It is 15:44 on the Canadian Prairies and it is Saturday. The sky remains cloudy with a temperature of 12 degrees C. In Australia, our raptor families are waking up and I wonder what will be in store for them today.
At the Sydney Sea Eagles nest in the Olympic Forest near the Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, SE29 and 30 were particularly active around 0522. If official branching has not been called, it could certainly be done this morning. The eaglets are very interested in the world beyond the nest and are hopping and flapping and standing on the parent branch. An adult flew in but had no food in its talon. Oh, I would love those two eaglets to follow an adult out of the forest to the River Roost on the Parramatta River. There, safely away from the Pied Currawongs, Lady and Dad could continue to feed them while teaching them to hunt their own prey and letting the eaglets get their flying perfected.
At any rate, it feels like fledgling is imminent.
At the 367 Collins Street scrape, the eyases woke up to a feed. Mum looked around, rushed down the ledge, and flew back with a small item of prey. Was it the leftover pigeon? or a Starling? It was hard to tell.
‘A’ has assured me – much to my relief – that male2 is providing the food for Mum and the trio at the Melbourne scrape. There was much e-chuffing and Mum flew out to retrieve the prey from the hidey-hole. Meanwhile, Male2 comes down the ledge, stands over the chicks as if to protect them, and then moves out of the way watching as Mum feeds the three white furry balls. All is well in Melbourne. Relief. Thank you ‘A’.
Xavier and Diamond’s first hatch had Starling for breakfast this morning. It is a running joke at this scrape that Diamond hates Starling. She will refuse to eat it if Xavier brings her a fresh bird but, she is happy to feed it to the eyases!
Meanwhile, the osplets had a nice fish delivery – everyone seems to have eaten well although Mum moved and it is hard to see how much Middle and Little are getting.
Everyone still had a nice crop over an hour later.
So far this morning in Australia all is well on each of the four nests. There are three eyases and a Mum being fed in Melbourne by the new male who we all hope will turn out to be as lovely as Alden and Xavier. The Sea Eagles are more than ready to fledge and they are beautiful. I wonder if they will take their first flight together? Port Lincoln was relatively calm this morning with the feeding and Little Bob is beginning to turn into a reptile, too. Diamond and Xavier could not be happier with their first hatch.
Thank you for joining me on this catch up again with our Australian raptors. If you did not hear, Harriet and M15 have been seen and photographed at their old nest tree and Samson and Gabby are home, too. We continue to hope that all of the others impacted so badly by the storm at Captiva will be seen – but, it is unclear if there is anyone to check on them the area was simply destroyed I am told. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures and to ‘A’ for letting me know about the prey delivery at Melbourne: 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Ospreys, and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam.
It was a lovely day on the Canadian Prairies. 20 degrees C. Summer. No jackets, no heavy sweaters, beautiful light. Today I got out of the house. There will not be many more likes this – and I discovered a new park in our City. This one is called King’s Park and it is huge – gently rolling hills along the river with a dog park, ponds, a water fall, and a Chinese pavilion. Few birds!
The big news of the morning in Australia is that Xavier and Diamond have their first hatch for the 2022 season. Chick was visible at 0926.
When I left, I was in a really good mood because I had looked back at the footage from the ledge at 367 Collins Street carefully. Yesterday the male came to the nest and the female had a wee break. He was fascinated with the eyases but was quite uncomfortable brooding so he just stood over them. That is fine. He is beginning to engage and he is providing food.
The eyases are being fed and without being able to see really close up, it looks like they are doing just fine.
The Sea Eaglets are incredibly gorgeous. They are up waiting for a breakfast delivery!
And it arrived – nice fish was brought to the nest around 0905. There is still little or no aggression between the siblings. Eventually Lady will feed them!
There was a very early feeding at Port Lincoln, 0620, today. The osplets had one big feed yesterday but it did not arrive til after 1500. They really needed to have fish first thing this morning. I continue to marvel at the civility that was at the nest yesterday. So happy.
When Mum gets up the kids get ready for a delivery. Note the difference in size between Middle Bob and Little Bob. Look at the wings.
Still sleepy babies.
Middle Bob has a bald spot right on top of its head. And now you can also see the size difference between Little Bob and Big — just look at the wings. That tells it all. It is a good thing that Little Bob is feisty like Ervie!
Little Bob still looks like you could have a good cuddle with him. I am astonished at the size of Big Bob already – even the length of its beak!
All is well in Bird World. Congratulations to Xavier and Diamond, Dr Cilla Kinross, and all the gang at the Orange scrape. We will wait and see if a second egg hatches for one of the most beloved Peregrine Falcon couples in the world.
