The two eyases at the University of California-Berkeley were banded today. Annie and Alden both did fly bys while the humans were with the two chicks. The oldest is a female and the youngest and loudest is a little boy. Poor thing he looked terrified to me. I am sure that that pose he took will make it into some falcon literature.
You have to be quick with the naming. Suggestions will only be taken until 6pm or 1800 on Monday the 30th of May (Memorial Day in the US). The time is Pacific time as a deadline. The finalists will be announced on May 31 and the public can then vote for two names. Winning names will be announced on 3 June.
Here is an article showing the banding, the action today, and information on where to go for the naming contest. Please take part!
First up, Louis brought Iris a fish. He did not stay to incubate their egg at the Hellgate Canyon Nest in Missoula but, hey – he brought a fish. I am grateful. I am not going to get mad and stomp my feet. This is, I believe, the third fish this season. Grateful.
Iris, you are so gorgeous! The oldest osprey in the world and you look better every year.
It was also a good day, so far, at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest. Mum brought in a fish at 11:59:52 and low and behold Dad flew in with another nice fish at 13:04. Both of the eaglets ate. When one chick is dominant and eating the most, it really helps when the bigger fills up and another lands on the nest right after. That way Mum gets food and hydration, too. Happy.
Big wandered about a bit and even did a ps before he thought about more food. All the while Middle was gobbling up the fish as fast as Mum could get it to the beak.
Big had eaten and was not in an aggressive mood. Nice.
Both chicks get to eat. The fish is finished at 13:27.
It has been raining in Ithaca, New York. Not a torrent, thankfully. Big Red is trying to keep those wiggly nestlings dry! Are they cooperating? Not always.
That’s L4 with its head raised up.
CalFalcons posted a short video of Alden incubating the eggs. Gosh, it is possible there will be pips tomorrow but, more likely, on the 6th! Oh, I hope that all three hatch. That would be wonderful. Despite the injury to Alden’s left ankle, he really seems to have adapted and is doing well. He certainly has been a terrific mate to Annie since Grinnell was killed.
Nancy has stepped up and is delivering prey items to the MN-DNR in order that her and E1 survive without Harry. Nancy is perfectly capable of fishing and hunting and E1 has its juvenile feathers so that it can regulate its temperature. We are fortunate that the eaglets were older when Harry disappeared eight days ago. (For those who do not know this nest, Harry disappeared. Chicks were extremely hungry. E1 was very aggressive to E2 and had been for a long time. E1 pushed E2 off the nest and E2 had to be euthanized.)
Unless something dramatic happens, we should expect E1 to fledge and for Nancy to have a new mate next year – unless Harry miraculously, at this stage, returns.
Despite the fact that a UFO, a catfish, and a sucker were brought on to the Notre-Dame Bald Eagle nest, ND17 still struggles to get food. Today there were three feedings and a bit of one before noon. At the last feeding, the small eaglet got food to create a crop. Another Relief but another struggling nest trying to get enough food for everyone. Did I ever say I wish these nests would not have more than 2 hatches?
During the first UFO feeding, ND17 stayed in submission. It did not even try to get up to have something to eat.
He did go up after and try to find a place to nibble on the prey item.
ND17 also stayed away from the second feeding.
The little one managed to get some fish at the last feeding. There was even fish left on the nest. Thankful.
Fish delivery at Dale Hollow. Looks like Middle gets it first and then later Big comes down to have some. Nice sharing. That is Big up on the edge of the nest behind the parent.
The leaves are lush and green at the National Arboretum nest of Mr President and Lotus. The day started off soggy and now the sun is shining on DCD9 and he has dried out.
Martin made two deliveries this afternoon to the Dulles-Greenway eaglet. The first was a duckling at 14:28 and this was followed by something else that I could not identify at 15:19.
One of my all time favourite wildlife rehabbers is reminding us to help the migrating birds. CROW posted this today on their FB page. Check your region and help! Thank you.
As predicted, we went from winter to summer on the Canadian Prairies. Everyone is outside – and most around me are having their first official barbecue of the season. The birds have not been happy with my clearing up their old seed and I suspect that Mr and Mrs Grackle once again have their nest in the wood shed which is why Mr Raven and Mr Crow have been around so often. My neighbour tells me that he saw about 20 Pelicans in a tree – sounds like the tree with the Great Egrets in Grenada to me. Summer is here. No spring. Just summer.
I hope this blog finds all of you well. Some of the nests are still struggling but life is good and it is pip watch for the Cal Falcons tomorrow!!!!!!!! Yes. I cannot wait to celebrate the three eyases.
Take care. Thank you so much for being here with us. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project, Dulles-Greenway Bald Eagles, ND-LEEF, Cornell Bird Cam RTH, CROW, NADC-AEF, MN DNR, and DHEC.
