Tag Archives: Thunder and Akecheta

Lindsay fledges, Little Bit 17 gets a whole fish, and other news in Bird World

17-18 June 2022

I really wish that I could send Louis and Dorcha some of our fine weather. This nest gas endured treacherous weather – horrific weather. Weather that you would never wish on your worst enemy. The only thing they haven’t had is _ _ _ _. Starts with an ‘S’ and ends with a ‘W’. I am not going to say it in case it happens. (I think they had that early on but not recently). Poor thing. Dorcha can hardly hold on and she is trying so hard to protect those precious babies.

You can’t see it in the image but the rain is pelting down and the wind is gale force. Not just blowing hard. Gale force.

The pounding rain has stopped for now at Loch Arkaig. I can hardly believe it – Louis has brought in a fish just after 0500. I hope the wind does not blow Dorcha off the nest like it has done on another occasion. She is trying hard to feed the Bobs and have some fish herself. Gracious.

Someone said they need to move to the other nest where it is more protected. Maybe they will after this year at this one!

Laddie LM12 brought in a super nice fish for Blue NC0 and the two osplets. It is early, early in the morning and this is brilliant. The day is starting off just great at the Loch of the Lowes.

Oh, it is such a nasty Saturday morning at the Dfyi nest. Idris hasn’t even left to go fishing yet. Everyone is wet – Telyn and the chicks are hoping the promised rain will not happen! It sure is beautiful and green but I would not want to visit western Scotland and Wales in June – all that rain and cold down to the bone.

Aran is away fishing. Mrs G is flying off for a break and the trio are sort of waking up. There is a fish already on the nest.

Dylan has brought Seren a fish for the family’s breakfast. It looks like it is a really rainy cold day at Llyn Clywedog. Sun please!!!!

Maya and the three Bobs at Rutland are waiting for Blue 33 to deliver breakfast! The question on everyone’s mind is: when will they ring the Bobs? Oldest Bob is 40 days old today. Ringing needs to take place before 45 days if it is just the Darvic Ring. If it is a satellite pack too, then from 40-45 days. Will they ring them on Monday?

There is good parenting DNA running through CJ7 and Blue 022. First time parents. Blue 022 shows up at 04:22 to give CJ7 a break and then he is off to get the breakfast fish. What a beautiful couple. I should note that it is incredibly foggy at Poole Harbour this morning.

The fog is lifting. Let us hope that Dad gets a fish soon.

It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Port Lincoln, Australia. Both Mum and Dad are on the barge. Does anyone think that they might actually lay their eggs earlier than last year? We will wait to see.

So why do you think that Lindsay doesn’t want Grinnell Jr looking out the stone work?!!!

You see Lindsay wanted to fledge first —— and that is precisely what she did! Lindsay landed on top of the library!!!!!

There was a lot of activity on the ND-LEEF nest this morning and one incident, right at the start of the morning, made all of us just drop for a few minutes. A prey delivery came in at 08:09:22. The adult flies into Little
Bit in the middle of the nest and then ND16? lands on Little Bit. All of that caused me to hold my breath for a moment ——along with anyone else watching closely at that time.

Little Bit was just minding his own business on the nest with 16 over at the rim and 15 up higher in the branches.

Adult arrives. You can see Little Bit behind and under the left wing and chest of the adult.

That is 16 on top of Little Bit. That little yellow foot on the right under 16 belongs to Little Bit.

Just look. Little Bit’s entire wing has been pulled over. Oh, gosh. My heart is sinking by now.

Gosh. Little Bit seems to have had everything that could happen – happen – to him. Here he is out sniffing around wanting to make that steal!

Little Bit gets that prey item and is still working on it when at 10:06:50 a fish is delivered. 16 gets it but walks away. 15 doesn’t even come down to eat and 17 takes that fish!

16 left the fish to moved up to the parent like it wanted the adult to feed it. Can you imagine when Little Bit looked over and saw that whole fish!!!!!!!! It is at the bottom right of the ‘1 Foot’ indicator.

Little Bit ate almost the entire fish. He walked away with a little left that 16 took.

I would say that Little Bit deserved that fish after what happened with the first delivery. He also deserved it because he has worked so bloody hard eating all the scraps off the nest and dried fish and Raccoon. What an amazing eaglet he is –so glad that he was not injured earlier.

At the Cornell Red-tail Hawk nest, L4 is on the fledge ledge. It is windy.

L4 is really getting some air.

Ospreys have been arriving and one has been moving sticks around the Cape Henlopen State Park nest that say the adults dead or disappear and the three chicks starve last weekend.

Everything looks good at the Glacier Gardens nest of Liberty and Freedom. the wee ones had their breakfast and are napping with Mum.

There was some excitement at the Redding nest of Liberty and Guardian. It ‘appeared’ that Star had fledged but later it was confirmed that it was Sentry flying off and then he returns chasing Liberty who arrives with a fish.

At the National Arboretum nest of Mr President and Lotus, one of the adults is keeping a close eye on Takoda who is running up and down the branch on the right hand side. It is windy. Will today be the day for Takoda to fly?

Ahote and Sky are on the natal nest this morning at the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta. The adults will know where Kana’kini is and they will often now deliver prey off the nest to the fledglings if they are elsewhere.

Sky has been doing some great hovering but has yet to take that first flight.

If you haven’t voted for Richmond and Rosie’s two 2022 hatches, here is the announcement. You have 2 days to do so and it is free. Join in!

The little hawklet living with the Bald Eagles on Gabriola Island has branched! Well done!

There are so many nests to cover but that is it for this morning. We could see some more fledges Saturday afternoon. Congratulations to everyone at Cal Falcons – to Annie, Alden, an Grinnell – and to Lindsay for her first flight. It is OK to fly now Junior!!!!!

Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care all. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: GROWLS, Cornell RTH, Cal Falcons, LD-NEEF, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Explore.org, SF Ospreys, NADC-AEF, Glacier Gardens, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Friends of Redding Eagles, Poole Harbour, LRWT, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dfyi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Postcode Lottery, and the Woodland Trust.

Tragedy to tragedy. Late Monday and early Tuesday in Bird World

13-14 June 2022

The Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey nest kept me occupied for a large part of Monday . It is a very complicated situation. There are two intruder birds. They are distinctive in the very thick eye band. One has quite a good necklace and the other does not. Their eyes are close and often look like when we say ‘snake eyes’.

As the sun was setting both of the adult birds were on the nest. You can see their distinctive eye bands that are thick and go right to the shoulder. Except for their necklaces you might want to think they are twins.

One of the birds has some feather damage. It is the one who moved the chicks out of the nest. At first I thought the little chick had its wing caught in the talon but watching the bird try to remove and then in a second try achieve getting one of the bigger chicks off the nest – it was deliberate. She just didn’t have a good hold on that wee third hatch and it is probably – or was – at the base of the platform.

This bird has some interesting feather damage in at least two areas. I hope to get someone who knows about feather issues to examine the photo. It looks like a section around the scapula V on the right has been cut or torn or there are feathers missing. You can see the feather on the right hanging. The bird has flown on and off the nest carrying the chicks but returns quickly so she is just dumping them close by.

It appears that there is a third bird that is around the nest that these two are concerned about and it could be the Mum of the three dead chicks. Of course, this is simply speculation on my part. We have not seen that bird and none are ringed.

There are no adult ospreys on the Cape Helopen Osprey nest tonight, 13 June.

I have received word from ‘A’ and ‘EJ’ that the two intruders were at the Henlopen Osprey nest this morning and at one time a fish was brought and removed. The female intruder has also removed the third dead osplet from the nest. ‘A’ mentions the third osprey that has been bothering me. Is it Mum? is she injured? If it is her – our hearts go out to her. She has sadly lost her entire family.

I remember in an online discussion and chat with Sean and Lynn at Cal Falcons, they mentioned that the problem with the success of reintroducing these species is that there are too many birds. There are territorial fights, etc. Perhaps also it is the amount of habitat loss due to population growth and building, climate change and being able to get adequate food that is also a problem. For the Osprey there is then the issue of trees. Unlike Bald Eagles, Ospreys like to have their nests at the top of a dead tree. So many trees have been lost to deforestation and wildfires and in my community if someone sees a dead tree, it is cut down. Only in the marshes and mangroves do I see them. In South Australia they are busy building platforms in good places for the Ospreys if they have seen Ospreys nesting like Turnby Island. The new platform is up and the Ospreys are already on it along with most of their old nest. Do we need to get building more platforms? And if lakes and streams can be stocked for people to go fishing, what about the birds? It does appear – from many nests – that the success of both the Osprey and Eagle reintroduction programmes have caused issues for established nests – some outright tragedies. There must be some solutions.

