in the world.” by denisbin is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

Thank you for joining me. There will be late updates today on N24 who is fighting Avian Pox. Let’s all hope its immune system is working to its fullest. N24 had a good breakfast today.

Pretty Parents Posing

With the news of more Great Horned Owl attacks on Bald Eagle nests (post on that tomorrow), I wanted to stop and find something joyful to celebrate. Certainly the birds have brought so much joy to all of us. I hear from someone every day telling me what the streaming bird cams have meant to them and how they have begun to take an interest in the birds outside their windows. It is still difficult, in most places, to walk freely outside because of the pandemic. I really do appreciate those little notes that you send me. And I am also grateful for news of new nests. I will be bringing some news of those later this week. Birds have connected us all from the Canadian prairies where I am all the way south from me to a PhD student in Brazil, across the Atlantic and Europe to a lovely woman who cared for a raven for five months in Poland, to Australia, Europe, Asia, and back to North America. It really is hard to measure just how much being able to watch the daily activities of our feathered friends has added to our mental well being for more than a year. They have really kept a lot of us sane and grounded. I hope that the love and concern that you have for the birds now will continue to grow and enrich your life even more.

N24. NEFL Eagle nest, 24 February 2021.

It is pretty hard to beat Samson and M15 for being great dads. The pantries are filled up with every type of prey that they can find, they are both great at incubating the eggs, and are there to see their new babies hatch. Lately I have had fun watching Samson trying to get N24 under him to brood while also incubating that egg that we all know will never hatch. He has been so delicate. Sometimes N24 seems to be brooding that egg that winds up all over the nest. It is almost like it is now an ornament that no one knows precisely what to do with. Eventually it will get broken and make its way down between the branches and leaves and become part of the nest.

N24 looking out at the world, fish in the pantry and ‘that egg’. 24 February 2021.

Yesterday Samson seemed to pose for a photographer out of the frame with N24. I don’t think you could ask them to stand any better! N24 is sixteen days old today and already he has really accelerated in growth over the past week. Juvenile feathers are coming in and since he was five days old, Samson has had him crawling up to the pantry to be fed. A wonderfully strong little eaglet, N24 has been flapping its wings. I wonder how long it will be til he walks?

Look at how proud Samson is of his baby! I think this is my most favourite photograph ever of an eaglet with their parent. Even the lighting is perfect.

Samson and N24. 23 February 2021

The Great Horned Owl has been causing disruptions over at the SWFL nest with Harriet and M15. M15 was knocked off of his branch into the nest and the owl almost pulled Harriet off the nest. These disruptions have happened on a daily basis causing worry for the eaglets’ safety.

I love the image below of Harriet standing over the eaglets in that most defiant pose daring that GHOW to mess with her babies!

Harriet watching over E17 (r) and E18 (l), 24 February 2021

I became acquainted with birds as a child. When I was a little girl, my father fed ‘the red birds’ in our back garden. They were actually a family of cardinals that had a nest in our Magnolia tree. Even though they were wild they knew to trust my dad and they would come and take nuts out of his hand. It was magical to watch. My maternal grandfather had been a rancher. He was the last person anyone would have thought would own a bird but he did. It was a little blue budgie bird named Jimmie. That bird was more special than anyone including me and my grandmother. It ate off the side of his plate at lunch and it pretty much had the run of the house. One day when my grandfather was away, Jimmie flew out the front door. My grandmother and I panicked. We wondered if we could buy another one and would my grandfather notice? Of course he would have noticed! Luckily for us, we left the screen door open and Jimmie flew back into the house after being out for a couple of hours. As a child I was taken to the Natural History Museum at the University of Oklahoma to go through the drawers of eggs and stuffed birds and there was always a stop on the way home to feed the ducks. It was not, however, until a very personal encounter with a female Sharp-Shinned Hawk in my own garden in January 2018 that my interest in the welfare of birds began to grow exponentially. I was less than a foot away from her, both of us were looking intently into one another’s eyes. That moment changed my life.

And that magical moment can happen for you, too. If it hasn’t, already.

This morning a pair of Red Tail Hawks, Big Red who is 18 years old and Arthur who will be five this year, are pondering what to do about their nest in Ithaca. The three Js sure made a mess of it hopping and flapping last year. Both of them have been in and out of the nest lately and today they were there together testing the nest bowl and looking around at all the nestorations needed. The time until Big Red lays her first egg is getting closer. We should be looking for that egg around the first day of spring. Gosh, time passes quickly.

