Tag Archives: soaring

Girri soars high!

3 January 2025

Hello Everyone,

It is a full moon night on the Canadian prairies with a temperature of -16 C. Tobby and Hugo Yugo are curled up beside me on the sofa along with a couple of ‘Little Lambs’, Toby’s favourite toy. Ann spent the morning with Toby while I went to the hospital to see how Don was doing.

I felt really ‘proud’ and happy when the nurse sat me down, hugged me, and told me how well I was taking care of Don. You don’t think it – or I didn’t – his clothes are always clean, and so he is. I feed him, for the most part, whole foods, giving in to a love of cookies that his mother created by her excellent (and constant) baking when he was younger. His bloodwork is good, and he is very healthy given his condition. I know that many have expressed concern about his discharge back into the home, but the root cause was not his dementia, but rather a serious problem with his bladder that the doctors have now repaired. He was very alert today, and after I had been there for about an hour, his oldest friend, Andrew, arrived, and you could hear them laughing several metres away. I slipped out quietly, knowing that his other friend from high school would be arriving shortly. Ann stayed home, monitoring Toby to make sure he didn’t start haemorrhaging again. Toby is getting stronger and more like himself. It was so nice having him snore in my ear last night – I will NEVER complain again about that! Sometimes he is so loud he could shake the roof off the rafters.

Thank you for all of your notes. I want to publicly pass on a big shout-out to Heidi and her video that was included on Day 11 – many of you have downloaded that blog so that you can watch her handiwork repeatedly. She is exceptionally talented, and I am so glad that our paths crossed in this lifetime.

The nurses have asked me to rest up for a few days, so my posts over the next 2-4 days will be shorter and less comprehensive. As most of you can tell, I have a real soft spot for Gabby and now for Beau after adoring Samson for so many years. Those two little scrappers in NE Florida are adorable. And like all of the other eaglets in the nests, they are adored by their parents. My goodness, I wish we could sprinkle this type of eagle love all over the planet.

Girri is one of those great events from 2025. Having sobbed our eyes out with the loss of Xavier, we thought Diamond would not have any chicks. Then along came Gimbir, and well, everyone thought he was too young and inexperienced to be a Dad. Well, were we wrong? Diamond and Gimbir gave us one heck of a strong female falcon, and here she is flying above the trees near the tower! https://youtu.be/ECUH1DwWGao? It just doesn’t get much better than this at the Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam project.

It’s not a raptor… but this is a story everyone should know about. China has footage of a Wild Siberian Tigress with five cubs in Hunchun. Northwest Tiger and Leopard Park. This is thrilling news! They normally have 2-3 cubs so five is rare and is a great conservation success. Here is the link to the video: https://youtu.be/JaSsbkfC5N4?

The BBC reports, “Five Siberian tiger cubs have one very proud mum – she’s the first ever tiger known to have given birth to quintuplets in the wild in China. 

The family have been spotted in Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, which is one of China’s first five national parks and covers over 14,000 square kilometres – that’s around the same size as Northern Ireland!

It’s very rare for Siberian tigers to give birth to five healthy cubs, so it’s a big success story for the park, who say it’s likely that mum had the cubs back in June.” (27 December 2025)

It is all good for Beau and Gabby at NE Florida.

The AEF captured Gabby feeding Beau who then fed the eaglets with the food. How cute was that?

E26 is a massive eaglet. Want to bet we have a strong female here for M15 and F23 this year? Thermal down. Pin feathers. And quite enough food and more than enough love from Mum and Dad.

What a little cutie – the other only – at Captiva for Connie and Clive.

R9 and R10 are just adorable. Ron and Rose are doing a fantastic job at Dade County. Life is looking good!

One of my favourite all-time books about a human being changed by an encounter with wildlife was Raising Hare. Here is an incredible story about a Japanese island inhabited by Hares! Can I put it on my bucket list?

‘A place of darkness and light’: the uninhabited Japanese island that became a rabbit paradise https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/02/japan-island-rabbit-okunoshima?CMP=share_btn_url

I really do like those very short stories in The Guardian. Look under Environment, then Wildlife. 350 words or fewer. Always informative.

UK’s warmest spring on record led to rise in songbirds breeding, data showshttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/30/uk-warmest-spring-on-record-led-to-rise-in-songbirds-breeding-data-shows?CMP=share_btn_url

Time for Toby’s last medication. Oh, my dear darling little man. The sheer idea that I could have lost you is beyond my comprehension.

This week, I learned two significant things I would like to share with you, in the hope that one or both might help you in the future. If you know of anyone whose behaviour radically changes, from calm to agitated, please get them to the doctor to check for an infection. If you know or suspect they cannot pass urine, do not be shy about stating this. It is critical. Secondly, if you see any blood, watery or otherwise, in your pet’s vomit or diarrhoea, rush them to the vet. Do not sit around and twiddle your thumbs, I mean, rush. Toby’s life was saved because of quick action on my part and that of Dr Maryam.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

Thank you to the owners of the streaming cams that let us glimpse the breeding seasons of our wonderful raptors. Without them we would never see the joyful moments shared by these parents and their chicks! I would also like to thank The Guardian for their constant reporting on issues about wildlife. Thank you Holly Parsons or that great capture, to Cilla Kinross for her post and to the China Daily for its story on the Siberian Tiger.

