Tag Archives: Seren at Clywedog

Late Saturday and early Sunday in Bird World

26-27 March 2022

It seemed that Saturday started out to be a rather good day. And then it didn’t. The little hatchling at the National Arboretum Nest has died. There is one other egg for Mr President and Lotus. Perhaps it will survive. This is a very detailed explanation of the uncommon tragic accident that happened to this chick trying to hatch.

Big and Middle had the fish that had been left on the nest overnight and then Obey brought in another sucker. That second fish was finished by 11:30ish. Both Big and Little Middle had big crops. No other prey came to the nest during the afternoon. When River arrived -like an alarm clock – at 19:02:13 – she was empty taloned. Not good. Big began to attack Middle Little for no apparent reason at 07:03:12. Little Middle went into submissive mode. Neither eaglet was fed and there is no food on the nest. The eaglets are 26 days old.

At the Big Bear Valley nest of Jackie and Shadow, the eaglet is 23 days old. If you look at it physically you can see the resemblance to the developmental stage of the Dale Hollow eaglets.

The body is covered with thermal down almost completely but the head and a few dandelions on the neck and wing.

Jackie and Shadow’s feeding schedule until 15:20 today, the 26th of March, as posted on the rolling camera chat. There will be at least two more today but if those didn’t happen, there would have still been six feedings beginning at dawn.

Like children, nests need stability and regularity for security. It is Sunday morning. Obey brought a squirrel in prior to 08:00. The feeding was continuing when I opened up the streaming cam. Little Middle got none of that first prey item that I could see. Big had a crop.

A sucker came in at 08:46:16. It is a nice sized fish.

Big attacks Little Middle at 08:46:44 despite having eaten the squirrel and having a crop.

The parent begins to feed Big with Little Middle into submission.

At 08:51:02 Little Middle has moved to the other side of the parent and is being fed. Yeah Little Middle!!!!!

Little Middle got to eat until 08:56:46 when the parent abruptly flew off – perhaps to get rid of an intruder.

Little Middle is very hungry and pecks at the flesh of the fish watched by Big.

There is lots of fish left. Little Middle goes to the rim of the nest.

River returns to the nest at 10:19 alerting. Little Middle is cheeping and moves up to eat when River goes to fish. At the onset Big did not bother. Then at 10:25:28 it wants to go and eat. Big attacked Little Middle at 10:25:30. Little Middle moved to rim of nest. Big was still eating at 10:31.

Big just can’t stop with the beaking.

Little Middle had a crop but being clever, he is watching and waiting.

At 10:33, knowing Big has moved, Little Middle goes back to the fish. River begins feeding her youngest.

At the end of this feeding, Middle is going to have a bigger crop! It is now 10:36 and he is still eating! This is fantastic. Little Middle, despite the dominance posturing and some beaking, is getting quicker at its return to the feeding. Well done Little Middle!

Little Middle ate well. Look at this beautiful crop. Life is good!

There was a chat open at the Dale Hollow nest this morning. Because of that I was able to find out some information that would really be helpful under the streaming cam. The original nest of River and Obey was discovered in 2009. It fell with the two fledglings in 2020. Both survived. Prior to this year, River and Obey fledged 24 chicks. The nest on the cam is now one year old. There are 28 Bald Eagle nests around Dale Hollow Lake.

Akecheta continues to be ‘Super Dad’ at the West End nest that he shares with his mate Thunder and the triplets. They are doing incredibly well! There is still no discord between any of the three. They are well fed, sometimes tandem fed, and shaded during the heat of the day. It is nothing short of a fabulous nest to watch.

Here is a very short video of the four eaglets of Lisa and Oliver being fed at the PA Farm nest on 26 March. Warms your heart. These parents are going to be extremely busy!

Parents are doing a tandem feed at the PA Farm nest to ensure that the smallest one of the four gets fed. This is Saturday at noon.

You may remember that there was to be a rescue attempt at the WRDC nest in the Miami Zoo to retrieve R2 to remove the fishing line that the eaglet had tangled around its leg. As the rescuers were there, R2 fledged. Luckily it broke the fishing line. There is apparently a small bit of fishing line on its toe.

Sadly, this is why intervention is not normally done at this late stage unless the eaglet is ill or cannot fly away. They are hoping that R2 will return to the nest and with good fortune the remainder of the fishing line removed. There is an update by Ron Magill. He was able to get R2. The rest of the monofilament has been removed. R2 is fine other than having some flea lice. Great news!