Thank you so much for joining me for this brief look at what is going on in Australia as the 1st of October begins. Take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cameras where I took my screen captures: Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and Port Lincoln Ospreys.
The news coming out of Sanibel/Captiva is not good. (see below) Our thoughts remain with all of those who were so heavily impacted by Hurricane Ian.
In Manitoba we continue to take in the full beauty of autumn with a temperature of 12 degrees C. And it seems that today, I will have hydro in the conservatory. Just in the nick of time as nighttime temperatures continue to drop near the freezing point. All of the Crows and Blue Jays continue to come to the garden and it will be a few weeks til we know whether they will winter here or leave.
In the Mailbox:
Lots of people are asking: Is there any news about Captiva Ospreys?
As you probably know Sanibel/Captiva took the direct hit of Hurricane Ian when it hit landfall at 155 mph. There is no communication between Captiva and some of the images coming out of Channel 8 news in Florida touch on the devastation. The individual who owns the property that the Captiva Bald Eagles and Ospreys have their nest is Lori Covert, a Canadian from Nova Scotia. Lori has reported that Captiva is under 12 feet of water and there is no communcations. It will be some time before things are restored because sections of the causeway are completely wiped out. Access would be by boat or helicopter.
The video clip is Sanibel.
Making News:
Catastropic damage to the number of birds and raptors due to the climate crisis.
There is nothing like a trio of ‘full to the brim’ osplets to set your mood to ‘excellent’. That big fish that Dad brought into Port Lincoln certainly started the osplets off on a good day, too. The cam operator obliged by giving us some fantastic close ups of the three. Look carefully at their plumage.
You can easily tell the three osplets apart. Big Bob has lost almost all of its down on the head and back. The back of its head is black on top with a copper bottom. Middle Bob is losing its down on the head and Little Bob is not yet started like the other two.
Soon Big Bob will look like its dinosaur relative. Poor thing. I feel sorry for it with all those itchy feathers.
Look closely. See the coppery colour plumage coming in below the black on Big Bob. You can also see the pin feathers coming on the wings and back.
Little Bob is still soft and sweet. He is beginning to remind me a bit of Ervie.
Those beautiful baby blues of the osplets will change to an amber and then yellow when they are adults. One exception that is know is Monty, the infamous Welsh Osprey, whose eyes remained amber.
In this image you get a clear look at Big Bob in the front and Middle Bob with its huge crop in the back. Little is in-between. Middle is one to keep an eye on – not sure it will not turn out to be the dominant bird. We wait to see.
They all had a good feed. There was another feeding and this time Little Bob got caught behind the two big ones. He tried to get up so that Mum would see his beak but to no avail. Little Bob will not starve. He has had lots of fish this morning and no doubt, he will have more!
The next feeding came at 1550 and Little Bob was right up front. He ate and ate and quickly went into a food coma. And then..there was another feed around 1830. It seems that Mum is keeping them absolutely packed with food until their crops could pop. Then she sits on them! That is a good way to stop any fighting nonsense.
The rumour has it that there are three pips at the Melbourne scrape box.
The Sea Eagles are still in the nest, hopping and flapping. They are big and beautiful and so very healthy. It seems like they just hatched yesterday and now in week 10 they are all grown up. They can fly. They just don’t know it yet.
We are now in Pip Watch for Diamond and Xavier. The time from pip to hatch varies from 24 hours to 72. Dr Cilla Kinross, the lead researcher at Orange for the falcons and their angel like Dr Sharpe is to the Channel Island Eagles, cleaned the camera yesterday at 1518. Diamond had a look of surprise in her eyes. She must be used to Cilla coming and going over the years because that look in the falcon’s eyes was all that happened.
All eyes are on Melbourne for a hatch today and for pips coming at Orange.
Thank you so much for joining me today. Please take care of yourselves. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Channel 8 news, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam.
It was really a difficult day to sit and think of hurricanes and osplets beaking one another. After Ian made landfall, I headed for the nature centre to check on that wee duckling. For the second visit in a row, I did not find it. I did find, however, a Solitary Sandpiper, some other Mallards, a couple of Northern Pintails, various Vireos, an adorable squirrel to mention a few of the birds that greeted me today.
A baby American Coot.
The White-breasted Nuthatch stayed at the peanuts for a really long time. The nature centre has a ‘hide’ (a building of sorts with openings where you can watch the birds and not disturb them). It was fantastic to see this beautiful bird make its gravity-defying struts over the wire mesh container.
What a darling. This little Red Squirrel had no idea I was watching him. He is in a perfect spot below the feeder with the American Goldfinches who are dropping seedings all over the place.
A very nice gentleman saw me looking at the Coots but pointed this Solitary Sandpiper out to me on the shore. There had apparently been a Green Heron here the week prior.