Little Bob at the Loch of the Lowes was shut out from the evening feeding. Indeed, he had not eaten all day Monday that I am aware. Both Little and Middle stayed well out of the way of Big and just let him eat. Then Middle went up. By the time Little got up to the table the fish was gone. If this is a problem with Laddie not bringing in enough fish now – then Blue NC0 needs to step up the game and go fishing.

Big ate almost all that fish and has a big crop and so does Middle. Poor wee Bob. They can last for several days. We have seen this on many nests but it is time Little Bob had a good feed. Fingers crossed for Tuesday.

This is Blue NC0 defending the nest and chicks against the intruder.

The situation at the Loch of the Lowes has not improved. There is a ringed intruder and as such Laddie and Blue NC0 are both dealing with that. A fish finally came in at 16:00 but both Little and Middle Bob are getting pounded. Little Bob did not even raise its head and beg for food. There are any number of people worrying about this nest. I will be checking on it later. Some of the Osprey groups are already posting thoughts for Little Bob – he cannot go much longer if he is to live. I do not think he will make it either. So sad. Middle ate yesterday.

I started making a list of all the sadness at the nests this year and will post it later today. It has been a year of tragedy.

The West End fledglings – Ahote and Kana’kini – are really using their wings and learning how to land. Two of the chicks on the natal nest watch one of the siblings (I believe it is Kana’kini) fly off the nest and land on Transmitter Rock.

Perfect landing.

Kana’kini was still on Wray’s Rock Tuesday morning. She had flown there on Monday. Tuesday morning Ahote and Sky were on the natal nest when a fish delivery came in at 05:42. Waiting for Sky to fledge.

Kana’kini and Ahote have since flown off leaving Sky on the natal nest.

At the Two Harbours nest of Chase and Cholyn, Lancer will be 10 weeks old (70 days) tomorrow, the 15th. Cholyn is still flying in to feed their big girl!

There are big storms moving through the area of the ND-LEEF nest. The camera is out of sorts. This could seriously impact any prey deliveries for tomorrow. Little Bit 17 really needs a good meal tomorrow.

The system is going to impact a large area that have nests.

The camera is down because of the storm at the ND-LEEF nest. The eaglets are ND15 75 days old, ND16 74 days old and Little Bit ND17 is 70 days old. It sure would be a shame to lose this little fighter now. What a time to have a storm – backed up with days of little food. My goodness.

I haven’t checked on E1 and Nancy at the MN-DNR nest lately. Nancy made a prey delivery, E1 mantled quickly and was very aggressive to the adult. This is normal behaviour in eaglets getting ready to fledge.

There was a lot of strong winds and rain over night at the MN-DNR. The system is due to be about the same as the one in my city. It will calm down and may begin again. E1 survived it fine – thank goodness.

At the nest of Big Red and Arthur, it appears that the only eyas left to fledge is L4. Little cutie pie. And little cutie pie took advantage of having its big siblings off flying and getting prey elsewhere to eat up two prey items on the nest and get an enormous crop! Sometimes there are advantages to having your other siblings fledge. This might also work for Little Bit if everything came come together to get the parents able to find prey to deliver. I understand that this time of year at this particular nest prey deliveries suffer.

Big Red’s kids do not have that problem. Arthur is excellent at delivering food and Big Red is often hunting herself. They did a marvellous job this year. Amazing.

L4 could fledge. He has 5 going on 6 dark stripes and he is 47 days old. remember the average age of fledge is 46.5 days at this nest.

I love the stretching exercises after the meal. He stretched both sides like this.

The UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys are not sleeping on the natal nest tonight.

The adults are dropping off fish on the nest and both of the fledglings, Big and Middle, make their way there when they see the parents flying in that direction. Big had the fish and then Middle got tired of waiting and took it. Both had a decent feed. These two are doing fantastic.

It is always good to remember that what you want to see are the chicks being fed by the parents on the nest after fledge. At other times, they will feed them off nest like they did with Little MiniO at Captiva. Often times the fledglings bolt and well, they need to get home. You might recall if you watched the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest that Legacy (2021) was missing for about six days. She was so glad to find home she didn’t leave for another month!

It is early morning in The Czech Republic and Betty is feeding the four White storklets at the Mlade Buky nest. Oh, look. They are getting their pin feathers. Fantastic. Note: The smallest, the 5th storklet was eliminated on Sunday.

It is also lousy weather in Estonia but Karl II has been out fishing for these babies. Did you know he flies 10 km to get the little fish? It is monitored by his tracker.

Liz did a lovely – and short video (I always appreciate her short videos getting right to the heart of the matter) – of the three Black storklets of Jan and Janika’s in care late Tuesday having a meal. They are doing so very well. I think that you are witnessing an intervention that is going to go very, very well.

All three osplets on the nest of Aran and Mrs G in the Glaslyn Valley are doing quite fine. Just look at that face of Mrs G. I certainly would not want to mess with this Osprey Mum. In the second image all have crops after their afternoon tea time meal.

Idris taking the head off of the tea time fish for Telyn and the three Bobs. There is definitely not a problem at this nest!

Little Bob is in the middle and Telyn has been feeding him – and he will be fed til his crop is full! (or they run out of fish)

Llyn Brenig Ospreys have had their troubles. The third hatch died but the two surviving osplets appear to be doing very well. Let us hope that the horrible weather that has swept through the nests dissipates and gives these families a break!

The two surviving osplets at the Loch Arkaig nest have been enjoying all that nice fish that Louis brings in. The tea time one was a little too close to the lads or lasses but both got fed. Big Bob looks like he could be a problem. Let us hope that he isn’t! There is always fish on this nest of Dorcha and Louis.

They have had their problems up at Llyn Clywedog but it looks like those are behind them. Dylan brought in a huge Mullet for Seren and the three Bobs at 16:00:03. Just look at their crops after their tea.

That is a hop, skip, and jump through the nests with troubles and some of those that are doing so well. Seeing those three at Llyn Clywedog after the fear that Dylan was missing just warms the heart.

Last, Alden delivered what appears to be a pigeon. Annie gets it and this translates into a food fight between Lindsay and Grinnell, Jr. Neither have fledged yet but it is just morning in California! Fledge watch at Cal Falcons.

We may never know what ultimately happens at the Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey nest until we see who is on the nest for the next breeding season. If it is Mum who has been trying to get her nest back, let us hope that she either does so safely or she leaves the territory in good health to find another nest and mate.

I am working on two different pieces for you. One of Wildlife Rehabilitation Centres and their importance and another on the birds that we have lost since last 1 July. It is sadly a very long list. I had hoped to have the one on the rehabilitation centres finished this week but the events at some of the nests took over.

Thank you for joining me. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages or videos that I have captured and used for this blog: Liz M, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Cornell RTH Cam, ND-LEEF, Friends of the Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dfyi Osprey Project, MN-DNR, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Cal Falcons, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky White Storks, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, and NOAA.

L3 fledges at Cornell and other news in Bird World

13 June 2022

The third hatch of Big Red and Arthur fledged at 11:29:32. One of the older siblings had just taken off after eating some lunch and L3 followed right after them.

What a great flight! Look at that take off.

Cornell put out a video of the fledge! Oh, look – get your legs up! Just beautiful.

One of the FB chatters SAH got a photo of L3 in the trees where she landed. Thank you!

Ahote and Kana’kini had been venturing out to check out their surroundings. They returned home a little while ago thinking that Thunder had brought in some lunch!!!!!

The head of Scottish Wildlife sent this out to subscribers today. Thank you to ‘S’ for forwarding this to me. It seems that they are worrying about the state of the small chick, too. These chicks are getting their juvenile feathers. All of the nonsense should have stopped. It is noted that Laddie has cut down on his fish deliveries which is causing the issue. I remember last year Blue NC0 went out and fished – she is a good fisher and really did great supplementing the male’s deliveries. Those chicks were a little older. Fingers crossed and toes for the wee one.