Their nest is on a stadium light box on the grounds of Cornell University. In fact, the Cornell Ornithology Labs operate a number of streaming cameras including this one. There is also a very informed chat group that is often moderated by Laura Culley. She has owned falcons and hawks for almost thirty years. She knows so much. And this nest of Big Red and Arthur’s has already changed what we know about the life cycle and behaviour of these hawks.

The link to the Red Tail Hawk streaming cam is:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/red-tailed-hawks/

Big Red and Arthur, 24 February 2021.

Cornell operates a number of its own streaming cams and partners with other agencies. One of those is the New Zealand Department of Conservation. They both support the camera for the Royal Albatross at Taiaroa Head, NZ. This is a great camera to start watching right now. The chick is unnamed and we will be finding out the gender shortly. I am betting on a boy because right now, he is so big he has to be weighted in a laundry basket and his parents can no longer brood him. He is too big to be under them. The mother, LGL, left him alone for the first time the other day (this is called pre-guard stage) and a red banded non-breeding juvenile kind of roughed the little one up a bit. The juveniles are curious. They have been at sea for five or six years and are returning to find a mate. They haven’t seen little ones before. While it tears at your heart strings when you see these little albatross all alone, around the world there are thousands of others sitting on their nest waiting for their parents to return and feed them. Eventually they will make play nests around their natal nest and begin flapping those big wings of theirs to get their strength for fledging. Weigh ins are Tuesday mornings New Zealand time. On the Canadian prairies, this is Monday 2pm to around 6pm. The link to that streaming camera is:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/royal-albatross/

Royal Cam Chick left alone for the first time in pre guard stage

In about a week to ten days, this little Royal Albatross will be nothing but a ball of fluff. They are so cute and so gentle. It is a very relaxing nest to watch. There is a FB group that brings up to date images and activities surrounding World Albatross Day which is 19 June. I will bring more information on that as it approaches. There are colouring contests for children, cake contests, and eventually, the name the chick contest later in the year. The Royal Cam chick will fledge around the middle of September.

There is joy in the Duke Farms Bald Eagle nest as the snow is finally melting. This eagle mom was encased in snow until recently. We are getting closer to hatch on this nest! There are three eggs under there. I hope there is a lot of prey and that these parents are good at tag team feeding. They are going to need all the coordination they can get!

Snow is finally disappearing. 24 February 2021.

And what a beautiful view from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources nest. This is the nest of that cute little sub-adult male. The snow is disappearing there too making it easier to get prey.

I want to leave you with a big smile on your face. It just goes to show how these birds can just make our moods so much brighter. Look at these two below. That is E17 and E18. They both look like they could simply pop! Or perhaps they are thinking about trying out to be clowns with those big clown feet! How can you not love these two?

E18 closest to the front, E17 toward the back. 22 February 2021.

Take care everyone. Please feel free to let me know of your favourite nest or an experience that changed your life because of birds. I promise to respond. You can leave a comment or you can e-mail me. That e-mail is: maryannsteggles@icloud.com

Thank you to the AEF, the streaming cam at NEFL Eagle nest, SWFL and D. Pritchett Real Estate, Duke Farms, Cornell Ornithology Lab, NZ DOC, the MN DNR.

What a fantastic day

Today a woman who answers all manner of questions about The Love Trio, Starr and the two Valors whose nest is on the Mississippi River near Fulton, Illinois, answered a question for a member of the FB group. The question was: Do all of the eagles take turns incubating the eggs? Joan Dice’s response was simply priceless and I want to share some of it with you. I know you will have a smile on your face. I wish that all of the Bald Eagle nests had such attentive parents like these three!

She said: “Definitely all 3! So it is a struggle getting time. Starr broods during the night. V1 does all he can to get a lot of the day. He will let someone brood, but come back a few minutes later with a stick to be annoying. In fact it is a full circle on who can get one up the easiest. Starr can get V2 up by giving him kisses, which he doesn’t like, so usually quickly gets up. V1 can get Starr up easier than V2 can just by being annoying…walking all over her by placing a stick & hitting her with it, putting his rear end right in her face, or standing next to her, pushing on her side with his leg or body. It is very subtle, but you can tell by Starr’s reactions what he is doing. And V2 can get V1 up more easily than Starr can. He either stands there & waits (more patient than Starr) until V1 gives in. Or V2 will lay next to V1 a little while, then start shoving him off the nest bowl with his body by scooting over. Starr’s kisses are mostly ineffective on V1, but there are times he senses he better turn over duty to her. And V1 does the stick tricks to V2, also. He has even brought fishes to the nest to bribe V2 off the eggs. And that is why we call him the Brooding King”.