This is believed – by me – to be a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet female. But I am waiting for e-Bird to write back with confirmation. Our bird books with their images are often lacking in the kind of detail to make a certain ID and Merlin and I seem not to get along very well!!!!!!!!!!!!
They are moulting – these American Goldfinches.
Being out in the forest with the birds and a few people passing by, with school children researching leaf configurations, and Canada Geese honking in the sky was fantastic. It is the best way to relieve any kind of stress. Shinrinyoku – forest bathing.
In the Mailbox:
Mark your calendars for October 8. This is Cornell Bird Lab’s Big Bird Count Day. I will be posting more information nearer to the time.
As we sit with our eyes glued to the eggs on the ledge of 367 Collins Street waiting for hatch, ‘A’ sent me a note and reminded me of the day the eggs got pretty wet from the rain. Oh, I needed that reminder. It is possible that they will not all hatch. It is possible that none of them will hatch. And bless this young couple if all four do hatch! That new male will really have to show that he is up to the task of feeding a family of 6 including himself. The old dad sure was!
Making News:
The news continues to be about the impact of Hurricane Ian on our beloved raptors. Captiva/Sanibel took a direct hit from the hurricane’s core with winds at 155 mph.
Across the State and a little north is Jacksonville which is home to Samson and Gabby’s nest. This is a video of the impact of the winds on their nest.
Across the country, in the Channel Islands, Thunder and Akecheta were at their nest. It looked like there might have been some intruders as both appeared to be alarming at times. They are a super Bald Eagle couple and it is nice to see you, Cheta.
Australian Nest News:
A super nice fish has shown up at Port Lincoln at 08;28:53. Fantastic. Hopefully these osplets will calm down a little.
It is really nice to see Little Bob right up there in the sweet spot. That fish should fill them all up and put them into super food comas. Mum can have some fish, too, and the kids can sleep.
Little Bob is getting some really good bites and both the older siblings seem, at this moment in time, to be behaving and letting Mum share the fish all around.
A food delivery came around 0740 for the Mum at 367 Collins Street. She flew off the ledge but when she returned she ran from the opposite end of the ledge to the nest. She carefully placed herself over the eggs and rolled them.
My heart goes out to this Mum. She has had food -thankfully but, no real help with incubation. She has almost had to do it all. In Orange, Xavier is so anxious to incubate the eggs and take care of the chicks that it just puts a smile on your face.
How much longer will we get to enjoy the not-so-little Sydney Sea Eagles? They are jumping and flapping and seem to have mastered self-feeding in spite of themselves! Still, it is nice to be fed by Mum and I am sure Lady knows that the days are limited for her to feed her babies.
Thank you for joining me this evening for a brief check on the nests. Head over to Port Lincoln and re-wind to catch that 0830 feeding. Take care of yourselves and continue to send the warmest wishes to the people and nests being impacted by weather around the world. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and videos that make up my screen captures: Northwest Florida-AEF, Explore.org and IWS, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and 367 Collins Street by Mirvac.
It is clear blue skies on the Canadian Prairies this morning. The temperature when I began this blog was 2 degrees C. There was frost on the roof for the first time this year. The remaining flowers and herbs were not bothered so hopefully the second wave of hummingbirds that will be coming through will have some nectar. The Crows and Blue Jays along with the squirrels are busy collecting corn and peanuts this morning. Little Red has a new suet cylinder so all is well in the garden.
Making News:
Hurricane Ian is beginning to impact the Florida coast. This is the view of one of the Captiva Ospreys earlier this morning. For all of our raptor nests and everyone in this region – as I know so many of my readers are – we are all sending you our warmest thoughts. Stay safe. I will be checking on the Captiva situation throughout the day and evening.
It is currently calm in St Petersburg at the Achieva Osprey nest.
Some wind, which seems to be picking up in gusts, and rain at the nest of Bald Eagles Ron and Rita in the Miami Zoo.
You can hear the wind gusts at the Southwest Florida nest in Fort Myers of M15 and Harriet.
The winds at the Northeast Florida nest of Samson and Gabby appear and sound to be as strong as those at Southwest Florida.
Just checked. The wind speeds at Fort Myers (Harriet and M15) are at 17kph with Jacksonville, home to Samson and Gabby at 18 kph, and Ron and Rita’s nest in Miami at 19 kph. All have rain. We should expect these winds to pick up considerably later in the day.
This is the latest view from the Osprey nest at Captiva. There is one bird on a perch. You will have a front row seat to watch the storm according to the moderator on the cam. Hang on Lena!
Here is the link to the this camera:
Arctic Terns travel 44,000 miles during migration and now, once in the UK, they are met with Avian Flu. A good article that continues to discuss the demise of so many sea birds this year due to this wide spread disease.
