Tag Archives: three osplets on Foulshaw Moss nest

Saturday Excitement in Bird World!

Oh, my day was made perfect when I woke up to see that both Tiny Tot and Little Tiny Bob both had had fish this morning.

The Cumbria Wildlife Camera has no rewind feature and shivers went up my arms as I struck it lucky for the late afternoon feeding! Little Bob is right in there and is starting to get a nice size crop. Warm fuzzies and tiny tears.

Here is a very short video of Little Tiny Bob getting some good bites.

If you look carefully, up by Blue 35’s head, you will see Little Tiny Bob with its nice crop. Big Bob is facing the opposite way.

Tiny Tot slept on the natal nest perch at the Achieva Osprey Nest in Florida last night. He went to sleep without any fish but woke up hopeful this morning. He kept flying on and off the nest in expectation. And then at 10:26:49 Jack delivers a fish! Tiny Tot has not been forgotten. Isn’t it just lovely? Warms my heart for this little one.

There is always a bit of a scramble as the juvenile grabs the fish out of the parent’s talon.

Tiny Tot is enjoying his fish in peace. No intruders and no siblings there to annoy him.

Liz Brackens reports some exciting news from Loch Arkaig. Last year, Louis and Aila raised three fabulous Ospreys. Louis is a fabulous provider. He would even fish at night and take on tandem feedings with Aila to ensure that little all of the chicks including Little JJ7 grew and thrived. Sadly, Aila did not return this year from her winter migration. Louis waited and waited at the nest. He bonded with another female and they took on nestorations on a different nest – not the one Louis shared with Aila that has the camera. Everyone was happy that Louis had found a new mate. This morning Liz reports that the nest behaviour has changed. Normally Louis would bring a fish to the nest and the new female would take it off the nest to eat it. Louis would then incubate the eggs. But this morning that behaviour changed. Louis brought a fish to the nest, stayed for a few minutes before going to the perch. The female ate the fish on the nest. Do we have a hatch?

The 1000 Islands Environmental Centre in Wisconsin posted a video of their four eaglets. They are doing fantastic. There are three parents. In this nest, there are two females and one male. Some of you may watch the Love Trio Nest on the Mississippi where there are two males, Valor I and II and Starr, the female. I grabbed a screen shot from that video for you. There they are all four of them getting ready to branch and then fledge. Goodness. I cannot imagine trying to hunt and feed four – good thing there are three parents!

This morning Aran arrived at the Glaslyn Nest where he collected the morning’s gifted fish. He then went on to defend the nest against intruders. It is wonderful that he is healing. Let us all hope that his wing is in excellent shape when winter migration comes in September.

And there is more fledging news. Big Bob on The Landings Osprey Nest on Skidaway Island near Savannah fledged this morning at 8:22. He is going to hover and land on one of the branches above the nest. There is a fish delivery about half an hour later and Big Bob had a bit of a time figuring how to get down to the nest and eat. Oh, these fledglings are so funny.

Here he goes hovering. He will land on one of the branches of the tree off camera and make his way to a different branch where we can see him.

Oh, Big Bob wants some of that fish! But how do he get down now that he is up on the branch? That seems to be his quandry. Of course, he will figure that out. Hunger is a great motivator.

After doing a lot of calling, fretting, and pacing on the branch, Big Bob jumps down!

There are going to be a lot of fledges. This morning at the Pittsburg Hays Bald Eagle Nest both H13 and H15 fledged. Early in the morning while the IR is still on you can see the three – one on the nest (H13) and two branched (H14 and 15). You might recall that this nest is a big event for the Pittsburg community. This is the first pair of Bald Eagles that have bred in 150 years. H13 has already fledged on 6 June. He was 75 days old. Today, H14 and 15 fledged. They are 77 days old.

The juvenile on the nest below is H13 having a food drop.

There will be a lot more fledges in the coming week. Things are really ramping up. Thank you for joining me today. It is a beautiful sunny 24 degree C day on the Canadian prairies. The birds are so happy that the temperature has dropped from the heat wave last week.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I grab my screen shots: Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Achieva Osprey, Cornell Bird Lab and Skidaway Audubon, Pittsburgh-Hays Bald Eagles and Pix Cam.

Tuesday Nest Hopping

Well, dear Tiny Tot did return to the Achieva Credit Union Osprey Nest this morning. Made me feel all joyful! He was on the perch and a bird buzzed him at 12:09:58. A full seconds later Tiny Tot leaves the perch. Was he in hot pursuit? Or was he just fed up being annoyed? The adult intruder had been on the nest earlier, too, when Tiny Tot was not there but it seems to be the Mockingbird that was a nuisance. Small birds love to annoy Big Birds. And how much longer will Tiny come to the nest? I wonder.

That adult intruder comes in every so often just to check things out. When Tiny arrives, it leaves! Tiny has made an impression – don’t mess with Tiny! Good.

Here comes Tiny heading for the perch at 11:07:27! You don’t see the adult Osprey – it took off the minute it saw Tiny arriving. Jack really does need to agree on a hefty amount of fish for this little one for securing the family nest all the time. :)))))

Oh, it is so nice to see you, Tiny Tot.

Tiny Tot is on the perch. If you look to the right and slightly up you will see the nuisance bird flying away from the nest.

Tiny flew off at 12:10:28 to the left.

Across the continent, Rosie is on the Whirley Crane nest in Richmond, California, with the trio. The chicks were banded on 4 June.

Isn’t that just a gorgeous location for a nest? Richmond is a great provider. This is their fifth season as parents. Rosie will stay around til the trio are well and truly fledged and independent then she will migrate. Richmond does not leave the area in the winter so he will be there helping the fledglings if necessary until they leave the territory.