There are more osprey arrivals in the UK. Blue 5F Seren arrived at the Llyn Clywedog Nest. Look at that nice fish she has brought in and look at that beautiful landscape – a perfect place to raise Ospreys. Seren shares this nest with her mate Dylan. They fledged one osprey – the largest male Osprey hatched ever in Wales last season.

Seren has to be strong. That is a huge fish. There is no footage of her getting it out of the lake but there is a video of the haul into the nest!

The Canada Goose on the Decorah unused Bald Eagle nest has laid her third egg!

There is also a pip at the Decorah North nest in egg for DN16. That was at 09:52 this morning.

The two sweet babies at the Redding Bald Eagle nest of Liberty and Guardian are just getting fed as I close this blog. How adorable.

Life feels rather good as I close this blog. Little Middle is getting much more clever and quicker to get down and eat so the parent doesn’t leave thinking they are not hungry. Big has turned its beak on Little Middle at least twice this morning but nothing like the violence on the 23rd of March. Little Middle continues to grow! As far as I can tell all of the other nests are doing OK today. There are some significant ospreys that have yet to arrive including two of my favourites Idris and Telyn at the Dyfi Nest. We are also waiting for Aran, Louis, and the Foulshaw Moss couple plus CJ7 and Blue 022 if he returns to Poole Harbour. Hopefully there will be more to arrives this evening.

Thank you for joining me this morning. I hope that you have a beautiful Sunday. Take care! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures: CarnyxWild, Explore.org, Dale Hollow Lake Eagles, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Redding Eagles, WRDC, PA Game Commission, West End Bald Eagles and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, and the NAE FB Page.

Wednesday in Ospreyland

The camera at the Foulshaw Moss Osprey nest has been down or going on and off today so it has been hard to follow what has been happening on the nest. I was able to get some shots for you with two different fish. We know some of Tiny Little’s behaviour and this might help us predict what will happen. When Tiny Little is hungry he is going to be a pest until he gets some fish. In the afternoon on the nest, around 15:40, Tiny Little was on the nest with White YW and Blue 462.

Blue 462 has the fish in its beak. White YW is to the right of 462. Tiny Little is behind 462. You cannot see her.

Ah, there is 463 looking out off the nest maybe day dreaming of fledging? White YW is cleaning his beak and 462 is tucked into the fish. Tiny Little doesn’t seem interested.

Dad has left and Tiny Little continues to look off to the hills and mountains. Tiny Little is acting peculiar. At times he appears to be preening and at other times you might think he is hiding a small piece of fish. At any rate, whatever is going on, he does not seem hungry or interested at all in the fish that Blue 462 is eating.

Once he turned around and looked.

Then Tiny Little goes back to preening.

A fish was delivered for the late snack around 20:00. All three of the chicks are on the nest. It is so nice to see them together and to know they are all safe. 464 has the first go at the fish while 462 looks on anxiously.

Tiny Little is laying down duckling style just watching what is going on. Tiny Little learned a long time ago to let 464 finish before moving in. 462 is standing there, head down watching and waiting for their turn. Tiny Little has no problem getting up to try and eat or take the fish from 462 — but not 464!

462 could not have been that hungry. It ate and if you look carefully you will see that most of the fish is left on the nest to the left of the chick at the rear. 462 does a couple of beak swipes and flies off.

462 moves in to have some fish before Tiny Little can get there. Tiny is still playing duckling.

Tiny gets up and does the usual trying to distract the older sibling. He is now working on nest renovations and moving twigs about.

Then Tiny Little goes and stands by 462 next to the object of desire – that fish! They are both busy watching something. Maybe it is 462 flying about. I bet Tiny Little is hoping it is Blue 35 coming to take that fish and feed her like yesterday.

They both follow whoever is flying for a long time their heads and eyes moving in unison for the most part.

Tiny does a pretty fantastic ‘ps’ at 20:18.

And then he moves right back over by Blue 462 eyeing that fish.

Sadly, I cannot confirm what happened. But if yesterday was any indication, Tiny Little is eventually going to get some of that fish. Maybe Blue 35 will fly in and take over and feed Tiny Little or will Tiny Little get the fish herself? Fingers crossed the camera comes on again to solve the mystery.