There is no problem with fish deliveries at the Glaslyn nest of Aran and Mrs G. It seems that Mrs G no more than gets the kids fed and Aran is taking the head off another fish! The osplets are 16, 15, and 12 days old and are right in the Reptilian Phase. They are getting the dark wooly down that will help them thermoregulate their temperatures. there is Little Bob right in the middle. Oh, how they have grown.

The two bigger ones are really exploring around the nest. Little Bob looks like he is going to climb out of that nest cup soon.

It is late and Aran has another fish that he will be bringing to the nest either for the bedtime meal or for first thing in the morning. Way to go Aran.

Life is good at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn. All three Bobs were packed with good fish before bed today. They are 19, 18, and 16 days old today.

The three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog are in their third week after hatching. They love looking out beyond the nest and thankfully the early angst over Little Bob is gone. Dylan is delivering fish regularly and life is good with Seren and the kids. They are now at the stage where predation is decreasing. Yippeee. The early signs of a Goshawk in the area were worrisome.

There are now two chicks at RSBP Loch Garten! The second arrived about 04:11 Monday morning and they were being fed at 19:38. Congratulations AX6 and Mrs AX6! It is lovely to have Ospreys at Loch Garten. Hoping for a very successful summer for all of you.

This is the link to this camera:

The Bobs at Manton Bay are now past the 35 day mark and they can be ringed anytime. It will be fabulous to find out who is a male or a female -. They have been a cuddle bundle to watch this year. Blue 33 kept them full and Maya fed them – and except for two flapping fish incidents early on – the three have survived those huge fish deliveries!

At the ND-LEEF the food has been very scarce. Little Bit had that bit of fish this morning for about a minute. Every one of the eaglets is hungry. All of them! The news this late afternoon is that ND15 has branched. Branching is when the ‘bird’ gets fully out of the nest and onto a branch. Branching normally takes place before fledging which is the first flight.

There has been more activity late in the day at the Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey Nest. The bird that I believe is a large female intruder who has taken over the nest has been poking around the chick to the left as you view the nest. She finally lifted it and because of the size, the poor dead little one fell on the side of the nest box.

She is doing the quiet peeps that she has done all weekend. Ospreys normally do not move the chicks from the nest once they are this large.

I continue to find this just super sad. ‘EJ’ informed me that on one of the FB postings a dead osprey had been found on a trail near the nest about the time the male went missing.

It is not often we get such an upfront view of a tragedy on an Osprey nest – the loss perhaps of an entire family and the intruder trying to figure out what to do with ‘what’ is on the nest. She does not appear to recognize the dead chicks like the Mum would or us – as the once vibrant babies on the nest. She is also not strong enough to carry them off the nest. I think that she is also very hungry.

In another nest twist, Lady Hawk posted a video of the hawklet being raised by the Bald Eagle family on Gabriola Island. This was 17 hours ago.

The worry over Little Bob at the Loch of the Lowes and the happenings at the Cape Henlopen nest wear on one after a bit. Then there is the worry over Little Bit 17 getting something more to eat today. It seems that this year has been anything but smooth for many of our nests. Some of you might remember the Collins Marsh nest in WI last year. Little Malin was force fledged and was found later dead on the ground. Either the adults from last year did not return from migration or they took up another nest, perhaps closer to more fish. At any rate, there are no ospreys nesting on the top of that tower this year, thankfully.

When I need a smile I think of a few of the birds that we have met this year. Ervie is one that always gives me tears of joy. What a special third hatch he has turned out to be. He has been flying around Port Lincoln staying around the hotel and the silos. PLO posted his lastest tracking and it is for the 13th of June. Always good to see that tracker moving! Mum and Dad have been on and off the barge. Oh, how I wish they would let Ervie make an appearance!

Lots will happy between now and tomorrow. Let us hope it is all good! Thank you for joining me. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for the screen cams, FB postings, and videos: Lady Hawk, Cornell Red Tail Hawks, Explore.org and Institute for Wildlife Studies, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, Suzanne Arnold Horning, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyXwild, RSPB Loch Garten, LRWT, LD-NEEF, Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey Cam, and Port Lincoln Ospreys FB.

Late Sunday and early Monday in Bird World

12 June 2022

UPDATE: The smallest, the 5th hatch storklet, at the Mlade Buky nest of Betty and Bukacek was eliminated on Sunday. I had missed this.

It looks like it could be another rainy day on the Canadian Prairies. We are certainly making up with moisture this spring for 4-5 years of drought. Everything is green and beautiful.

Well, the weather is taking its toll on other nests in Scotland and Wales on Sunday. Those long, cold rainy days with a dip in fish deliveries are making some of the Bobs cranky – and aggressive. Big Bob on the Loch of the Lowes almost pushed both Middle and Little Bobs off the nest. Little Bob has also missed out on some meals. I sure hope this weather changes and these chicks settle down.

At tea time on Monday, Telyn went out of her way – finally – to make sure that Little Bob had fish. I was terribly happy to see this as the biggest Bob is working hard to exclude Little.

Idris and Telyn at the Dyfi nest made sure that all three of the Bobs were fed well before bedtime on Sunday. It has been a stinker of weather over in Wales, too.

Monday’s tea at Dyfi was a Sea Bass followed by the delivery of a mullet by Idris to Telyn and the kids. The weather had considerably improved.

My goodness. Aran caught one of his whoppers! He cleaned off the head before delivering it to Mrs G and the kids.

Mrs G fed herself and the kids. Big Bob is in food coma and Little and Middle are up at the table.

There was lots of fish left over when Mrs G finished so Aran decided to have a really good meal before he got on the perch. All appears to be good.

The wind is still blowing a bit on the Glaslyn nest at tea time. All of the chicks are wide awake. Look at how good Little Bob is doing. He is standing at the back.

We have learned that a good nest can change in the blink of an eye – or weather, intruders, lack of prey. So far the osplets on the nest of Blue 33 (11) and Maya are doing fantastic. They are now all at least five weeks old and they will be ringed soon. Ringing normally takes place between 35-43 days in the UK. Any later and the osplets could bolt and any earlier and the leg would still be growing.

The weather has improved at Loch Arkaig – thankfully. Louis has brought fish in and has covered up Little Bob with some sticks brought in and from the nest. The surviving two Bobs appear to be fine this morning. They benefited from being under Dorcha during the cold rain and winds.

The rain appears to have stopped at the Llyn Clywedog nest of Dylan and Seren. Dylan is on the nest and in the early afternoon there was a male intruder with a blue Darvic ring that was flying around the nest. He was quickly sent off.

The three storklets continue to thrive in the care of the Veterinary School. Forest sounds have been added to their environment.

A very good article has been translated and placed on Looduskalender with the Forum for the Black Stork nest of Karl II and Kaia. The information could be applied universally to nests that depend on fish for their main food item. The specific nest that they are talking about is, however, that of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest.

“Black Stork – Ciconia nigra

The older chicks hatched on 28 May and turned two weeks old today. The third chick is considerably smaller but hatched three days later than the older two.
Mother Kaia and father Karl are managing to feed their chicks well, despite the youngest being significantly smaller than the others. We know and have observed that Black Storks sometimes carry out infanticide, i.e. the parent birds remove the weakest chick from the nest. The main reason for this is a lack of food. Chicks must be very well fed because they will embark on a long and dangerous migration in August on their own, but this is how black storks do it. Less than a third of this year’s chicks will be alive in a year.
What are we not seeing on the webcam?
In Karula National Park, where this black storks nest is located, Kotkaklubi has been organising clean-up campaigns for many years to clear the banks of the brooks of the Koiva river basin of undergrowth so that the birds can access them. Small natural streams quickly become overgrown with vegetation, but black storks are happy to feed in such remote places. Adult birds will also look for food in ditches where fish can be found during the breeding season. Still, these ditches may dry up during both spring and summer droughts, threatening breeding success. Therefore the birds need to be able to visit different feeding areas. Adult BS also forage in meadows, catching frogs and occasionally rodents. We can see on the webcam that fish is their primary food.
In addition, Urmas Sellis has installed a fish basket with live fish in a stream about ten kilometres away from the nest, and a trail camera has recorded the visits of black storks there.

