Tag Archives: Seren and Dylan

Sunday Afternoon in Bird World

5 June 2022

It was another beautiful weekend day. Great for those that are working all during the week. One of the parks was so full of people and politicians and well…I went somewhere else. At the end of the day, my normal walking route was the best. Word to self: If you want to go up north to check on ducklings and goslings or waterfowl, do it in the middle of the week! Six goslings. Red-wing Blackbirds. Goldfinches.

You had to look twice. The American Goldfinch at the feeder is just like the one on the identification board at the Songbird feeding station.

There were three goslings with their parents. This little one wanted to get the food under the feeders!

It was, however, wonderful to come home to find that Dad had flown into the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest and had fed Little Bit 17.

Before I went out, Little Bit had successfully snatched and grabbed a couple of prey deliveries only to have them taken away. It felt really good to see this little one with a crop! Well deserved feeding by Dad before 15 took the rest.

The surviving storklets at the Jegova Black Stork nest of Janika were taken into care this morning. This ends Janika trying to feed them and not being able to provide security or brood them to keep them warm. It rained on the four yesterday and they were cold during the night. One died. I hope the storklets thrive in care. Certainly Urmas and everyone at the Vet School love the stork families and will do whatever they can to create a success.

Janika did the best that she could in bad circumstances. It is impossible – if the chicks are this young – to be both Dad and Mum. It is unfortunate that she did not find the fish basket provided for her. It might have helped keep her brooding at night when it gets cold.

The deceased chick along with the survivors was placed in a basket and lowered.

All storklets safe and sound in the basket.

The storklets will now be raised by a veterinarians – this is not different than them being taken into care by wildlife rehabbers in North America. They will be fed and will be kept warm. No doubt there will be controversy. I hope we get to see the wee ones when they are bigger!

Everything is fine at the nest of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. This Black Stork couple have three very healthy storklets in their nest. There is one egg and it looks like it is not viable. That is fine. Three is good! it might mean that even though the small storklet is small it will not suffer brood reduction.

There is also an Osprey nest in Estonia on a streaming cam. It is the nest of Marko and Miina. I have watched them at their nest in the force in southern Estonia at Vorumaa. There is a fish farm very near as well as a river running through the area so the ability to get fish is excellent. Three chicks hatched but the little one did not make it. There are two healthy chicks on the nest.

Below the camera screen on YouTube there is a link to the English language forum for this nest. Here is the link to their camera:

Middle and Big have been fed and are both doing fine in the warm sun of north-central Florida at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest.

Mom brought in fish and fed them.

Richmond brought four huge fish in to the Whirley Crane nest for Rosie and the kids in as many hours yesterday. Richmond is a crazy fisher for his family. More came in later but just look at how big their two chicks are.

A pile of Bobs at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn. Idris brought in an enormous trout for everyone earlier. They are all sound asleep waiting for Monday to come.

It was still a little wet when that pile of Bobs woke up and had breakfast. You can see the size difference better in the shot below. These chicks are all doing fine. Telyn and Idris are experienced parents. Sadly, if you were following the Llyn Brenig nest, the youngest one that just hatched has died. They have had bad weather – that coupled with inexperience could have caused it. This is not a concern for Idris and Telyn unless that Welsh weather stays cold and damp.

Aran has made sure that there is plenty of fish on the nest for Mrs G and the three bobs.

It was an absolutely wet – very soggy – day for Seren and Dylan and the three Bobs. I sure hope it dries up for them.

I haven’t checked on the northeastern Osprey nests in the US. It looks like all is well at the nest of Duke and Daisy and their two chicks at Barnegat Light.

Grinnell and Lindsay continue to be nothing short and adorable at the scrape of Cal Falcons in The Campanile on the grounds of UCalifornia at Berkeley.

Kana’kini and Sky remain on the West End Bald eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta. Ahote, the youngest was the first to fledge. There has been a lot of conflicting information on where he is. It remains unclear whether or not Ahote has been fed by either Thunder or Akecheta.

This is the latest from the IWS: “Ahote has never gotten closer than 30-40 meters from the nest since he fledged. Where you’ve seen him fly to or walk to is still on the transmitter hill. The whole ridge down to the nest is hidden.”

Thank you so very much for joining me on this late Sunday afternoon. I hope each and every reader has had a lovely day. Stay safe. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures or video clips: ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Eagle Club of Estonia, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Explore.org, Cal Falcons, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dfyi Osprey Project, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon.

Spirit Fledges, Hatch at Loch Arkaig, and other news in Bird World

31 May 2022

It has rained again so hard in our area that many farmers will simply not be able to plant anything this year. The flood that was here is still present in several locations and has now also flooded other areas. This is the wettest it has been in the history of our province! Several months ago I was longing for the sound of rain. It can stop now, please!