Dr Sharpe has boundless energy and his love for raptors is highly infectious. He is now looking to place streaming cam on Alcatraz for one of Grinnell and Annie’s daughters who has been nesting there and raising chicks for a couple of years. The Institute for Wildlife Studies posted this image of Dr Sharpe this morning checking out the situation.
Nest News:
We can all give ‘three cheers’ for Little Bob at the Port Lincoln Osprey nest. At the mid-day feeding, Little Bob had himself right up there in the front row! This does remind me of our dear Ervie and it did take Ervie a couple of days to figure out the ‘sweet spots’ so he could get the most food. This is fantastic. Just look at that little bit of an osplet up there by Middle Bob. Gosh, he is a darling. Big Bob has such a long neck he can reach over both of them but what a tidy trio. It is also nice to see Dad on the nest. What a fantastic family this is.
Little Bob looks so proud of himself.
Dad came in at 1307 with a small headless fish and there was another feeding extremely close to the last one. By the time this feeding was over, all of the chicks were right ready for a good sleep!
The Mum at Melbourne seems to be ‘sitting’ on the eggs differently. Reports out of Melbourne seem to indicate that she is being fed and at one male did stand above the eggs, as if listening, yesterday. A soap opera in Falcon World. We wait but it should not be too long now. There could be pips as I am writing.
The two below appear to be the reigning adults at the Melbourne scrape. The female called simply a falcon (or Mum) has higher horizontal bars on her chest than the male. It is the only way I can tell them apart. Juveniles have vertical bars. The feathers of the female are darker than those of the male or the tiercel and, of course, she is bigger but it is often difficult to tell the size differential unless the pair are close together. I have watched the old male for quite a number of years and this tiercel does not look like him to me.
Mum was doing a lot of ‘looking down’ as if listening to the eggs beginning right after noon yesterday. She is quite beautiful but sure seems to give her ‘most fierce’ look at the camera sometimes.
Now she is being sweet and not so fierce.
It looked as if an eel were brought into the nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest with a wee bit of discord between SE29 and SE30 – but, in the scheme of things – that discord lasted 3 seconds with no pecking. Just a little feisty shuffle. Of course, the adults are watching everything that these two are doing.
Beautiful Diamond. At Orange, the eggs of Xavier and Diamond tend to hatch between 36 and 39 days. That means that the first pip should come on 1 October. As many of you know, the falcon eggs can hatch almost all at once. So 2-3 days. I do hope that these two have a very healthy chick or chicks. ‘A’ and I noticed that both Diamond and Xavier tend to be looking very healthy this year. Fingers crossed.
Thank you so very much for joining me this morning. We are really watching for pips and hatches at Melbourne and keeping our eyes and ears on what Hurricane Ian is doing to the nests within its range. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their posts and streaming cams which form my screen captures: Captiva Ospreys and Window for Wildlife, Achieva Osprey Nest, WRDC, SWFL Eagle Cam and Pritchett Family, NEFL-AEF, NOAA, IWS, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam.
I hope that the start of your week has been a good one. It is 10 degrees C this morning and the birds in the garden are not happy. The men have come to put the skirting on the conservatory and they have a big saw. It is not very appealing! I did work outside and have moved in the some hot pink trumpet plants to reside inside along with the Hibiscus. Perhaps it will feel like a tropical paradise on the coldest days of winter. It is supposed to be excellent weather for the goose and duck flight arrivals as migration truly gets underway this week. Sandhill cranes have been spotted south of me and the honking and quacking at the ponds around the City is louder each night.
In the Mailbox:
‘L’ sends us a joyful little video she found showing ducks, swans, geese, flying.
‘A’ wonders if there are any raptors unique to Australia.
That is a great question since we are primarily looking at nests with eggs or youngsters pre-fledge in Australia right now. I cannot, at the first instance, think of a single raptor that is unique to Australia. One might think of the largest eagle, the Wedge-tail as living in Australia only it doesn’t. I have pulled out Penny Olsen’s Australian Birds of Prey to scour over today and this evening with hopefully an answer tomorrow.
If you are looking for information on Australian raptors, you can do not better than Penny Olsen. The book is sadly out of print and should be revised and reissued. If you happen to be able to find a copy, it is worth gold so hang on to it. The information is detailed and Olsen has a very interesting way of making data seem quite interesting. Very informative book and there seem to be a couple available at a very decent price on an on-line Australian bookseller. Just Google the name of the book if you are interested. Should be in everyone’s library – and not just those interested in Australian raptors as it covers raptors that reside around the world.