Today, 13 June, the chicks are respectively 16, 16 and 13 days old.

The three storklets of Karl II and Kaia are waking up to a whole new day!

PLEASE NOTE THAT ON SUNDAY, BETTY ELIMINATED THE 5TH STORKLET. It looks like another rainy mucky day for Bukacek and Betty and their five little white storklets in Mlade Buky. I cannot look at the adult standing there without thinking about the plastic decoy with the storklets of Jan and Janika. Looks just like that decoy!

The storklets are getting their juvenile feathers.

A prey item has been brought to the ND-LEEF nest at 08:36:54. ND 15 stole it from ND16 and at 08:57:49 Little Bit 17 steals it, eats some, and then 16 gets it. They are all hungry but Little Bit is right in there!

Little Bit 17 is still ‘the king of the snatch and grab’. Fingers crossed for a lot more prey today!

It is extremely sad to see the Cape Henlopen nest with the three dead osplets of the long bonded pair on an empty nest. It remains unclear what happened to the 20 year old Dad and Mum from the nest after the intruders took over late Friday. An entire family lost because of intruders? So sad.

Will the intruders return? We wait.

Both fledglings were on the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest this morning. Middle had control of the fish delivery. The parents have been excellent at bringing the two lots of fish during the day. They look to be in great health and their flying skills – and landing – are improving every day.

At 08:41 all four of Big Red and Arthur’s hawklets were on the nest. L2 fledged first followed by L1. L3 spent Sunday up on a higher level of the tower but it has yet to fledge along with the youngest L4.

L3 is 49 days old today and L4 is 46. The average of fledge at Big Red’s nest is 46.5 days. We could be looking at another two flying today or tomorrow.

Takoda is 69 days old today. On Sunday he had branched up to the height where Mr President normally perches. Early this morning he made it up to the cam which made for some lovely closeups just for us! Fledging is close at hand.

All eyes are on Star at the Redding Eagle nest. She is branching farther up and this early morning seems to have put out the sound on the streaming cam. As far as I know, there has been no sighting of Sentry since he fledged.

Could this be your day to fly Star?

Spirit is so beautiful. She is 3 months and 9 days old today. She hatched on 3 March and fledged on 31 May. She came down to visit the nest before taking off into the Big Bear Valley at 06:13. She might have been looking for breakfast!

There is one more fledge to go at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagles nest and that is H18. Both H16 and H17 fledged on the 10th of June within an hour and a half of one another (06:20 and 07:50). That third fledge could happen any time.

Both eaglets at the US Steel nest are considering branching! What a gorgeous view.

Ahote and Kana’kini were on the move this morning. What a beautiful camera view of both of them. Sky is still on the natal nest. The time is o7:03.

An early morning view of the San Jose City Hall Peregrine falcons.

At 03:58 Annie was sleeping in the scrape with Lindsay and Grinnell Jr. Precious moments. Fledge will come before we know it. Goodness. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Alden came into our lives???? It sure seems like it. Annie and Alden have been super parents and I am thrilled that these two chicks got a chance to make their own way in the world. It could have been dramatically different without Alden.

Fledge watch begins for Lindsay and Grinnell Jr tomorrow – 14 June!!!!!!

It is early morning on the Canadian Prairies. We have had so much rain that the landscape could be the green of Ireland! It is impossible to see the birds and squirrels and even the small bunny in the jungle that has grown. Birds can be seen flying in and out and the feeders are empty by noon so they are in there – just covered by all the branches and leaves.

There may be several fledges today. There are eyes on many, many nests!

I hope that your Monday is a good start to the week. Thank you for joining me. Take care!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or websites where I took my screen captures: Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Woodland Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, LRWT, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery and Scottish Wildlife Trust, CarnyXWild, Eagle Club of Estonia, LizM, Mlade Buky, ND-LEEF, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys Cam, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, NADE-AEF, Friends of Redding Eagles, Pix Cams, FOBBV, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, San Jose City Falcons, and Cal Falcons.

More tragic news in Bird World

12 June 2022

UPDATE: BOTH PARENTS AT THE CAPE HENLOPEN STATE PARK OSPREY NEST ARE MISSING. THE ADULT ON THE NEST IS AN INTRUDER. INTRUDERS WERE AROUND FIGHTING WITH MUM ON FRIDAY. THEY HAVE TAKEN OVER THE NEST AND REFUSED TO FEED THE CHICKS. THE THREE CHICKS, THUS, DIED OF STARVATION.

I did not expect to be writing another post today but there has been another tragedy today.

The youngest chick, Little Bob, of Louis and Dorcha at the Loch Arkaig nest has died of hypothermia (best guess). After a really good feeding Little Bob went over to the rim of the nest and it appears he got his foot caught. Dorcha called. Little Bob did not – could not – get free to get under her in the very cold wet weather. He died several hours later. So very sad. Little Bob was healthy and had really eaten his fill at that 11:44 feeding. Condolences to all at Loch Arkaig and to Louis and Dorcha.

Dorcha had taken the opportunity in a break in the weather to feed the wee chicks. There is Little Bob with his light grey head on the far right.

It turned rain and miserable right after the feeding and remains so. Send all your positive wishes to this family. Let us hope the other two osplets stay safe and thrive.

At the Redding Eagle nest of Liberty and Guardian, Sentry fledged yesterday, Saturday, at 19:42. Sentry has not been seen since the fledge. He was 84 days old. Ground crews are searching for him. Not seeing him does not imply in any way that there is anything wrong. With all of the foliage it is difficult to see birds – even ones a metre tall!!!!!!!

Meanwhile, Star continues to branch and has been eating a fish brought into the nest.

Another nest to send your positive wishes for so that they find Sentry and he is OK or he flies right back into the nest!

Gosh, Star is such a gorgeous eaglet. Is it my imagination or the colour settings on the camera that Star and Sentry both appear to have the most beautiful ebony plumage especially on their heads? Star will be fledging soon. She will be 84 days old next Wednesday, the 15th of June.

Takoda has now branched as high as his dad, Mr President! All of these nearly ready to fledge eaglets are so beautiful. You can imagine that the adult is keeping a close eye on Takoda!

There is good news in Estonia at the Veterinary School at the University of Life Sciences. The three Black Storklets are eating and acting the same way that they would in the wild – grabbing fish from one another and being very lively! Very grateful to Urmas and Dr. Leivitis for their care of these young vulnerable storklets.

If you wish to send Dr Madis Leivitis a thank you note for what they are doing, this is his e-mail. I am certain he would appreciate hearing from you and for the moral support of the international community. Here it is: mleivits@gmail.com

The three of the West End nest of Thunder and Aketcheta. The fledglings Ahote and Kana’kini – and soon to be fledgling Sky – on the nest wanting fish!!!!

The latest image of fledgling Kana’kini below the transmitter. Look hard. She really blends into the landscape. Ahote has been on the nest and I believe he had an entire fish to himself! Way to go Ahote!

The Mum at the Cape Helopen State Park Osprey nest appears to be in shock. She comes and goes, always with little quiet cries. I wonder if she will bring in some material to cover the osplets like Dad did at the Captiva Osprey nest when Big died? Will continue to monitor but please if you see anything, let me know. I just feel so bad for her – and I wish that attitudes would change so that help would be forthcoming. No one in Estonia has ever taken Black Storklets into care but Dr Madis Leivitis did and is hoping that he can show that they can thrive in care and fledge to live a normal life in the wild. And dear Smedley lived at the Audubon Centre in Florida for 28 years and he was an Osprey. I am afraid I am long passed the statement that ‘Ospreys do not do well in care’. Who first said that? When did they say it? Is it a statement that has been passed down as fact for decades? Maybe it is time to try it again. We have an opportunity to help and we should be trying. Sorry for the rant. — Osplets could have been taken into care or fish could have been provided. — Even if the osplets died in care at least we could walk away and say we tried.

It is late in the day and the sun is just starting to go down. It looks like Mum with that beautiful necklace has tried fishing. Her head is still wet and slick. I do hope she was successful. Keep her in your most positive thoughts. We know her mate was 20 years old and was at this nest since 2006. We do not know how old Mum is or how long they were together (I can’t find it but if you know, please tell me). It is difficult to know what grief looks like. Unlike the other Osprey Mums this year who had other chicks to care for when tragedy hit, this Mum has lost her entire family.