The image below was taken at 2:30pm 17 February 2021. One is incubating the eggs (or maybe laying another egg if it is Starr) and another is towards the left protecting the nest. You can see the bright yellow beak if you squint at the nest to the left front. This is when you want eyes like a hawk!

17 February. @2021 Stewards UMRR
17 February 2021 3:40 pm. @2021 Stewards UMRR

Normally eggs are three days apart. Starr laid her first egg on Valentine’s Day for the boys. Wonder if we will get another one today?

Usually there are only two eggs. There are sometimes three but this is rare and you really hope that there is a lot of food and a good feeding strategy and no problems between siblings if there are three. The incubation period for Bald Eagle clutches is 35 days. The eggs are rolled on average every two hours. You will notice the Bald Eagles rising up slightly and using their beak to do this. The Red Tail Hawks do it this way and that GHO has the cutest egg roll. She hoots to the eggs while using her feet and doing a little shimmy over the eggs. Indeed, most parents talk to their eggs so that the hatchlings recognize their voice. And rolling the eggs is not just so the parent can move around a bit. The purpose is to make absolutely certain that the yolk does not stick to the shell. If it did it would kill the chick that is growing inside.

All is well with Bonnie. She has been regularly rolling her eggs. Oh, the weather has certainly improved for this devoted mom. It is +26 with a little snow. That is thirty-three degrees warmer than it was two days ago. Clyde should have good hunting tonight.

And while so many are incubating eggs, M15 sits on the rim of the nest at SWFL in Fort Myers with two big babies, E17 and E18, below. They are 25 days old today. Harriet and M15 are super parents.

And despite 17 being a bully on several occasions today, E18 got a good feeding at 4:20. In fact, he had a nice big crop. It is hot in Fort Myers, 28 degrees C. The eaglets get their water from the moisture in the food. It is important that they get fed.

E18 has a nice crop full of fresh fish.

Over in St Augustine it is much, much cooler with grey skies and rain. Gabby is making sure that NE24 stays dry and is fed.

Parents are rolling the eggs and changing shifts over at the eagle nest at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, NJ. How grand is it to see no snow on that nest? These two have it slow right now. There are three eggs there! Three. I can’t even imagine what that will be like to keep law and order and get all of them fed. And that is where those eaglets being raised by The Trio are so very, very lucky. Each one could feed an eaglet if there were three and avoid all manner of sibling rivalry. When you have two parents and one needs to hunt and also protect, it can get tough.

Solly is on the move again. She is 150 days old today and there are said to be a lot of fish at Perlube. She has gone a distance of six kilometres from Eba Anchorage where she was the other day. She is still heading north.

Now, this really is what all the excitement is about today at my house. Remember this fellow? He came in with an old beak injury and a healed broken leg (on its own so not perfect). Those injuries happened in the fall, perhaps October or late September. But he was grounded, starving, and on the verge of dying. And someone had the vision to get him to A Place Called Hope. His lead levels were 49. And the top image below is what he looked like.

This old Warrior would not give up so the wildlife rehabbers and the vets did not give up on him. He is eating well and look at this today! I mean this is the kind of news in the ‘Bird World’ that causes you stand on the top of a building and shout. A miracle. No doubt about it. The Chelation Therapy worked.

Now look at that reading………..wow. 12.5. You can tell just by looking at him that he is feeling so much better. Thank you to all those people who believed in him – and spread the word. A reading of 49 does not mean a death sentence to a Bald Eagle if you have ‘Hope’.

And down in New Zealand, this chick is causing so many problems. Not because he is sick or underweight – oh, no. It is because he is so big! Yesterday at weigh in, he was 1.9 kilos. He is so big that is getting extremely difficult for him to fit under his dad, LGK (Lime Green Black) who is now on nest duties. What a problem to have! Great food, great parenting. Again, if every nest could be so lucky.

Lime-Green-Black looks down with those same gentle loving eyes at his little son who is becoming fluffier by the day. Soon this little chick will be left all alone on its nest. Each parent will be out at sea foraging and returning to feed it and then leaving. Always pulls at my heart to see them sitting there waiting for a parent to return.

It takes both parents to keep up with feeding the growing chick. Last year OGK (Orange-Green-Black) was injured and was away for forty days. Something had happened to his leg.

As the sun lowers on the Canadian prairies, all of the birds in our update are doing great. What a nice relief.

I hope that all of you are well and warm and staying inside if you are in the middle of the next weather system moving around.

Thank you to the following streaming cams: Cornell Labs and NZ DOC; Duke Farms, Farmer Derek, SWFL and NEFL. Stewards of the Mississippi and to Port Lincoln Osprey for the tracking images for Solly and to A Place Called Hope for the images of the Warrior Eagle.