At the Dyfi Osprey Nest, Idris was on his perch while Telyn was feeding Ystwyth on the nest.

Later both Dysynni and Ystwyth were on the nest together. Aren’t they adorable? Ystwyth should be fledging soon.

LM 2 was on the nest alone at Loch of the Lowes earlier. Is she watching her mother or Laddie or NC0? That is truly a gorgeous place to have an Osprey nest.

My Scottish friends can correct me but I am thinking that there is not a lot of fishing equipment debris to get into the Osprey nest making the nests in the UK safer than most in North America where the lakes and rivers have many power boats and weekend fishers.

Over at Clywedog, Only Bob loves to eat. Telyn and Only Bob are looking up to the skies at 17:13.

At 17:13:59 Dylan lands on the nest with dinner for the family.

Only Bob moves up so that he can watch how Dad eats the head of the fish.

Only Bob also knows that Dad loves to feed his chick! Dylan spends some time feeding Only Bob before turning it over to Seren who is waiting patiently in the wings. She would like some fish, too.

Only Bob waits for mom to have a few bites before she feeds the rest to him. You are really a very ‘big’ boy, Only Bob.

If you have been watching the nest of Iiris and Ivo in Estonia, their first hatch fledged. Here is that moment:

And with all the attention on Tiny Little, these three beauties of Richmond and Rosie, have all fledged. Aren’t they gorgeous. Richmond could probably handle a nest of four. Very few Osprey males can.

Many of you will have read that when the three chicks were banded, the measurements indicated that they were all boys. But…for the very first time in the history of the nest, the measurements were wrong. DNA testing shows that Poppy ZP and VZ Lupine are females and WR Sage is the only boy. Goodness they were wrong.

Rosie migrates but Richmond doesn’t. He stays around the San Francisco Bay area all year round. He will take very good care of these babies once Rosie leaves and he will be waiting for Rosie to return around Valentine’s Day!

Here is a really cute video of the two girls doing a tug of war with a fish. This was yesterday.

Ah, Legacy at the Fortis Red Deer Nest is snuggling up with mom to keep cool as she serves as a mombrella from the sun. That sky is so hazy from all of the fires. It travels all the way – the smoke – to Manitoba and can make breathing difficult. I wonder what impact the smoke has on these chicks?

It looks like the smoke from the wild fires is also making it hazy at the Fortis Exshaw Nest. Little ones are also trying to get in some of the shade provided by mom.

It is such a contrast to see the Osprey nests in Alberta, Montana, Florida, and California with those in the United Kingdom. It has given me a lot of pause to think about the trash that makes its way into the Osprey nests such as the baling twine that has been killing the chicks up in Montana.

I could not get back on the Cumbria Wildlife Osprey cam but Blue 35 will not let Tiny Little go to bed without some fish. He was so full in the middle of the afternoon that he wasn’t wanting any so maybe he really has had enough already. Either way he will be fine. Growing like a bad weed that one – and surely with those big sturdy legs he is a she.

Thank you for joining me. I am in the midst of planning a trip to Overflowing River in Manitoba to go and see the Ospreys that come to our province to breed during the summer. There will be lots of images for you I hope – but this is not happening for a couple of weeks. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: SF Bay Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Friends of Loch of the Lowes, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyX Wild and the Clywedog Osprey Nest, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest, Fortis Alberta Red Deer Osprey Cam, and Fortis Alberta Exshaw Osprey Cam.

Tiny Little finds a whole fish, Only Bob does a proper fledge and other tales in Bird World

Whenever there are sad moments in Ospreyland, I find it is always comforting to head down and spend some time with Taiki, the Royal Cam Albatross in New Zealand. Taiki was 170 days old today and she weighed 8 kg. She was at 8.2 kg. Around this stage in their lives the weight of the chicks stabilizes – meaning they will not gain vast amounts of weight as they will be focusing on getting their wings strong for flight. If, however, the chick’s weight drops too much, the rangers will provide supplementary feedings. Taiki is right at that point where they are watching her.

Lady Hawk posted a video of Lime-Green-Lime, the mom, coming in to give Taiki a feeding. If you haven’t seen the adults feed their chicks, please have a look. Taiki will be making food callings and her bill will be clacking at the parent’s. That is to stimulate the feeding. Taiki was taught this when she was just a day old. How precious. LGL does beautiful sky calls.