A study in Scientific American printed in 2013 discussed grief in birds. Ducks have drowned themselves after the loss of a mate, a swan did the same thing, Crows and other Covids have roadside funerals. Magpies cover their departed with grass. Of course, there are other examples. You have seen many yourself. Shock would be the best way that I could describe this Mum’s behaviour. It is so sad and as one reader pointed out – “so entirely unnecessary!”

At the ND-LEEF nest, Little Bit 17 has eaten well today. Dad has delivered what appears to be another raccoon and Little Bit is keeping back but waiting to see if pecking sibling 16 leaves anything. Fingers crossed.

Little Bit moves up closer giving the hint that he would like some of that Raccoon. Little Bit has become quite the raccoon specialist these days.

Little Bit 17 hurried over to the porch area around 18:16. Did he find something?

Little Bit is around and back and up and at 18:56 he is at the top of the nest eating ‘something’.

Good luck, Little Bit 17!!!!!!!!! You are our inspiration.

Thank you for joining me for this update. It has been a tough year but let’s look to the survivors – and the ones like Little Bit 17 who have struggled to live – and be thankful they are still with us.

Take care everyone.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: EMS, ND-LEEF, Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey Cam, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery, and Woodland Trust, NADC-AEF, and Friends of Redding Eagles.

Late Friday and early Saturday in Bird World

10-11 June 2022

Oh, it is Saturday. I hope everyone is doing well. In Winnipeg we had a huge unexpected treat. At least 100 Canada Geese in a single formation flew over the City at 1930 heading north. Are these late arrivals due to the flood? I also saw two other smaller V formations with about 39 geese in each. What a treat. It was mesmerizing and they were so high up you could barely hear their honks. No pictures other than the extraordinary one emblazoned in my mind.

Orion, Martin and Rosa’s eaglet, fledged from the Dulles Greenway nest on the 3rd of June. What a beautiful flight it was! Since this he has been perfecting his take off and landings at the nest. What a gorgeous fledgling.

‘L’ sent me two links to the Osprey cams at Patuxent River Park. One nest has one nicely chubby but hot osplet and the other has three. It looks like the river is covered with lily or lotus pads.

Looking at those images reminds me of the fostered osplet placed on nest 2 last year and it falling off the edge into the water! What a scramble it was to find someone to help because the park office had just shut down. Thankfully the chick was saved by a dedicated staff member who listened to all the messages and took her canoe and partner out to find the little one. So grateful.

Kana’kini fledged on the 10th of June. She is currently above the nest on a stone cliff. It looks like an excellent place for a prey drop from either Thunder or Akecheta – or will they want her to return to the nest?

Here is a video of Kana’kini’s fledge and her return:

Oh, wow. Lancer, Chase and Cholyn’s eaglet is now 9 weeks and 3 days old on the 11th of June. Or in days – 66 days old. We have a little while to go before fledge but not long.

There could be a fledge by Star or Sentry at Liberty and Guardian’s Bald Eagle nest in Redding. Both eaglets are high up in the nest tree looking out even though an adult is on the nest.

Spirit is doing what all eagle fledglings should do – return to the nest for food provided by the parents. Spirit flies in several times a day. She eats, sometimes she sleeps duckling style – flying has to be tiring. And sometimes she sits for a bit with one of her parents and sometimes both. How privileged we are to be able to watch that little check develop into this strong juvenile.

Three fish were delivered to Spirit today – wow. Way to go Jackie and Shadow. The last image shows Spirit with a huge crop.

Food is a great motivator and Spirit loves her dinner. Jackie and Shadow are very smart to keep feeding their big girl very well and keep her coming to the nest til she is really ready to leave. So grateful for their wisdom.

Mr President and Lotus’s eaglet has also branched and will be fledging soon. This reminds me. I had a question today about the adults feeding their eaglets. First, Takoda had a fish around 0600 on Friday the 10th. The adults will withhold food to teach the eaglets to eat everything and store it because they do not know when more food will be available. They also withhold food to encourage fledging. Likewise, they will feed an eaglet to full and bursting if they do not want them to fledge at that particular time. The adult eagles are very wise – they do what is necessary when using food as a motivator.

It is not the first time in British Columbia, Canada’s most western province, that a Bald Eagle took a hawklet into their nest for dinner and wound up raising it. The other hawklet was in a nest in Victoria. It fledged. David Hancock and Christian Sasse often presented video clips and discussions about this phenomena. That one could be seen catching and eating fish. This one is on Gabriola Island just off the coast of Vancouver Island a little north of Victoria. The hawklet has been in the nest for a week and is being fed by both the eagle adults.

The eagle is feeding the hawklet Saturday morning. Lovely.

Please note that there is no rewind. You can watch the action here:

http://www.growls.ca/eagle-nest-cam/?fbclid=IwAR1xUTd-2UO6cFQnR1ZA8HtcImZUmzNOf5EXhP4Tq7RmeNOR5uLtnAshmUg

Idris landed on the Dfyi nest at 04:19. Chicks just waking up – a little earlier today – ready for breakfast.

Lots for everyone. Big and Little are up front while Middle is going to sleep a bit longer.

The Dyfi are looking for name suggestions for the three osplets of Idris and Telyn this year. Here is the announcement:

There have been two more fledges at the Manchester Peregrine scrape. Both Cinquey and Blue flew out this morning. This leaves Colby – the baby – who isn’t such a baby anymore!

The three little storklets of Jan and Janika have been seen begging at the decoy mum. Amazing.

The weather is nasty up in Scotland. Louis did deliver a fish and now he is hunkering down with Dorcha and the kids on the Loch Arkaig nest. Let us hope this system goes through quickly. They are such wee babes. I hate this prolonged wet weather. It causes so many issues.

The bad weather has left the Loch of the Lowes. All that remains is the very strong winds. Laddie has brought in a fish and the two big ones were eating first with Little Bob hanging behind. He has now moved over as the older ones are getting fuller.

It has dried out for Seren and Dylan and the three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog. They have also been fed and all is well. Everyone is growing – even the little one.

It has been windy at Glaslyn and Aran has been fishing. Mrs G might not like flounder but the osplets don’t care!

Meanwhile down in Rutland it is a gorgeous day. Blue 33 has just delivered another fish to May and the osplets.

Both fledglings at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest continue to return happily to the nest to be fed. They are really honing their flying skills and getting those wing muscles strong. Fantastic to see them both doing so well.

The two chicks of Richmond and Rosie in SF Bay are certainly not ready to fledge but they are becoming more and more interested in what is happening around them at the Richmond Shipping docks. They are 25 and 24 days old.

Lady and Dad have their second and final egg at the White-Bellied Sea Eagle cam in the Sydney Olympic Forest. I have not seen an official time posted but it appeared to be laid around 01:12 on 12 June nest time. Now the long wait during incubation!

Other nest news: If you are a fan of Loch Garten Ospreys, there was a hatch this morning! And for those that follow the Royal Albatross, OGK has been confirmed to have returned to feed QT chick. Fantastic news. Little Bit 17 is waiting with the two older sibling for more food deliveries. Dad brought in a fish around 08:20. He did get some raccoon yesterday which he ate on the porch side. Fingers crossed for some big fish today for all of them! At the Decorah North Bald Eagle nest, DN15 fledged. Mr President and Lotus were on the branches at the National Arboretum nest where Takoda had a nice fish very early this morning – around 0559.

Quite a busy Saturday.

Thank you so much for joining me today. It is a beautiful day in Winnipeg with the promise of rain tomorrow. The wee bunny is still visiting the garden – it is safe and away from houses that have dogs or cats. It is wonderful to see him eating away at the grass. Dyson has been seen along with Scraggles but it is difficult to get photos because the lilacs are simply full of leaves. It is a real forest out there for them this time of year!

The Hibiscus are also blooming. Thankfully all of the critters leave the flowers alone so that the butterflies and bees can enjoy them.