Right now there is a break. It is gusty but the animals have been coming to the garden. Mr Crow has been here for breakfast, Dyson has come to help eat the food put out for Hedwig (Dyson seems to want to eat everyone’s food but his own!) and Hedwig is here somewhere. There is lots of grass. We have been doing ‘No Mow May’ to help the insects get established so Hedwig can hide in the grass in certain areas! The rain has really made everything grow. I also noticed that the baby Chipping Sparrows have come for their White Millet. They want to eat in the sort of house feeder on the top deck on the red carpet. Go figure. Perhaps they don’t like to be lower with the adults???

After seeing ND-17 with a huge crop and knowing he ate well yesterday evening, I slept well. I checked and no food deliveries yet at the nest so I am hoping that lots of food will come in the afternoon and evening.

Little Bit sitting like a Buddha on the left. Conserving energy. Waiting for food. The winds are blowing 15-25 mph so not sure what the condition of the water at the river is like.

Congratulations go out to Jackie and Shadow and to Spirit for that beautiful fledge early this morning! No worries. Jackie and Shadow will keep close tabs on their fledgling teaching her everything she needs to know to survive in a world she has just entered.

There she goes! It was 05:40 ish.

More congratulations go out to Louis and Dorcha for their first hatch of the 2022 breeding season at Loch Arkaig! Louis sees his baby for the first time and immediately gets to brood! What a great dad he is! So happy. Two more eggs to go!!!!!!!!

He was called ‘Lonesome Louis’ til Aila came along and what beautiful families they raised. Now this is his second year with Dorcha. Speaking of Aila, everyone who watched her raise her chicks with Louis loved her. A tribute has been put together (get the tissues) for the three years she was at Loch Arkaig.

If you didn’t catch it in my blog yesterday, the only eaglet at the National Arboretum nest, the last chick or Mr President and Lotus has been given the name Takoda which means “Friend to All”. Wonder when DC9 will fledge?

Takoda is a beautiful eaglet. It is sad that his mother, Lotus, is not here to see her chick leave the nest. Mr President has really taken over all the jobs and has made sure this eaglet is thriving despite not having two parents.

Gorgeous Bobs at the Dfyi Osprey nest of Idris and Telyn – so much fish on the nest that sometimes they don’t wake up to eat! Seriously.

CJ7 is higher in the nest today and she is busy moving nesting material around her in the front. We might just have a hatch coming at Poole Harbour! It will be Cj7’s first – she waited a long time for a mate, just like Louis at Loch Arkaig.

Blue 022 has arrived at the nest but CJ7 isn’t getting up yet. Both will be first time parents. Blue 022 is just three years old! He arrived too late as a 2 year old first returnee at the Poole Harbour nest to have a clutch last year. So thrilled the two joined together again this year. A historical first when that egg hatches!

Dylan has been bringing trout to Seren and the three Bobs at the Llyn Clywedog nest. Everything seems to be going fine there.

I watched Blue NC0 at the Loch of the Lowes and Little Bob definitely got fed lots of bites. So everything is going alright at that nest. Thank goodness. She is going around to every beak with fish checking. Big Bob is full and little got food before mom horked the tail. Little Bob would have liked a few more bites but he waits til the Big ones eat, often.

The one to watch. Kana’kini at the West End Bald Eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta will be one of the juvenile bald eagles to fledge this week amongst many.

Hatches and fledges. Names. There will be more of all three all week! I am off to try and beat the next bout of rain and get my walk in at the nature centre. Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this morning!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: ND-LEEF, Friends of Loch Arkaig, Woodland Trust and the People’s Post Code Lottery, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Dfyi Osprey Project, Explore.org, FOBBV, CarnyX Wild, NADC-AEF, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

Adventures in Ospreyland and other bird tales 16 July 2021

Imagine that you have one child. Everyone is happy – it is easy to provide for the one. Then imagine one day you blink and think you are seeing double. But you aren’t. There are two children. Now imagine that you are away from home and return to find three. Osprey families have the same difficulties in providing for multiple children just like humans. The adults at the Patuxent River Park in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Osprey nest number 2 now have that challenge! The pair had only one chick of their own and are now fostering two chicks about the same age as theirs.

Cathy Cohen of the Jug Bay Natural Area posted the following image on the park’s FB page today of the mom and the three chicks. The first foster chick was placed on the nest on 30 June. Nest 2 was chosen because the foster chicks are about the same age as the one hatched on the nest. There they are. It is incredible. They look like a perfect match. How wonderful to give those two lucky ones another chance. Intervention can be a good thing.