Many of you will have watched the MN-DNR Bald Eagle nest of Harry and Nancy. Harry did not return to the nest and Nancy raised one eaglet to fledge. The other was pushed off the nest by its older sibling and subsequently had to be euthanized. Well, Nancy has been photographed on the nest with a new male interest. Congratulations, Nancy!
Another study for the reintroduction of the White-tailed Eagle to Cumbria:
Farmers are putting out water in the UK for all manner of wildlife. For us, living in other places, it is essential that the birds – songbirds, raptors, all of them, have water. They need it to rehydrate themselves while they are feeding so that they can have a safe and healthy flight – so please, keep the water out!
The Swiss were set to be the first European country to ban factory farming on the 25th of September. Instead, they voted to retain the practice.
Nest News:
I could watch Samson and Gabby working on their nest in Northeast Florida all day. The moving the big sticks, the negotiating (or not) where they should go, and then moving them again. What an absolutely privilege to be able to see these two prepare for another breeding season.
They are an absolute riot – these two -you can laugh yourself absolutely silly for 10 or 15 minutes in one of these sessions especially if Samson brings in one of his huge twigs.
Thunder visited her nest at the West End Bald Eagle nest in the Channel Islands Sunday morning. She brought in a fish, ate it, and sunned herself on the rock. Isn’t she gorgeous?
SE29 has walked up to the branch of the White-bellied Sea Eagles in the Sydney Olympic Forest. This is not ‘branching’ – the eagles need to fly up to the branch but, we are getting close!
Dad brought in an enormous fish that has supplied the fish from Mum and the three osplets at Port Lincoln for four meals! Little Bob did miss a meal and sometimes he just gets turned in the wrong direction but, when he is up there he is getting full. Mum is fantastic at figuring out the feeding order.
Dad brought in more fish and at the end of the day, Little Bob had eaten so much fish and his crop was so big he could hardly stand up. Now isn’t that incredible.
Look carefully at the top image. There is Big Bob. Notice the head. After the chicks lose their fine light grey down they move into the reptilian phase. To me, they look like they have attended Carnival in Grenada and been out the morning when people throw oil, paint, or mud at one another as a way of freeing themselves from the past and in celebration of the new. That day is called J’ouvert and it marks the beginning of Carnival. Sometimes people dress as red and blue devils as they parade through the streets — and I always remind myself that it is in this phase that the older siblings can become unruly and domineering. Fingers crossed for Port Lincoln. Mum and Dad are doing fantastic and Little Bob is eating – not always at every meal – but, well.
It appears that the female at the 367 Collins Street scrape is accepting food gifts and that the bearer of those gifts is also on the ledge, sometimes in view of the camera and sometimes not. It appears that this is male 2. I stand to be corrected. The ID of the male falcons is very difficult unless you can see their neck!
The male arrived with a prey item when the female was off the eggs. He waited and then flew off with it. The exchange, if it took place, was off camera. Mum did not return for a few minutes so it is possible she was munching away on that nice food gift.
He is clearly looking for the female and he has made no indication of any attempt to try and harm the eggs. All of this is good news especially if the old male is no longer ‘in the picture’ and if those are the ‘old male’s eggs’. I will happily be corrected that this is the old male….
Peregrine Falcon males are, thus, quite interesting in their behaviours. If this is male 2 accepting the eggs and helping to raise the eyases (yet of course to be seen), then he grows a growing list of males that will help a female raise a clutch in order to gain the female and the territory. We know of both Alden and Xavier and studies in the UK have indicated that even fledglings of another year have worked to help with a clutch. These falcons get more unique. I would love to hear your stories if you have any examples.
Earlier in the day a male – I still cannot see the neck and the line that male 2 has – is on the ledge.
This is male 2 in the image below with the female. I believe then it is also male 2 in the image above that frequented the ledge several times on Monday (in Australia).
Diamond gave us a good look at the eggs when she left for a break today. Wonder where Xavier is??? He is missing eggie time.
1at the Captiva Osprey Nest in Florida, Lena is having nothing to do with the young male who keeps showing up. He has been dubbed ‘Romeo’ because of the small heart on his chest.
Migration News:
I want to begin with the news from the family of Karl II, the Black Storks from the Karula National Forest in Estonia. There is good news over the past couple of days. The father, Karl II, normally spends much time in the area around Odessa in Ukraine. When we last had a signal transmission from him, he was known to be in the area of heavy fighting on the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast. Karl II survived! he flew 361 km after deciding he did not wish to stay in Odessa to Olanesti in Romania. He is very near where his mate, Kaia, is. Tears are flowing.
Bonus, the foster storklet from the nest of Jan and Janikka, is also in Romania! So three from the nest – Karl II, Kaia, and Bonus – were safely in Romania, out of Ukraine, on the 25th. Waba is in Moldova.