Take care everyone. See you tomorrow! Have a fabulous Saturday wherever you are!!!!!!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or video clips, FB posts where I took my screen captures: Dulles Greenway, Patuxent River Park, Explore.org and The Institute for Wildlife Studies, Friends of Redding Eagles, FOBBV, NADC-AEF, GROWLS, Dyfi Osprey Project, Peregrine Networks, Eagle Club of Estonia, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery, and the Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, LRWT, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, SF Bay Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, and the Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre.

http://www.growls.ca/eagle-nest-cam/?fbclid=IwAR1xUTd-2UO6cFQnR1ZA8HtcImZUmzNOf5EXhP4Tq7RmeNOR5uLtnAshmUg

Early Friday in Bird World

10 June 2022

One of the nicest things about living on the Canadian Prairies this time of year are the lilacs and the flowering fruit trees. The scent of the lilacs fills the entire garden. There are two other really good things. The second is that the mosquitoes have yet to arrive. Third is – a new bunny is in the garden. It is ever so tiny and sweet. He would fit in your pocket. He is loving those creepers that are just coming up. Nice and tender! They are just slightly different poses. It is so nice to see a new bunny coming to eat the plants!

At 08:40:03, the first hatch, Kana’kini, of Thunder and Akecheta fledged off the West End nest in the Channel Islands. She landed near the transmitter just like Ahote, her youngest brother did. Congratulations!!!!!!!

There she goes!!!!!!!! Ahote and Sky watch as their big sister takes flight. What a wonderful sight.

There is an update on the Black storklets of Jan and Janika’s. It is nothing short of excellent news and is simply brilliant. Urmas and Dr Leivits at the Veterinary School have set up a Black stork decoy that stays with the storklets all the time – like a Mum. Then a ‘step-father’ called Toru comes in at regular times to feed the storklets. You will notice both of these in the images below. The storklets are eating much larger fish now. They are also preening. Just tears! This is the first time that Black storklets have been removed and raised off the nest. I wish Urmas and Dr Leivits all the best – it is wonderful to see these three little ones getting a chance to survive.

Just look at the size of the crops on those chicks!!!!! Every one of them, including the wee baby is doing so well.

The Golden Eaglet, Margit, is adorable. Nothing sort of a real cutie-pie. Margit is the chick of Kalju and Helju. Margit hatched on the 25th of April and today she is 46 days old. The adults have brought in pine boughs and Margit has been playing with them – life on a nest needs some enrichment and some pest control. The pine offers both!

Notice the ear behind the eye and that beautiful black beak with the yellow cere and legs. Take in that deep rich yellow. This is a very healthy eaglet. The down is gone from the head and the juvenile feathers are coming in around the neck and will by next week, I think, be appearing more on the head. Such a beautiful eaglet.

Kaia has just finished feeding the three Black Storklets at the Karula National Park nest she shares with her mate, Karl II. Look at the little one – such a nice crop. They are all doing well. Once in awhile Kaia rolls the fourth egg but nothing more.

Karl II has brought lunch in and the little one did a cute tog-o-war.

I am so grateful to ‘EJ’ for sending me the video link to Dad Kestrels eyases – the last – fledging. This has been a beautiful success story – a collaboration between a human and a raptor – to make sure that the hatched eyases thrived to fledge. Congratulations to Mr Kes and to Robert Fuller.

There are times when you really do wonder if those crops will not pop! Richmond and Rosie are keeping both of these osplets full and fuller at their nest on that WWII crane in the Richmond Shipping Yards.

Iris was on the nest for a few minutes on Thursday. It is always nice to see her! Always.

Last year I discovered that there are ten osprey nests in Finland. The image of the first nest is known as #3. It is located in the West of Finland and in area known as Satakunta. The nests is man-made. It was rebuilt in 2016. The male is Ahti. Him and his former mate, Helmi, fledged two chicks in 2020. Helmi sadly did not return from migration in 2021. Ahti has a new mate named Nuppu. She is four years old having hatched in 2018. The couple have three eggs in their nest for this season.

This is the link to their Ahti and Nuppu’s streaming cam

The SF Ospreys would like you to vote on the final combinations of names for Richmond and Rosie’s two osplets for 2022. Here is the information. It is free. You can only vote once. Why not join in? You will need to cute and paste the URL if it does not work by just clicking.

Port Lincoln Osprey Project put up a beautiful nesting platform on Turnby Island. Ospreys have been breeding there for a long, long time but they have had to make their nests on the ground. This has meant that there has been predation by foxes that go over from the mainland when the tide is low. This new high rise platform is meant to halt the ability of the foxes to eat the eggs! Here are some more images of that magnificent effort by PLO. And it only took the resident ospreys, Marrum and Partney, who have already made some decorating additions and have mated! Sounds like a huge success!

The platform is lowered into position by the helicopter.

The old nest – as much as was possible – was taken onto the new platform for the Ospreys.

Nest accepted by Marrum and Partney!!!!!!

Middle was waiting on the light stand calling loudly. A beautiful fished arrived at the UFlorida-Gainesville nest at 11:21. Just lovely. Both of the fledglings are returning to be fed by the parents while they get much better at flying and landing.

So far there has been no prey deliveries at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest but sadly, something did happen. ND15 – Little Bit’s friend on the nest – branched early this morning. 15 has since returned to the nest and I caught s/he allopreening Little Bit 17. Wish for fish!!!!!!!

What a beautiful site – all five of the White Storklets on the nest beside their Mum, Betty! Bukacek and Betty are doing a heroic job of keeping these five fed and —— I continue to say – with no brood reduction. The wee one is growing well. Fingers crossed.

The wind is blowing up a storm in Wales this morning. Telyn is keeping all of the chicks on the nest and has managed to give them all a good feed! Well done Idris for fishing in that strong wind!!!

The bad winds were also up in Scotland accompanied by rain. No one thought Laddie would be able to get a fish in but he did. Bless his heart.

These male ospreys really impress me. Aran has been out fishing in the strong Welsh winds and has a meal on the nest for Mrs G and the three.

Hats off to Dylan up at Llyn Clywedog! He has been bringing in the fish for Seren and the three. It is rainy and wet and miserable there, too. Check out the crops on Little Bob!!!!!!! This is so nice to see. It appears that the earlier aggression on this nest has calmed down.

It is really bright at Rutland Water. Maya has fed the three Bobs and – look at how much of the nest they are taking up now. There are those beautiful juvenile feathers coming in. 5 weeks old. Gorgeous.

The three eaglets of Marko and Miina are still scuffling and the oldest and middle Bob go at it once in awhile. The nest is in Southern Estonia and there is a fish farm and a river near by. There have been intruders but the couple seem to keep them at bay.

Little Bob may be anxious but he has learned to wait his turn – and then all is well!

Little Bob’s turn!!!!!!!! Being in the back means you don’t get beaked. Smart.

The second peregrine falcon at the Manchester, NH scrape fledged. Congratulations Colum! The time was 05:49:49. In other news, the first fledge, Clem, was picked up by Maria Colby. Clem is said to have just eaten a quail all to himself. Colby is expecting to put Clem back in the nest box on Monday so he can get a proper fledge when it is time.

There is Colum at the end of the perch.

Flapping his wings!

So much happening this morning! The activity on the nests just seems to be amping it up the last few days.

Thank you so much for joining me this morning. Take care all – and have a wonderful day. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and their FB pages where I took my screen captures: Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, Mlade Buky Storks, ND-LEEF, Montana Ospreys, SF Ospreys, Saaksilve 3, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Peregrine Networks, UFlorida-Gainesville, Rutland Water, LRWT, Friends of Loch Arkaig and Woodland Trust, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Ospreys, CarnyXWild, Robert Fuller Wildlife, and Dr Leivites.

Middle and L1 Fledge and other news in Bird World

8-9 June 2022

Oh, what a day Wednesday was and Thursday is starting out to be just as exciting. We have two fledges so far. Middle at UFlorida-Gainesville and L1 at Cornell!!!!!

First, Big threw a hissy fit on the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest. It was so unexpected that even Mum was shocked at the oldest siblings response to Middle wanting to take her fish! Of course, we have seen this before but, in particular I am thinking of the Port Lincoln Lads of 2022. They were so polite on the nest before fledge and then after all had fledged the competition and the dust ups started. Middle is yet to fledge but he could – just needs to be ready to do it.