The foster Mom was said to have welcomed the chick who had fallen from a barn silo with open wings yesterday! Here she is looking over the babies while they are sleeping (or supposed to be sleeping).

And here they are this morning. It is getting warm and the new babies are getting shade.

Most of the time if I say the name ‘Iris’ everyone knows who I am talking about. If you don’t, here is a mini-bio. Iris is an Osprey. She is 26-28 years old. This makes her the oldest Osprey in the world. Iris has her nest at Hellgate in Missoula, Montana. The platform was put up for her and her mate, Stanley, to save them from getting electrocuted on the hydro lines. When Stanley did not return from migration, Iris bonded with Louis. They have only had one chick survive. That was a female, Le Le, in 2018. The reason for this is that Louis has another mate and another nest at the ballpark. For years, people have watched Iris perfect the renovations on her nest, catch magnificent fish, mate with Louis, lay her eggs and then either have the ravens steal and eat the eggs or have the chicks die because the female cannot protect them and fish at the same time. Individuals are very vocal in their support of Iris. They want her to have another mate and to be able to raise chicks. I have always thought maybe she could retire with dignity and just take care of herself during her summers in Montana. At the same time you know just seeing her work on the nest and the fish she brings in that she would be an amazing parent. The issue is one of territory. Iris’s nest is in Louis’s territory – according to Louis. Louis has protected Iris on a couple of occasions this summer from intruders. Iris has also managed on her own to thwart them. She is strongly independent.

When someone posted an image of Iris sitting on a branch with another Osprey on Twitter 15 July 2021, people got excited.

The notion that Ospreys mate for life is not consistently true. When Blue 5F, Seren, got tired of laying a nest full of eggs only to be abandoned by Aran because he also had a nest with Mrs G at Glaslyn, she left Aran’s territory and found another mate, Dylan, at Clywedog. According to Google Maps, Seren moved a distance of 67.4 miles. Seren and Dylan are the proud parents, this season, of fledgling Blue 396 otherwise known as Only Bob.

It will be very curious to see how things develop over the end of the summer.

We all worry about Tiny Little. It is easy to forget looking at Blue 463 that at one time his older siblings kept him from eating and were quite aggressive. Because of that Tiny Little is hesitant to engage with the older siblings and, in particular, Blue 462. So there are worries that he will not get enough to eat. Today White YW brought in a fish and within about 15 minutes he brought in another fish. Blue 35 took that one and fed Tiny Little while the other two were eating fish pieces. What a beautiful image of Mum and her three chicks on the Foulshaw Moss nest having a nice meal of fish.

People have been asking if Tiny Little has been flapping. OH, yes, he flaps those wings all the time.

If you want to join in the fun watching Tiny Little prepare to fledge, this is the link to the Cumbrian Wildlife Osprey Cam:

https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife/cams/osprey-cam

Erick Green with the Montana Osprey Project posted some images of chicks who were entangled with baling twine. They saved three chicks a week ago but sadly one had died. Another chick had twine cutting into his right leg to the bone. Dr Green reported today that the chick is doing fabulous today. In his posting I learned something interesting. He says, “One thing that seems to work in their favor is that ospreys (and all birds) have very high body temperatures – about 105 degrees Fahrenheit. These high body temperatures help birds fight off many bacterial infections.”

Only Bob, Blue 396, has gotten really good at flying and zooms in when Dad Dylan does a food drop. Poor Seren might have to discuss Dylan bringing in an extra fish for her. Only Bob can finish them off pretty good! Look at how big this fledgling is. Wow. Dylan delivered the fish around 13:09.

At the Dyfi Nest, Idris and Telyn are waiting for Ystwyth to fledge! So is her brother Dysynni. He is sitting there urging her to come on and join in the fun while the parents are up on the camera perches watching. Ystwyth was getting some really good height to her hovering and she will go soon if not today. She is 53 days old.

Here is Ystwyth hovering. Isn’t she great?

Other nest news:

There is sad news coming out of Taiaroa Head, NZ. One of 33 Northern Albatross chicks died yesterday. The chick was not gaining weight and the NZ DOC rangers gave it a supplementary feeding. When the chick died following this it was discovered during the necroscopy that it had a piece of charcoal stuck in its trachea. As Sharon Dunne notes, charcoal floats on the surface of the ocean and it can easily be taken in by the parents when they are out fishing for food for their chick. I never imagined charcoal! Everyone is distraught. The rangers do such an excellent job taking care of these parents and chicks. Condolences go out to all of them including the albatross parents.