One of my favourite White-tailed eagle females is Milda. I have mentioned her before in my blog. Her nest is in Durbe County in Estonia. It has been a rough year for Milda since her long-term mate was missing and presumed dead in late March of 2021. Milda heroically tried to incubate the eggs without food for 8 straight days to the point of starvation. Several males offered hope and then didn’t. As if with a miracle the two chicks hatched and we all celebrated only for them to perish because of one of the males taking the food off the nest and then not covering them. But, that was last year, and there was hope for this one but again, disappointment when the eggs laid were broken by an interloper.
The females on the nests need a good strong partner who is working with them cooperatively!
The White-tail Eagle is so rare in Eastern Europe. Latvia, Estonia, and Poland are doing what they can to encourage breeding sites.
The White tail eagles are Haliaeetus Albicilla. They are the largest raptors in Europe and are located from Greenland to Asia. The Eagle Directory describes the plumage like this, “White-Tailed Eagles are almost entirely brown. They have a yellow-gray head, neck, breast, and lesser wing coverts, and the belly, thighs, and rump are dark brown. The flight feathers are close to black and their wedge-shaped tail, as their name would indicate, is white. The tibia are feathered, though the tarsi are not, and the legs and feet are yellow. The eyes, beak, and cere are yellow.”
As you can seen from the images of the White-tailed Eagles below, the plumage can vary and of course, we have to take into account the lighting and settings on these streaming cams. These eagles grow to be from 74-92 cm long with a wingspan of 193-244 cm. The females are larger than the males as in most raptor species and weight between 3.7 and 6.9 kg. The males come in at 3.1 to 5.4 kilos. Their life expectancy can be up to 36 years. They eat mainly fish but also hunt mammals such as rabbits and birds. I have seen them also be opportunistic and bring some carrion to the nest. Indeed, it was a crane brought to the White-tailed eagle nest last year that killed two wee chicks because that crane brought with it the highly pathogenic Avian Flu, H5N1. While the birds are listed as not being under threat in some areas, they are very rare in Eastern Europe and the UK is trying to reintroduce them. While they may lay 1-3 eggs, it is most typically 2 eggs that will be incubated by both parents (as you see below) and hatch within 34-46 days. Fledging typically takes place between 77-90 days after which the fledglings are depending on the parents for 4-6 weeks while they learn to fly and hunt.
In older White-tailed eagles, the head and neck can be almost white.
The adults in the images are in a nest in the Woziwoda Forest District. It is a special project of the Eagle Conservation Committee, the Woziwoda Forest District and Polish Radio promotion both old forests and the White-tailed Eagles. The nest is highly protected. There can be no activity within a radius of 200 m. Setting up the camera were problematic and the workers who installed it had to do this cautiously when the eagles were away.
The nest you are looking at is on a 140 year old pine tree at a height of 25 metres. This nest has been occupied for four years. It is known that there was one fledge in 2021.
For transparency, I do not know any of the history of this nest so I do not know whether to give you caution or not. I am attempting to find out. The setting is simply beautiful and if some of you have been watching this nest in the past, please let me know. The chat is in Polish and I understand eggs are being incubated but it is not clear how many or when they were laid by the information provided.
Here is the link:
Just an update on 2 other nests: The adults at Dale Hollow have brought in a teaser 2 bite fish and a small sucker early in the morning. Big ate both of them. No other food has been provided to the eaglets up to 18:30 this evening. I sure wish they would bring a whopper on the nest tonight for both. That said, Little Middle ate well yesterday and is OK. Sadly, Little Middle continues to pull that monofilament line. Thank you to ‘CA’ from Belgium who sent me this 15 second video clip. I could not see him dragging the nesting material, my mistake.
Annie and the new male continue to bond in the scrape box. I have caught him incubating a few times today. I sure hope he is a good guy to our Annie! I don’t think any male will ever fill Grinnell’s shoes – he was a huge character in every aspect of a raptor’s life but any bird who will care for Annie, Grinnell’s eggs and now on of his own is gold in my books!
Karl II has spent his 4th night in the Ukraine not far from Kyiv. Anne7 posted this image of where he was hunting for food this afternoon. I am so grateful for the Looduskalender Forum and their English pages and to the tirelessness of Anne7 to inform all of us of Karl’s whereabouts. I wish him to replenish his energy and get to Estonia! Fast.
You may find yourselves spending too much time looking at the Dale Hollow nest hoping for a miracle. I had to begin to pull back today. It is mentally exhausting. We cannot make the adults bring in more food and legions of you have contacted enough people to get help. ‘L’ has had a promising conversation with Al Cerere who asked the important questions. If help can come, he is the guy to make it happen. We simply have to wait and hope. My heart breaks for both of these eaglets but, of course, most especially Little Middle.
Our weather is set to soar to a high of 8 degrees Celsius. We will all be outside in our summer clothes! Well, not quite but it will feel like that. It was a damp day, cold to the bones British type weather today. Birds are arriving and I really hope to get out to see some of them in the morning tomorrow. My post will likely arrive late in the afternoon.
Thank you so much for joining me this evening. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures: Cal Falcons and Bieluki On line Bory Tucholskie.