The action came at 16:39:45. I am grateful to ‘R’ for sending that time stamp to me. A fish arrived. Big got it – Middle wanted it. Big wanted it more. Mum couldn’t believe what she was seeing!

At 07:03:59 on 9 June Middle took his first flight off the left side of the nest!

Congratulations to Mum, Dad, and Middle and a big thank you to ‘R’ who sent me the time stamp!!!!!! Way to go Middle!

There is excellent news coming out of Lewes, Delaware. The female Osprey at the Henlopen Nest has been fishing since her mate has gone missing. It has been a couple of days now and there was concern that she might not fish. The first time she went out she came back empty taloned. But nevermind. This Mum has demonstrated very clearly that she can provide for her osplets! Today she delivered five fish to the nest. The three osplets were stuffed beyond being stuffed. Their crops looked like they would pop all afternoon. I really hope that Mum had some fish for herself, too. It is hard work playing all the roles. Fingers crossed for this family.

Here comes Mum with a really nice fish. Everyone was hungry.

Five fish. That is possibly a better delivery rate than most males.

Here is another one. Some of the osplets still have crops from the earlier feeding.

Mum must be very tired.

As the sun is setting just look at the crop on the chick that is still eating. The others are full and have walked away. No one is going hungry.

Well done Mum. I felt so sorry for her. In the evening she was calling and you could imagine that she might have seen an osprey and thought it was her mate. So sad for her. Let’s all send good wishes to this nest! And I will remind myself to check on them every day for everyone.

Little Bit 17 has been on a roll for the last few days. I often call him warrior but Lightning would be more appropriate. He is that quick to steal prey. At 21:05:17 for at least the third time today, Little Bit stole from one of the older siblings.

But first. At 19:46:16 Little Bit 17 has a nice crop. Still easy to spot with the feathers missing on his head. Squint. That crop is there!

At 21:05:02 an adult lands with a very nice fish. Little Bit is on the left and a big sibling on the right. It looks like the big sibling has the fish. But do they?

There are wings everywhere!

Middle ate for a full 7 or 8 minutes before 16 – the sibling that beaks Little Bit – took the fish from him.

Little Bit ate well today. He managed to snatch and grab several key pieces of prey showing his great skill. When he wasn’t doing that he was searching the nest cleaning up every flake of fish on it that the others had dropped. A survivor.

Checking on a sometimes neglected nest (shame on me) – Barnegat Light. Just look at those two with their mouths open wide for that fish! Cute.

If you missed it, Lady and Dad have their first egg for the 2022 season at the Sydney Olympic Park. It happened yesterday at 17:15. This is really exciting but I wished they had waited til all of the hawklets of Big Red and Arthur are all fledged. Normally they do. I got a lovely note from ‘F and M’ explaining to me that Lady and Dad are actually two weeks early laying this first egg! That is, indeed, very interesting. I wonder if the other nests in Australia will also be early? Diamond and Xavier at Orange, Mum and Dad at the CBD-367 Collins Street in Mebourne, Mum and Dad at the PLO Barge?

I find this early laying very interesting. Andy and Lena have struggled to have successful hatches and failed due to predation at the Captiva Osprey nest in Florida. This year they laid their eggs one month early and beat the Crows who normally eat their eggs. Is there a reason Lady laid these eggs 2 weeks early? could it be to avoid the Currawongs chasing their eaglets out of the forest? or is it going to be extra hot in Sydney? We wait to see if we can find out.

At the West End Bald Eagle nest, Ahote (the youngest) fledged six days ago. He has finally returned to the nest yesterday and has since been flying around. Everyone thought it would be Kana’kini that would go first. Now it is Sky that is hovering high.

All three Amigos lined up on the nest rock. Will Sky be the next to fledge?

This is also interesting. We know that Kana’kini is a big female like her Mum, Thunder. At the Red-tail hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur, anyone watching the nest believed that L1 was definitely going to fledge first. In the end it was L2. That got me to thinking. Normally the large females do not fledge first. I want to do some data crunching in the next couple of days and see how many times in the last ten years the first hatch fledged first at Big Red and Arthur’s nest.

Here was Big Red feeding L4 tonight. The other two are still ion the nest just at the other end. And if you are wondering and I am certain that you are, at least one prey drop if not more were made to L2 on top of the Rice building. Big Red does not like to feed the eyases on the nest after they fledged. Last year she did feed them because of K2 who was not well. K2 is the only chick that has not fledged in all of Big Red’s mothering – what 17 years? That is a lot of little hawks out in the world by this amazing Mum.

At 09:26:24 L1 flew!!!!! You could only see her on cam 2. L3 is watching as L1 leans down.

She is off. You can just see the wing under the light box.

L1 landed in the Fernow trees across the street.

L3 and L4 look on with amazement. Congratulations L1 – you are a fledgling. Well done Big Red and Arthur – two down, two to go!

Big Red comes in and feeds the two remaining chicks on the nest.

The Dyfi Osprey Project zoomed the camera in nice and close and we can really see the difference in appearance between Middle Bob and Little Bob. Middle Bob is in the Reptile Phase while Little Bob is losing the down on its head and you can see that the dark feathers are only starting to come in. Big Bob ate earlier and is in a food coma while these two enjoy this really nice fish Telyn is feeding them.

It is just getting light in The Czech Republic. Bukacek and Betty’s five storklets are quickly growing. The little one is very, very smart. He gets into the center of the group when there is a feeding and he gets lots of little fishes. Fingers crossed for no brood reduction here.

Karl II and Kaia have three beautiful storklets at their nest in Estonia.

You will remember that Urmas Sellis retrieved the three surviving storklets and the one deceased one when Jan did not return to the nest with his mate, Janika. A full report has come in and this is the text that was posted in Looduskalender, the English Forum for the Black Stork nest. This is very informative and you can see what good care is being given to the storklets and why it was necessary for an intervention.

Have a read:

News about our Black Storks chicks by Delfi
“The three storklets of the stork pair Jani and Jaanika, who became famous in front of the nature camera, were taken to the animal clinic of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, where they are taken care of by Madis Leivits, a veterinarian dedicated to wild animals. Despite the shock caused by the loss of parents at such an early age, birds recover nicely and have the prospect of living their future lives in the wild. Exactly what happened to the missing male bird is still unclear.

Last week, the male bird, Jan, disappeared and the female, Jaanika, had to take care of the storklets alone – it is customary in stork families for the male to take care of the food side and the mother is responsible for warming the storklets’ nests.

As the weather was not warm in the summer either, Jaanika’s attempt to leave the nest was fatal for the third storklet and it died. “The pattern of behavior of the female bird became exceptional. Instead of keeping the storklets warm at night and looking for food in sunny weather, she did the exact opposite,” explained Madis Leivits, a veterinarian at the University of Life Sciences, who has been taken care of the three surviving storklets with the help of the Kotkaklubi.
According to him, the male bird has a very responsible role in the family of black storks. “The father is a language of weight, the diet of the sons depends on him,” Leivits said. “Even if the female bird leaves the nest, the storklets will not be able to maintain their body temperature in the rain. What exactly happened to the male bird, we can only speculate.”

However, considering all the circumstances, the surviving storklets are doing quite well. “The two largest ones are growing visibly and have already gained more than a hundred grams in a few days. The third, the smallest, is a bit more passive,” Leivits described. “Of course, it can’t be called great, because a person can’t be as good a parent to an animal or a bird as they are to their own.”

He added that storklets are fed with a special decoy stork
– a decoy that resembles a black stork to make it safer for the storklets. They mainly have fish on their table. “Black stork differs from white because it finds its food mainly in water – fish, frogs, aquatic,” he explained. The path of the three storklets will probably lead to an artificial nest, where they will be gradually prepared for independent living and the natural environment. “Fortunately, they are quite early sons, they have high hopes for themselves,” said Leivits, who said that sons born later in the second half of the summer tend to be prey for birds of prey and predators. “Under artificial conditions, we can also feed them strong enough.”

On 7 June Ervie’s tracker reported that he was flying out further into the ocean from his normal Port Lincoln, Australia haunts. You may recall that it was believed that the lack of a talon on that right toe of the right foot might only allow Ervie to catch Puffers – he brought a much larger fish to the nest shortly before Mum booted him off the barge. Here is Ervie’s 7 June report.