Here is a crazy colourful map to show you where they are in relation to one another.
It is hard to imagine how dangerous it is for the birds that must migrate back and forth to their winter and spring homes.
You can see what I am talking about in the bright white going right down the centre of North America. Where I live we are in the yellow area. Those light areas are beginning to spread eastward.
Oh, it is joyful to hear that Karl II and his family are safe. I find it very interesting that they flew west and got out of Ukraine. We must be watching for hatch at Melbourne. The eyases can be heard, close to hatch, and I have noticed – and perhaps you have also – that the female is looking at the eggs sometimes. Today is the 27th and it is the first day of hatch watch for these urban falcons. We will mark down the 1-3 of October for Xavier and Diamond. The Sea Eagles will be jumping up and down on the branches but let’s see which one flies up there first – and they must be working on self-feeding. These two truly do love Lady to feed them. By the end of the week all three of the osplets will look different – enjoy the last of that light grey fluff for now.
Thank you so much for being with me this morning. Everything seems to be going very well everywhere. What a relief. Perhaps I should not have said that! Take care of yourselves. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and posts where I took my screen captures: NEFL-AEF, Explore.Org and IWS, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Captiva Ospreys and Window for Wildlife, Looduskalender, Stepmap.com, and BirdCast.
Good Morning Everyone. Clear beautiful blue skies on the Canadian Prairies and a temperature of 13 degrees C. It is fantastic. The forecast calls for no rain this week which, is excellent. We are really into migration and it will be fantastic to bundle up a bit and watch the geese and ducks fly into the ponds this week without rain.
Last evening I went to a pond in an industrial area that I have started to frequent. The Canvasbacks had moved from the two smaller ponds to the big one and the Blue Heron was there as well along with a couple of Greater Yellow Legs, other ducks, a single Double-crested Cormorant, and some geese. The Blue Heron flew off to what I am now calling the secret pond to roost for the evening with the Great White Egret.
CanvasbackGreat Blue Heron taking flight to the other pond.Greater Yellowlegs swimming instead of punching at the mud.
Nest News:
It was a wet late feeding for the three osplets at Port Lincoln. Little Bob was absolutely soaked but, they all had full crops and did well even when the fish was flapping about. I always worry when chicks get soaked to the bone when they are just wee with only their soft natal down. They cannot regulate their own temperatures and, well, they can get a chill. Mum got right back on top of them and her body heat will keep them right toasty and they will dry off, thankfully.
Incubation continues at 367 Collins Street. According to the calendar, hatch watch starts on the 27th and that is tomorrow in Melbourne. It is also unclear which male is providing food. I did not see the ‘line’ that the second male has now being called M2. As a result, my identification went to M1 or the old male. I hope that there can be some good clear shots of that male once these chicks hatch so we know who is providing food and who is around or not. This female should get a golden award. She has had no help with incubating these eggs. I realize that this does not take a lot of energy but normally this part is shared with the male. She is hanging in there well for a bird believed to be a first time Mum.
Xavier and Diamond also continue their incubation. We have 5-6 days to go before we start to look for a pip in those eggs. Those cameras in that scrape at Orange will give you a ring side seat to see the hatch. At Collins Street, it will only be from a distance.
There are very interesting lessons being taught at the Sydney Sea Eagles – or at least, trying to be taught. These two are the most laid back sea eagles I have seen in years. Dad brought in a teaser of a piece of fish at 1715. Mum was on the nest and SE29 and SE30 stood there, looking at the fish, waiting for Mum to feed them with no move to steal it! Meanwhile, Lady is eating the fish…
That is a very good crop on one of the eaglets.
Notice how Mum waits before doing anything. Lady and Dad must be wondering what is up with these two…is it possible that we have two males this year? I wonder. They are so calm.
Making News:
Toxic chemical pollutants are killing our raptors – and if it happens in one country, you can be assured that the problematic toxins will be found elsewhere.
It is really incredible. Normally the fledglings of Big Red and Arthur are not seen after the end of August and here we are getting to the end of September and Suzanne Arnold Horning is still finding them for us on the Cornell Campus. This is just fantastic.
This is L4. What a magnificent hawk with her beautiful red feathered apron just like her Mum, Big Red.
The Bald Eagles continue to arrive at their nests in the US with sticks and a determination to rebuild the nest after last year’s clutch. You can almost check on any streaming cam and find that the couple have been there at some point working. Pa Berry and Missy have been busy for weeks now at Berry College! And Cody and his gang at the Kisatchie National Forest are getting some strange sounds made by eagles with their new ‘sound system’. We will jump out of our shoes when those eaglets start hatching- their cheeping will be so clear!