Those white storks in Mlady Buky are really growing. Just miss a day and they look all grown up! And look how clean and dry they are. This is one of the best feel good stories of this year – it really is. I would love to wake up every morning and be surrounded by people who care about all living things.

Look carefully. You can see the throat pouch in the image below. Remember storks make a lot of sounds but they do not have vocal chords like songbirds. Instead, they clatter their bill together very, very fast and the noise resonates in this throat pouch making it much louder – like an amplifier.

Looking at how quickly these three are growing made me realize that I also need to check on Karl II and Kaia’s three storklings. They are the Black Storks in a nest in Southern Estonia.

Here is Kaia looking down at the three of them. Oh, I am so hoping that enough food arrives on this nest so that the little third hatch will survive. Kaia is a new mother and Karl II’s old mate, Kita, laid 5-7 eggs and they could not feed them all. Kita was known for tossing one or two of the small ones off the side of the nest. It is understandable when there is a food shortage but it looks like Karl II might have this under control and if Kaia only lays three eggs then they might fledge all their storklings without hardship.

Karl II and Kaia take turns feeding and watching the storklings. That is Kaia above. She has no bands on her legs – makes her easy to recognize. Those long legs help her wade through the long grasses and water in search of food.

Here comes Karl II. See his band. Kaia moves off the nest for her break to eat and forage for food for the storklings. So everything is just fine on this nest also. So far the day has been good for the birds I have checked on.

Taking turns.

In Wales, the camera operator gave everyone a good tour of the landscape that is the territory around the nest of Aran and Mrs G. For those of you unfamiliar, Mrs G is the oldest Osprey in the United Kingdom. She is 21. Her and Aran lost all three of their 2021 hatches due to Aran being injured while protecting the nest. He lost some primary feathers and could not fish. The community provided a fish table. Everyone ate but the wee ones not having food for 48 hours meant they could not be saved. Aran and Mrs G are getting their strength back and Aran is now flying much better. They are a strong established couple and will return next year from their African migration to try again.

Isn’t this just the most idyllic setting? There is a beautiful pond, an old stone fence along with cows and sheep. You can almost ‘hear’ the landscape!

All the rain made the Welsh countryside emerald green.

Now look carefully. Can you spot the Osprey?

Gorgeous landscape around the Glaslyn Osprey Nest.

The Two Bobs at the Rutland Manton Nest look almost as big as Maya and Blue 33 (11). Looks like it is time for some fish!

Blue 33 brings in a nice fish for Maya and the lads.

Now this image is really making me happy. The other day Idris got one of those mesh bags that holds produce – like oranges – caught on either his talons or a fish. It got into the nest with Telyn and the two Bobs. Thankfully no one was injured. The staff were watching it closely and if necessary, they would remove it. Otherwise they were going to wait to remove the mesh when the Bobs are banded at the end of the month.

Here is an image of the Two Bobs and the mesh the other day. You can imagine how worrying this was for everyone. You can also see the flat crops of each of the osplets, the down off their heads and the feathers growing in, and their deep amber eyes. They are in the reptile phase and for some, this is not so attractive as when they have either their natal down or their juvenile feathers. They really do remind us that Ospreys were around 50 million years ago – and as my son tells me – scientists only figured out that dinosaurs had feathers a few years ago so are they birds? or dinosaurs?

Another way that humans endanger wildlife is not disposing properly of our rubbish.

And this is today. Oh, what a relief. I hope someone finds that mesh and disposes of it properly.

Mesh is gone fron the Dyfi nest! Yeah.

Wattsworth has brought in a really nice fish to Electra on the Cowlicks PUD Osprey Nest in Washington State. I sure hope she takes the time to feed each oproperly. There was an awful lot of aggression on this nest yesterday and I am going to put it flatly on Electra for the lack of feeding when she had fish in hand on Sunday.

Wattsworth delivers a big fish – now feed your babies til they are bursting Electra!

And speaking of little bobs – oh, my. The third hatch at Foulshaw Moss of White YW and Blue 35 is really a wee lad. Everything is fine as long as food is not around but there is also a lot of aggression and it seems that there needs to be more fish delivered. Come on White YW!

Bob Three is really so tiny. He is cuddled up with sibling 2 having a nap. Of course sibling 1 is so big that it wants all the food but – Bob 3 is still here with us today and that is a good day in my books.

Wee little hatch 2 at Foulshaw Moss Nest in Cumbria.

The only child of Dylan and Seren is just in fish heaven. Growing up with no competition, s/he will need the parents to help it understand how to survive in the wild – the fight for the fish! I wonder if they will do that?? Certainly Bald Eagles train their only eaglets by pretending to be surrogate siblings. Samson did a wonderful job with Legacy on the Northeast Florida nest in Jacksonville.

All that chartreuse is moss. The first time I looked I thought it was another mesh bag. Is it just me or does this nest need some tidying?

And my last check in, the two Bobs up at Loch of the Lowes with Laddie LM12 and Blue NC0. Gosh. They are looking good, too.

It is so nice to stop in and find that everyone seems to be doing alright on a Tuesday. No telling what Wednesday will bring but for now, these birds are surviving.

I want to thank ‘S’ for writing to me and telling me that Tiny Tot had returned to the nest. It is much appreciated as are all your letters. Tomorrow I am going to explain something I learned today – the difference between the Migratory Birds Treaty of 1917-18 and the Wildlife Protection Acts of each individual province including my own.

Thank you for joining me. Smile. It is a great day.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Mlady Buky, Eagle Club of Estonia, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Loch of the Lowes, Dyfi Osprey Project, LRWT and Rutland Water, Clywedog Osprey Project, Carnyx Wild, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Achieva Credit Union, Bwyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife Trust, Cowlitz PUD, and Golden Gate Audubon.