In other Port Lincoln Osprey Project news, the platform for Turnby Island is being erected. It is hoped that Calypso (2020 PLO hatch) and her mate might make this their nest. It certainly looks sturdy! Fingers crossed. Wouldn’t it be grand? We could watch one of Mum’s chicks begin her own family.

This has been a very long newsletter. So very much is happening! Thank you so very much for joining me today. Take care everyone. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or their FB posts where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Osprey, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell RTH, Dyfi Osprey Project, Mlade Buky, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Barnegat Light Ospreys, and Henlopen State Park Ospreys.

Wednesday Morning in Bird World

8 June 2022

It is mornings like this when there is a beautiful blue sky and the sun is pouring down that you wish the birds would just pause but, they don’t! Everything is happening at once!

L2 has fledged at the Cornell Red-tail Hawk nest on the Fernow Light Stand. Big Red and Arthur – congratulations for your first fledge of the 2022 season. The unexpected flight caused many to think it was L1. It wasn’t. However, L2 flew like a pro right over to the Rice Building where later prey was delivered. Well done! L1 will no doubt follow soon!

L1 is over by the fledge ledge. L3 and L4 are ducklings sleeping in the nest.

This is the earliest that Lady has laid her egg on the White-Bellied Sea Eagle (WBSE) nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest. That time was 1737 on 8 June. Dad was on the nest giving Lady support. Congratulations!

There has been a fludge at the Manchester NH Peregrine Falcon scrape. Clem had been flapping her wings and slipped off the edge at 0600:21. She has been located outside the gym at the BS Tower. I wonder if she will be picked up and put back into the nest??

Izzi – the 2020 hatch of Diamond and Xavier at Orange, Australia – was placed back in the scrape by Cilla Kinross, the researcher at Charles Sturt University.

The two Cal Falcons are growing and growing and far too soon they will be fludging or fledging. Here is a short video clip of the morning feeding.

Then a pigeon meal arrives. Check out the size of these chicks as they run to get fed.

The three Black Storklets in the nest of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest in Estonia are doing great. The third hatch is getting stronger and the parents seem to always make sure that it gets fish! Today it even ate a large one. The 4th egg did not hatch.

Ah, Kaia is so lovely.

All storklets accounted for at the Mlade Buky nest in The Czech Republic of Bukacek and Betty.

Many have wondered (or worried) that fish were not being delivered to the West End nest and that Ahote is hungry. In fact, Thunder and Akecheta delivered 9 fish to the nest yesterday and Ahote had his fill. All of the eaglets are fine. Ahote took another flight and returned to the nest.

At the University of Florida-Gainesville Middle has been taking the prey before Big could get to it! Growing, growing confidence. At least two big fish meals have arrived at the nest before 0830. Middle ate the first one and was more interested in what was happening off the nest when the second arrived and Big took it. Right now, Middle is still on the nest and has not taken its first flight.

Things continue to go well for ND17 at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest. Three fish had been delivered by 1024. Little was stealing bites and then took the fish tail from 15 at 09:43:46 and ate it. The day is starting off wonderfully. Fingers crossed. I really hope that yesterday was a transition and that the parents will make sure Little Bit gets food.

Little Bit looks under the tail of 15.

Then Little Bit moves around 15.

Little Bit – as fast as Lightning (would be a good name for him) steals the fish tail!

As quick as he stole it, he gets back to his safe spot on the porch! Well done Little Bit 17.

The day is going to get busier. It just feels like half a dozen or more birds could fledge. I owe you some image of the ducklings and goslings and will try and get those up later today or tomorrow.

Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures – and for the videos they post: Cal Falcons, ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Mlade Buky White Storks, Eagle Club of Estonia, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, Cornell RTH, and the Peregrine Networks.

Late Monday and early Tuesday in Bird World

6-7 June 2022

‘R’ sent me a lovely note. She had trouble with the link that I provided for the fundraising by the Eagle Club of Estonia for the three surviving storklets of Jan and Janika. If you had difficulties, too, please try this link that ‘R’ sent to me:

https://www.leetchi.com/c/kotkaklubi

There is good news coming from Robert Fuller. The first of the six kestrels raised by Papa Kestrel fledged on 6 June. Oh, what a joyous day! No one knew what would happen when Mum Kestrel did not return. The males are so tuned in to providing prey and security that feeding and brooding chicks can be problematic. Imagine trying to be both Mum and Dad to six fast growing Kestrels. You might recall that Robert Fuller removed the youngest and smallest three. They were kept warm and fed regularly to give them a good start when they would be returned to the nest with their bigger siblings. Father Kestrel learned how to feed his chicks and brood them. The first flight of one of the six really shows how working together -humans and raptors – success can be achieved.

Here is a quick video of that first fledge:

So far, Bukacek and Betty are still feeding five White Storklets on their nest in Mlade Buky. No brood reduction has taken place yet despite the youngest being substantially smaller than the others.

Bukacek has returned to the nest allowing Betty to go for a break and to get some food while he feeds the storklets and broods them.

Here is another feeding. You can see just how quickly the little storklets grow – and it is so nice that the sun is shining and the nest has dried out.

Karl II and Kaia have all their storklets as well. Karl arrived and fed the storklets an enormous feed! You would almost think he found Urmas’s fish basket! Notice how yellow the beaks are. It is a sign of a healthy storklet.

Liberty and Freedom seem to be liking their new nest in Glacier Gardens in Alaska. Didn’t we just get news of a pip and then a hatch and now – . Well. GG7 is named Love and s/he is 8 days old. GG8 is called Peace and s/he is 5 days old. Both are doing well. Gosh, I really appreciate those names. The world could seriously use much more ‘love’ and ‘peace’. Very appropriate for the times we live in. Oh, so delicate. Look at that teeny little flake of fish being held by that huge beak. So cute.

Takota is 70 days old. Mr President and Lotus have been busy bringing in food to their bouncy branching eaglet at the National Arboretum nest in Washington, DC.

The fledge times for Bald Eagles is normally 10-12 weeks so Takota is right at the beginning of that range. Males normally fledge earlier than females. Takota has really been working those wings! They are getting stronger and stronger.

Was it a fludge? or a fledge? When Ahote took off from the West End nest and wound up on Transmitter Hill? Ahote returned to the natal nest and to his siblings, Kana’kini and Sky on Monday after being off nest for 4 days. He stayed 7 hours before taking off again. Don’t blink. The video is short but it shows Ahote totally in command of his flying. Well done, Ahote!

A fish was delivered and Ahote took it so he has eaten -. Well done. You might well notice that the parents do not always fly right in with the kids after fledge. The fledglings are as large as their parents – actually slightly larger – and could injure them in the transfer of prey items. The adults are, thus, very cautious.

It looks like it could be a fledge for L1 today at the nest of Big Red and Arthur in Ithaca, New York. The little red-tail hawk has been antsy for days. The winds are strong. She has been up on the rails doing cute faces to the camera and on and off the fledge ledge all morning.

Just look at that face – sweet. And that beautiful peach plumage. Red-tail hawklets are gorgeous! (OK. They all are!).

So far, Middle has not fledged at the UFlorida-Gainesville nest since all the hovering and flapping activity yesterday. It rained heavy and the nest is soaking. Middle did get the fish off of Big this morning that was delivered at 11:11:01. This is the second day in a row that Middle’s confidence is up and he is taking what he wants.

R2 paid a visit to the nest of his parents Ron and Rita at the Miami Zoo. Normally a parent would fly in with food. R2 waited but nothing was delivered.

Grinnell Jr and Lindsay are losing their baby down quickly. Breakfast came at 0533 and the morning was spent flapping and running and exploring around the scrape. Annie and Alden have done a super job with these two.

Grinnell Jr has the blue leg ring.

It could be building up to be an exciting day with so many set to fledge. It is not clear if Little Bit 17 at the ND-LEEF has had any food. There is the possibility of some when 15 got the fish this morning. The lack of camera coverage on the porch area means that we just don’t know for certain when the little one gets food – or not. Hoping for fish, lots of fish.

Thank you so much for joining me. Have a lovely day! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: The Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky Storks, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, WRDC, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cal Falcons, Glacier Gardens, and the NADC-AEF.