Listen to Louis pant when he lands on the nest:
It looks like it will be an interesting year. I urge you to add the KNF nest to your roster of eagles to watch — I know, you have too many already but, this is a great couple. Their third year together.
Thank you so much for joining me this morning as we wait for the hatches at the falcon nests in Australia. Right now everyone is sleeping! I hope that you have had a lovely weekend so far. Take care of yourself. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or posts/videos where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Ospreys, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Suzanne Arnold Horning, and Kistachie National Forest Eagle Cam.
It has been a gorgeous 17 degree C afternoon in Manitoba. The dreary morning left around noonish, and it was lovely to be outside without a jacket. I cleared up some plants and have not gone to work on the images of Little Red eating up the suet cylinder, but I will try to get to that sooner than later. He has just about finished it today! The Crows have had lots of their sandwiches and dry corn, the squirrels are still about but, there have been fewer and fewer songbirds.
I thought we would just check in on the Australian nests as their day is beginning.
The breakfast feeding at Port Lincoln was terrific. Mum rose around 06:29:19 and found an old piece of fish on the nest sufficient to fill up the three youngsters and she could get a couple of bites herself. Hopefully another nice fresh fish will land on the nest shortly.
Little Bob was sleepy. It took him a few seconds to figure out what was happening and get himself turned around the right way.
Ervie learned really quickly that you need to be up front if you are the short one. Let’s see how long it takes Little Bob to figure that out.
It wasn’t a huge piece of fish that Mum found and Big and Middle sure put down a lot of huge pieces. I thought they would eat it all.
Little Bob got 4 bites while Big Bob had about 17. Then…Little Bob got a couple more.
Then for a second, Big Bob had a food coma. Middle Bob is still standing and it sure put down the fish early too – and some big pieces. But Little Bob is right up in the sweet spot. Let’s hope he remembers where it is.
Mum filled Little Bob up and ate some of the skin herself. All of the kids were full and out in food comas. Now she can brood them until Dad comes in with the fresh fish. He has been having some trouble getting there early. I wonder if it is windy seas or gulls??
What a gorgeous morning in Melbourne. Mum is waking up.
This is the old dad. He has come to tell her where her breakfast is stashed.
He looks over the eggs for a bit – from a distance – and then flies off. I am noting that the second male has not made an attempt to rid the nest of the eggs and this is a good thing.
Mum is back safely on the eggs. We are two days from hatch watch! The 27th. OK. Technically that is less than 2 days. Oh, goodness.
It was a misty morning in the Sydney Olympic Forest. SE29 and SE30 spent a lot of time looking over the rim of the nest. At the point in the first image below, it looked like the pair were having a great conversation. Perhaps they are wondering if Mum will bring in a fish and eat it all herself again?? Or almost eat it all.
Look at that adorable face.
Some wing flapping going on. The wings of the eaglets are almost as wide as the nest. Amazing.
As the sun comes up in Orange, Australia, Xavier is on the ledge of the scrape box hoping that Diamond will give him some time with those eggies. Did I say that hatch watch is now only 5 days away!
Thank you for joining me at this quick peek of what is going on in Australia. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam at Orange.
Our thoughts go out to all that are being lashed about by tropical storm systems and hurricanes.
It is a quiet drizzly grey Saturday morning in the garden. Little Red has been eating at the solid suet cylinder and the Blue Jays are pecking away at the cob of corn left for them. The sparrows have not really been around much. I hope to have some photos of Little Red cleaned up for tomorrow. But, so far, the gang is all here – Junior and the 3 fledgling Blue Jays and the 3 fledgling Crows plus Little Red, Dyson, and Scraggles. Dyson’s two from the summer come and go as well. There has been no sightings of Little Hedwig and the neighbours and I are beginning to fear the worst about those cats. Fingers crossed we see a bunny shortly.
The temperatures are dropping at night. All of the Grape tomatoes have been picked and will turn green in the lovely Birch basket. All of the plants to come inside are here but one which means a trip to the garden centre today for soil. Even so, we have not had a hard frost in the garden and this is absolutely remarkable considering it is now the 24th of September.
In the Mailbox:
The other day I was asked if non-parental male peregrine falcons could harm the eyases in the scrape. I told a story of an Osprey that had kicked the eggs out of the nest when he suspected they belonged to another male. Today, a cartoon that Chloe Baker did of Odin and EJ showed up on FB.
It was Loch Garten, 2013, and here is the video of that egg being kicked out of the nest. Odin waited til EJ went for a break! (not HD) I wish some of these great old videos could be cleaned up. They are fantastic. Of course, Odin was not the only male. Some of us waited to see if Aran would go after Mrs G’s eggs this season but, he didn’t. Presumably they were his and not the Pont Cresor Aeron Z2.