Tiny Little spent his first night alone in that big Osprey nest at Foulshaw Moss in Cumbria. When asked if Tiny Little would be lonesome for his older siblings now that they have fledged, one person on FB said, ‘Not the way they treated him’. Yes, Tiny Little might not have survived but he did! And we are all so happy. Tiny Little was flapping his wings hard wanting to fly but it will be a few days more. Hopefully he won’t get too restless.

Both White YW and Blue 35 have been alarming and flying on and off the nest. This happened around 6:10 am.

Tiny Little did what he had been taught. Stay as still as you can and don’t move – keep your head down!

By 6: 19 the disturbance seemed to be over and Tiny was looking around hoping for a fish delivery.

There are advantages of being on the nest alone. Tiny Tot at Achieva was a pro at finding fish scraps. Look what Tiny Little finds around lunch time! You got it – an entire fish hidden in the nest!!!!

He looks around to check and see if anyone else is around and then he tucks in. He is still eating when Blue 462 lands in the nest two hours later.

Tiny Little is not showing 462 what he is mantling. Meanwhile 462 is pecking around the nest to see if there are any fish scraps left. Smart one Tiny Little!

What an absolutely tranquil scene at the Dyfi Osprey Nest in Wales. The cows are out in the fields and Dysynni was in the nest with his sister, Ystwyth, waiting for a breakfast delivery from dad, Idris.

It is a beautiful day up in Scotland at Loch of the Lowes and both fledglings, LR1 and LR2 are in the nest waiting for breakfast, too.

Those two are just beautiful. Well done Laddie LM12 and Blue NC0. Looks like they decided to pose and look at the camera instead of turning away. Thank you! You are both gorgeous fledglings!

The Rutland Manton Bay nest is growing grass after the Two Bobs fledged. Little birds have been around but seldom do we see any of the Ospreys —–until there is a fish drop and then everyone seems to show up.

Blue 33 shows up with a nice Bream and both 095 and 096 land simultaneously. 095 gets the fish in its talons.

You can see Blue 33 flying off leaving the two kids to sort the fish.

Blue 33 returns less than a minute later. Is he looking for Maya to feed the chicks? He leaves as quickly as he arrives.

Blue 095 is starting to eat the fish. No worries there will be plenty for 096.

Have a look back in time. Here are 095 ad 096 exactly two months ago tucking into a Bream. Just imagine. They are so tiny and now they are preparing themselves to migrate in about six weeks. Gosh they were cute!

It is now around noon in the UK. Only Bob, Blue 496 decided to take a flying spin around the Llyn Clywedog Nest straight to the trees where Dylan goes around 11:47. Yesterday, Only Bob flew to the camera post but today they are counting this as his official fledge! It was a great one, too. Mom, Seren 5F was on the nest with him watching her baby take those next steps.

Seren leaves and Only Bob moves over to the rim of the nest looking at his target. Those trees that he sees dad come out of.

And he’s off. If you look at the right side of the image you will see his two legs flying and heading for the trees! Gosh that must feel fantastic.

A couple of hours later, Seren has a nice fish on that nest trying to lure Only Bob over to have some lunch. It was really interesting watching Seren look at or for Only Bob. At times it sounded like she was talking to him – has slipped trying to land on the rim and is on a lower branch of the tree. Only Bob is 50 days old today.

What a great day in UK Ospreyland. Things are going really well. Aran was seen flying high over at Glaslyn today which is a good sign of an improvement. Hopefully he is not having to contend with intruders. Z2 actually landed on the Glaslyn nest the other day – his nest and chick are at the Pont Cresor nest which many consider to be close to Glaslyn. Sadly, one of the chicks on the Charlo Montana Osprey nest died because of bailing twine. If you don’t know, it is what farmers use to tie up large hay bails. So sad. Montana seems to be having a rather bad year with this twine winding up in the nests.

That is it for me today. Thank you for joining me to check in on all the babes. Take care. Enjoy your Tuesday wherever you are.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I grabbed my screen shots and to Lady Hawk for her videos: Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest, Dyfi Osprey Project, Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Friends of the Loch of the Lowes, LRWT and the Rutland Manton Bay Osprey Nest, and Carnyx Wild and the Clywedog Osprey Nest.

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!