Our little Golden Eagle, Zenit, has had a prey delivery – a bird – and is beginning to stand really tall and strong on its legs – adult style. All good news! The Golden Eagles eat the bones – absolutely every part of their prey so Zenit will have something later. Still, having lots of meat is what this young eaglet needs right now. Excellent news.

Ferris Akel has posted a nicely edited version of his tour on Wildlife Drive on the 14th. The editing is well done and there are discreet bird names in case you do not recognize what you are looking at. There are some really nice shots of a Black Tern. Here is that short clip.

My friend, ‘T’ tells me that there is a stork with an injured food that is getting a prosthesis. Will try and find out all the news on this incredible intervention.

And speaking of storks, there are still three White Storklings on the Mlade Buky nest in Czechoslovakia:

That’s a short morning round up of happenings late Thursday night and early Friday morning at some nests. Remember that Ferris Akel does his tours on Saturday. He begins at noon NY time and ends up at the Cornell Campus. It is a great opportunity to see the Red tail fledglings in action. They have now moved from flying near to the nest to other buildings farther away. Big Red and Arthur do this with prey drops gradually to expand their territory. It will not be too long til they are down by the barns at Cornell. Always fun. You can search Ferris Akel Livestream on YT. Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I get my screen shots or add their videos: Ferris Akel Live Tour, Patuxent River Park Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project FB Page, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and Foulshaw Moss Osprey Cam, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyX Wild and Llyn Clydewog Osprey Cam, Capi Hnizdo- Mlade Buky, and Asociatia Wild Bucinova.

Alan Poole’s talk on why Ospreys are special and some other news tidbits from Ospreyland

LR1 at Loch of the Lowes fledged! Only one more to go for NC0 and Laddie (LM12). Here is the big moment:

John Williams has been trying to figure out where Dylan is getting his nice trout for the Lyn Clywedog Nest. Today, our sleuth detective, reports that an unringed male was seen leaving Nant y Moch Reservoir at 9:55 carrying a fish. The bird was flying in the direction of Llyn Clywedog. Williams watched the streaming cam and sure enough Dylan landed 25 minutes later with a trout on the nest for the Only Bob. I am certain Seren Blue5F was pleased too.

We know that Dylan is going to go as the crow flies – straight from Nanty-y-Moch Reservoir to Clywedog. But, wow. That is a good distance to travel for trout! Apparently there are too many people fishing for trout at the end of the Clywedog Reservoir and that could be the reason he is travelling so far. I am in awe.

Here is Seren Blue 5F feeding Only Bob that lovely fish:

I wanted to bring Blue 5F up today so you can see how well she is doing on this nest at Clywedogs with Dylan. Look at that lovely chick! I had a fantastic conversation with Tiger Mozone late last night. We talked about all things Osprey but one thing that Tiger mentioned early on is that Ospreys are not bonded to one another for life. It might appear that way and you have read over and over that they “bond for life”. Tiger had so many examples that it made perfect sense that they do not. So here is the thing with Blue 5F. Blue 5F hatched in Rutland in 2012. Chris Wood regularly sees her at the Tanji Marsh in Africa where she winters. She came to Glaslyn in 2015.

Aran, the mate of Mrs G, took a liking to Blue 5F and they mated in 2015. Eggs were laid on the Traeth Glaslyn Nest but as the Glaslyn Osprey News notes, “once the chicks hatched on the Glaslyn Nest he gradually lost interest” in Blue 5F and the future of their eggs. According to Glaslyn records and Tiger this went on for four years! I really hope right about now you are thinking about Iris and Louis. But, Blue 5F decided she didn’t like that arrangement so, she left! And she found the nest at Llyn Clwedog in 2020 where she is quite happy. Last year her and Dylan raised three male chicks to fledge when his regular mate did not return. This year they have the Only Bob! Give the girl a hand of applause! The entire issue of Aran and Blue 5F brought in discussions of how close nest platforms should be to one another. It might well be that they want to look into this again at Glaslyn. I am not entirely sure that the blue banded bird after Aran at the Cob was not Z2 Aeron from the Pont Croesor Nest. Time will tell if Aeron Z2 is trying to take over the Glaslyn territory.

Alan Poole, the author of Ospreys. The Revival of a Global Raptor did a 45 minute YouTube talk with nice visuals on Ospreys. It is definitely worth watching – you will learn something. You can stop and start!

Thanks for stopping in. I hope that you have a lovely weekend. Take the time to listen to Alan Poole’s talk. I think you will really enjoy it.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams: Llyn Clywedog and Carnyx Wildlife. Thanks to Tiger for the great conversation and to John Williams for tracking the travels of the trout!