Annie’s return to the Campanile warmed all of our hearts. A ray of sunshine in a weary world. I imagined that the researchers at CalFalcons were completely dumbfounded when they looked on the screen and saw her sitting on the ledge. We have seen female eagles disappear for a day or so right at the height of breeding season but this is not common in falcons. Thanks to ‘B’ who sent me the note about Annie’s return, we have an interview with CalFalcons about how it felt to see her return and what might have prompted her absence.
Mark your calendars. Cal Falcons will have a live Q & A session on Annie and Grinnell on 4 March at 2pm nest time. Here is the link. You can set the timer as a reminder. This should be a really interesting session.
The osplets at the Captiva Osprey platform have had their morning fish at 09:32. You can count on Little Bob to be right up front at the table – a mini-version of Ervie! Little Bob will do well in the world.
There is some condensation on the camera and their appear to be boats and some other animal ? in the water under the platform at times. This must make it difficult for Andy to get fish.
There’s our Little Bob right up front. Good for him.
The fish actually arrived several minutes before Lena started feeding at 09:32. It was very difficult to see the size of the fish or the species. All continue to do well.
Nearly 4000 people are watching and waiting for any news on a pip at the nest of Jackie and Shadow at Big Bear Valley.
Beautiful Jackie at first light.
Oh, I so hope these eggs are viable.
Shadows wears the same tight black jeans as Samson. Look at him. What a cutie. He would very much like some incubation time. I don’t know if Jackie is going to give in!
Pa Berry and Missy’s eaglet is walking strong and has most of his contour and wing feathers coming in or in. What a beautiful little eagle B15 is. S/he has been amusing itself by playing with one of the feathers in the nest.
B15 has really been working its wings lately – getting those muscles stronger and stronger by the flap.
No matter how big they are, thee aglets still like to be fed by a parent. Self-feeding is hard work when you are first learning.
Speaking of self-feeding. Remember when we worried about how dominant Jasper was at blocking NE27 from eating? We know that NE27 became the Little King of the snatch and grab. This morning a fish was delivered to the nest. NE27 went over to feed itself. Jasper sat next to it watching – not having a single clue how to go about eating. Jasper also did not beak NE27. I was thinking Jasper might be hoping that NE27 would feed her!!!!!! LOL.
Lots of preening with the first glow of the sun in the morning at the NEFlorida nest of Samson, Gabby, Jasper, and soon to be named NE27.
Beautiful image of our hero.
This is one beautiful eagle. Reminds me a lot of Legacy.
I couldn’t decide whether to cry with joy or laugh at loud. NE27 will be able to take good care of itself when it is out in the world. Yesterday, NE27 did not hesitate to steal food right out of Gabby’s talons. It was hungry and she was ignoring it and just feeding Jasper. I shouted ‘hoorah’ when that happened.
In the image below it looks like Jasper is wondering what in the world 27 is doing.
NE27 has learned to turn its back to Jasper, hold down the fish with its talons, and pull. This is an amazing little eaglet. And look at those beautiful wing and contour feathers coming in with the thick grey thermal down underneath.
Gabby is keeping a watchful eye. It won’t be long before 27 grabs the fish out of the talons again!
I have not been checking in on them but the WRDC nest with Ron, Rita, R1 and R2 seems to be just fine. We are going to have a lot of eaglets branching and fledging around the same time. At this point in time, I am not certain who is who on the nest.
Ron is feeding one of the chicks after the other was self-feeding.
I believe it is R1 self-feeding.
It is 2 degrees C and partly cloudy in Ithaca, New York. Our favourite Red-tail Hawk couple, Arthur and the Queen of RTHs, Big Red, are working and working on their nest. Since the problems at the Achieva Osprey nest with the squirrels and the eggs falling down into a dark abyss, I have noticed that there are layers of soft material alternating with twigs so as to build up a strong and tight nest cup on this light stand where…in two weeks, we could have eggs!!!!!!! I will be deliriously happy as will thousands of others.
You can see how much this couple has been doing. That nest is nice and deep now with a well defined egg cup.
Here comes Arthur. He is an amazing mate for Big Red. As this couple moves into their 6th year being together and their 5th breeding season, Arthur has proved that he is really up to the task.
Putting on the brakes. Once I was privy to watching Arthur flying through the buildings at Cornell to catch some prey. He was like a jet going between and around the buildings. Very impressive.
Arthur carefully arranges the twigs as he thinks Big Red would like them. She will, of course, come and finish the fine tuning and decorating.
The birds carry on with their lives. They give me solace and hope.
Thank you for joining me today. My granddaughter is coming over later and the plan is to cook for her. You might not well hear from me until tomorrow unless something extraordinary happens – like a pip at Big Bear! Take care everyone. Stay safe.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Cornell Bird Lab, Captiva Osprey and Window on Wildlife, NEFlorida Bald Eagles and the AEF, Berry College, the WRDC Bald Eagles, and Friends of Big Bear Valley.