This also happened at Dunrovin a couple of years ago – much clearer image.
And here is another a couple of years ago. There are many examples. We do not know what will happen if the young male totally ousts the old male at Melbourne. Indeed, we do not even know if that will happen this year. My fingers are crossed that he goes and sits and waits til this breeding season is over! But, we also have to prepare ourselves for the worst. It is much better when the males get rid of the eggs.
Making News:
Some additional images were released of Victor taking his flight to freedom. He sure must have been so excited to be back in the wild. Victor is a magnificent eagle! Thanks to Paul K for cleaning these up!
Nest News:
It is all about life lessons at the Sydney Sea Eagles nest. The parents are deliberately branching, demonstrating how to ward off the Currawong, and then how to eat a fish. It is really a privilege to be able to watch the daily lives of these amazing raptors.
Xavier looking at the eggs. Hatch watch is 1-3 October! Xavier is one of the most devoted male Peregrine Falcons that I know. This is an incredible nest to watch and there are several cameras and a chat.
Xavier has been doing some of that enfluffing in the scrape.
I wonder how many of you are counting the number of fish flakes that Little Bob is getting at Port Lincoln. Big Bob is bigger and will need more and Mum is smartly feeding it several nice helpings before moving on to Middle and Little Bob. Dad, for his part, brought in a whomping size fish that will last the day.
Oh, Little Bob you are going to have to push and figure out how to get to the front with Big Bob in the front line!
Little Bob got himself in the right position for the next feeding at 10:50. Big Bob has a super crop and Middle is laying down. Little is going to get some really nice bites.
The camera operator gave us some fabulous close ups of the three after the 1415 feeding so we could see that each had a nice crop. Little Bob is holding its own. You can really see the egg tooth of each of the osplets – that hard piece of white beak used like a pick axe to get out of the shell. Enjoy this soft fluffy down. We will not realize it but time passes quickly and soon they will be in their reptilian phase.
Incubation continues at the 367 Collins Street scrape box. It is now the 25th in Melbourne and we are on hatch watch for the 27th.
For everyone who cannot wait for the Bald Eagle nests to be full of little eaglets, the first on streaming cam mating of the year occurred at the Northwest Florida nest of Samson and Gabby!
Migration News:
Do you know about EuroBirdPortal.org? It tracks all of the European Ospreys movements during the migration period.
I will be checking on Karl II and his family for tomorrow.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Little Bob is doing well. He isn’t our Ervie – no one could ever be Ervie but, I hope he holds his own against Big Bob and thrives. Mum and Dad are doing a great job. I fear that when Dad is late with fish it is either the wind or the gulls. Let’s blow those gulls away! Take care of yourselves. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their posts and streaming cams that form my screen captures: Chloe Baker, Loch Garden RSPB, Dunrovin, Castnet, Bald Eagles 101 and the Ojai Raptor Centre, The Wonderful World FB, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Charles Sturt Falcons, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Port Lincoln Ospreys, EuroBirdPortal, and NWFL-AEF.
Everyone is starting to wake up in Australia and there is some action at the Captiva Osprey nest, also. So…I thought I would send you a few pictures as their day begins and ours in a growing colder Canadian begins to wind down.
Gosh, those Sydney Sea Eagles are simply stunningly beautiful. There are not showing any signs of flapping their way up to the branches yet. They are walking all over the nest and it is incredible, if you look carefully, how well they are camouflaged (best when the camera is pulled out).
The sun is just casting that beautiful golden glow on the 367 Collins Street nest. Mum looks good. Someone is providing food – I wonder if we will get a glimpse of old dad today?
Mum is just waking up at Port Lincoln and it is going to be a busy day with those three! Gracious, goodness, those beaks are always open.
Right now, Big Bob is about twice as big as Little Bob. I was holding my breath when Middle and Big were beak to beak and eye to eye. Avoiding eye contact between siblings seems to help.
Beautiful Mum waits for the first fish delivery of the day.
Xavier has been and gone with a breakfast order from Diamond. I can almost hear her telling him, ‘Xavier, darling. An Eastern Rosella topped by a Galah would be perfect for breakie.’
Diamond took a quick break and we got a chance to see those gorgeous falcon eggs.
Meanwhile, in Florida, is trouble brewing? Lena has been at the new nest and so has this younger male. It is not Andy but he has a full crop and he is checking out the new camera and look at those nice perches. Remember. If it is an artificial nest the Osprey need perches!
Thank you so much for stopping in. I hope you enjoyed these images as the day begins with our four raptor families in Australia. Captiva will become interesting in a couple of months but, for now, we wait to see if Andy shows up. Take care. See you tomorrow.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Ospreys, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, and Captiva Ospreys and Window for Wildlife.