Sunday in Bird World

17 July 2022

Good morning everyone. Yesterday was a very tough day in Bird World. So before I begin today I want us all to smile and I cannot think of anyone better than Ervie to do that —our favourite Osprey juvenile at Port Lincoln Australia. He was at the beach in Delamere today. The FB posting said it was cold and blustery. Here is our beautiful lad soaking his talons in the salt water and flying about.

Oh, Ervie what a darling you are. You are doing so well. We all wish we could sit on the beach with you and cool our talons, too. We all hope your talon is growing and that you are catching some fine fish. Your crop certainly doesn’t look empty!

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There is much news coming out of SF about Molate. On the chat yesterday an individual identifying themselves as ‘Video Assistant’ remarked that they had gone over the footage of Molate’s fall and were able to determine that he hit the grid, there were a couple of jerks, and nothing. In other instances, others associated with GGA said that Molate took a couple of difficult breaths, became unstable losing his balance, and fell off the nest. This is one of the most recent posts by SF Ospreys and might answer questions:

GGA and SF Ospreys have tried very hard to keep everyone in the loop as best they can in this difficult situation. It is a difficult call – to leave the body of the raptor there without knowing what caused it to be ill – or to leave it and allow the family to go about their daily lives without the stress. Clearly, none of us wish to see Richmond, Rosie, or Brooks suffer any further. My condolences go out to this long standing Osprey family in SF and all those who love and care for these amazing birds on the Whirley Crane.

There was a fledge at the Glaslyn nest of Aran and Mrs G. Congratulations to Blue 497 is 52 days old and she took her very first flight at 08:11 Sunday the 17th of July. Back home on the nest safely on quite a breezy day in Wales.

At the Welsh osprey nest of Idris and Telyn, Pedran continues to take some glorious flights around the nest to show the others how wonderful it is off the nest. It looks there is another one on the perch but I cannot tell which one it is. This is a great view of the nest and the river…I wish that Dyfi would leave it like this!

The cam operator at the nest of Dory and Skiff on Hog Island in Maine gave us some lovely close ups of the chicks feather developments this afternoon. These three are doing great. No problems being reported.

Small fish continue to come to the Osoyoos nest. The temperature will drop from 34 to 30 today but we really need it to go much lower to get those nice sized fish to come up higher in the water. Dad has to do a lot of fishing to try and find even wee ones in this heat.

Does the lake at Osoyoos ever get stocked with fingerlings?

The male at the Canmore, Alberta Fortis Exshaw Osprey nest continues to catch some really nice sized fish. The trio and Mum had a good breakfast this morning!

The two osplets on the Janakkdan Osprey nest in Finland continue to perfect their self-feeding. Mum has been on the nest in the afternoon and she continues to appear to be improving (not a vet – so this is just my observation).

The second osplet wants some fish but the older one is not giving that nice fish up just yet and is telling the other one clearly to wait its turn! No worries. There will be fish left! But will he share?

Only Bob on the Finnish #1 nest had a really nice meal. Look at that crop!

It looks like Tom and Audrey’s only chick will be the Only Bob on the Chesapeake Bay Osprey nest this year. S/he is 9 days old today and the Conservancy has declared the remaining egg nonviable. Just think…no one to have to share the fish with other than Mum. Sweet Osprey dreams little one.

Remember how loud Grinnell Jr was during the banding? He still is – bet you could hear him across the campus at UC-Berkeley!

Speaking of the University of California Campus at Berkeley. ‘B’ wrote me a note to say that one year Annie and Grinnell’s fledgling had gotten trapped between the glass railings on one of the buildings. UC-B learned a lesson and has a grounds maintenance person hang ribbons on all the balconies of a nearby building to prevent bird strikes. They did only the buildings that would probable sites for bird strike. How wonderful. Thanks, ‘B’. This would be a great solution for Cornell.

Yesterday, Ferris Akel held his normal Saturday birding tour of the area around Ithaca – Wildlife Drive, Sapsucker Lake, ending up on the Cornell Campus. He was able to find all four – Big Red, Arthur, L2 and L4. One of the highlights of yesterday’s tour was getting to see one of the fledglings soaring. I did a short video clip. There are trees that get in the way but the juvenile does come out and soars again. Big Red had also been soaring in the thermals showing the eyases how it is done. It is beautiful to see them flying free, high in the sky.

The Kakapo Recovery team is very happy. After a drop in the number of the flightless parrots, they announced yesterday that the current number of Kakapo is at 216. Amazing. It can all be attributed to the hard working team that does wellness checks, changes batteries in the transmitters, and knows these birds as if they were their own children. Congratulations everyone.

The Kakapo love to hide and the only way to find them is to attack GPS transmitters!

Katy Rossiter has produced a compelling podcast on the Kakapo. If you would like to learn more, have a listen:

Thank you for joining me today. There will be more fledges in the UK. Dorcha has yet to get the blood off her feathers but she appears to be doing OK. Telyn had an injury, too, and she is OK. Let us hope that each of our birds stays safe today. Looking forward to a good report on Little Bit 17 shortly and more information on Victor. Thank you so much for your letters and comments. It is much appreciated. Everyone wants the best for the birds – at the end of the day that is the underlying cord that connects us all. I hope that each of you has a very wonderful Sunday wherever you are. Take care. See you soon.

Thanks to the following for their videos, their postings, and their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: The Kakapo Recovery Group, Ferris Akel Tours, Cal Falcons, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Explore.org and Audubon, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife, Chesapeake Conservancy, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Fortis Exshaw, Osoyoos Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, and Port Lincoln Ospreys.