23 March 2022
Many of you have been watching the Captiva Osprey nest in Florida along with me. It is the home of Lena and Andy and their chicks. The oldest sibling, Big Bob, passed away on the 15th of March around 08:39. This was a shock to everyone as all of the osplets appeared to be in good health. Big Bob’s body was take to the University of Georgia at Athens where a necroscopy was undertaken because CROW did not have the sophisticated equipment to conduct the tests. It was originally anticipated that the cause of Big’s death would be know at the end of that week. it has been announced that the tests are now being run by a national laboratory with even more sensitive testing equipment than the UGA Vet School.*
Andy, Lena, and the two remaining chicks are doing very well. Little’s plumage is almost catching up to Middle’s and they are relatively equal in size. Gorgeous Ospreys.
Andy is arriving with a morning Mullet appetizer at 08:14:57.
Look at those beautiful ‘babies’. Middle is on the left and Little is on the right.
Andy is off to get a bigger fish so he can eat the head and have some breakfast, too. He brought in the tiny teaser Mullet in tact. Look at the back plumage. Soon we will have difficulty telling the two chicks apart.
At the Red-tail Hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur, Arthur flies in to relieve Big Red at 06:40. He already has her breakfast waiting for her and she is off!
Arthur got to incubate their eggs for about forty-minutes before Big Red returned to take over.
Big Bob and Middle Bob had a really good feed yesterday morning at the Dale Hollow Nest. That Coot that filled both of them up to the brim and more was a blessing since it appears that nothing came on the nest but a small unidentified object (rat? small squirrel skin?) later. That said, the camera was diverted to the lake in the early evening. It appears – but I cannot confirm 100% – that River was digging in the nest at the time. It also appears that she found Little Bit’s body and fed it to Big. Again, I cannot confirm that for certain. It was only by going back and slowly moving the feed that we were able to catch the momentary checks on the nest.
Both were very hungry this morning and Big let it be known that whatever was coming in, he ate first. The parent arrived empty taloned.
A little later the parent returned and fed the unidentified object to the right of it above to Big. Middle did not venture up to even sniff the prey knowing that Big is very hungry and not in a good mood.
I will monitor the Dale Hollow nest again before I finish and bring any updates below. I find myself returning to the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta. Thunder looks on with pride last evening as Akecheta feeds the three eaglets. We are all so proud of how far Akecheta has come – a doting, loving, protective Dad at age six. I also like to point out that the smallest chick on the West End nest is 4 days younger than the oldest. The youngest chick at Dale Hollow was only 3 days younger than the oldest.
This is an amazing image!
The eaglet on the Big Bear Valley nest was left alone this morning as Jackie and Shadow appeared to be on high alert.
While everyone is anxiously awaiting and mapping the return of the UK Ospreys on charts, graphs, and maps, thousands are awaiting the arrival of the oldest female Osprey in the world, Iris, from her winter migration. Her spring and summer home is the Clark-Fork River area of Missoula Montana and her nest is on a platform a parking area of the Riverside Clinic. Workers have been busy putting up fencing so no one will get too close to the nest and frighten Iris away.
At the SWFlorida nest of Harriet and M15, E20 officially fledged yesterday, the 22nd of March.
E20 had fludged after E19 fledged on the 21st. Congratulations to the SWFlorida Bald Eagle nest for two successful fledges and a fantastic year. Thank you to the D Pritchett family for caring so much for their eagles and for allowing us to enjoy watching their daily lives.
At the Redding Bald Eagle nest of Liberty and Guardian, the parents are celebrating the successful hatch of chick # 2 at 08:47 this morning, the 23rd of March. Chick #1 hatched on the 20th.
In the wee hours of the Morning at the WRDC nest in the Miami Zoo, R1 was accidentally pushed off the nest. I have no further news on the status of R1 at this time. Will update later if there is news.
R1 was spotted at the base of the tree. It then flew – yes, flew! – to an adjoining tree! R1 is fine. Not to be left behind, R2 the only eaglet on the nest at 12:30 is appearing to want to join its sibling. Wow. This is all good news!
The surviving oldest eaglet on the Duke Farms nest is continuing to do very well.
Lots of people are busy watching the Sauces Bald Eagle cam hoping for that pip! Jak and Audacity are getting anxious, too!
It was announced that there will be a live chat with Dr. Sharpe today on bald eagles on the islands, restoration, nesting, at 2 pm Eastern/11 am Pacific on the Live Chat Channel https://youtu.be/4nSIhl1fOFk
I want to end this here so that you have an opportunity to know about Dr Sharpe’s talk.
It is 11:37 nest time at Dale Hollow. No prey brought in yet. Middle flapping its wings.
Thank you so much for joining me this morning. I will have a late report today. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams: Redding Bald Eagles, Explore.org and the Institute of Wildlife Studies, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, Duke Farms, Friends of Big Bear Valley, SWFlorida and D Pritchett, WRDC, Cornell Bird Lab and the Montana Osprey project, and Dale Hollow Eagles.