12-13 March 2022
I was really concerned about fish arriving today with the weather system moving through Florida potentially causing Little to not get any fish on Saturday. Little (aka Mini on the chat) has lost a lot of his ‘get up and get in there to eat’ energy due to Big’s beaking. Almost three days without much food and Little, Middle, and Mum, Lena, were looking pretty bad Friday morning. It has been hot and humid and they were clearly getting dehydrated. Andy saved the day – or should I say that something gave way so that Andy had good fishing on Friday. He brought four good sized fish in to the nest and one snack. I only counted two fish coming in on Saturday but I could well be wrong. Little got a real good feed at the end of the day.
This fish, the last one for the day, was delivered at 16:24:52. Andy has just dropped if off and is flying back out to the Gulf. You can see that Big still has a crop from the earlier feed.
There is Little up at the table. He has now completely lost his baby down and has his beautiful dark grey thermal down. The copper red feathers run from the tip of the back of his neck down his shoulders. if you look at the two older siblings you will see their blood feathers coming in – the flight feathers and there contour feathers are also just starting.
I was just so thrilled to see Little eating that well, joy isn’t the right word. Joyful relief? He was so thin Friday morning.
The other two moved up as they got their second wind. Little didn’t move.
Little just kept eating and one of the older siblings turned to face the other way. Good for Little!
It has been raining on and off but everyone looks dry now. Lena is trying to gather up the chicks so she can brood them and keep them warm. Sweet.
It is just 12:19 at the Captiva nest on Sunday and already there have been seven fish deliveries!!!!!!!! Yes, you read that right. 6. The fish were delivered at 07:53:03, 08:16:44, 08:31:37, 08:42:08, 09:12:52; 10:06:24, and 12:19. It has been difficult to see the chicks but I understand that there has been no beaking from Big Bob. This is fantastic news. The bad weather coupled with few deliveries during the last storm clearly caused Big to behave badly. Hopefully the civility will last.
The first six fish that Andy has brought in were Needlefish. They are not that big but Andy must have found a stash of them!
The 11:37 fish was a catfish. It is big! Here it comes. Look at the top left. And then look at the chicks looking up as that whopper arrives.
He shows it to Lena, takes it and eats the head and returns the partial catfish at 12:19.
Thunder is brooding and incubating and the third chick is really making progress on hatching as I write this. Thunder is a great Mum. I love how she feeds the chicks. Here is a bite for you and here is one for you. Back and forth so they have time to swallow but in a nice rhythm so that both are very civilized.
The third chick hatched sometime right before 22:15 or thereabouts. Thunder was taking out the eggshell halves. It is going to be busy busy in the morning at the West End nest!
Then there were three in the morning. Akecheta dug the egg cup so deep that it is really difficult to see all three of the chicks.
Akecheta stayed by Thunder during the night guarding his family – now a family of five instead of two for this first time dad. The Ravens that have plagued this nest will be bothersome and can predate the chicks until they are approximately 5 weeks old. So both Thunder and Akecheta will need to be vigilant.
Golden glow on Thunder as the sun rises on Catalina Island.
Akecheta has been working on the egg cup. I hope he is making it a little wider! You can see the three. Squint for the wee fur ball.
The babies at Dale Hollow are all being fed for the night. River wants them to stay in the dry straw and not be crawling all over the place like they do ordinarily. She has been good, then, to bring the fish to them! All have eaten and somewhere on the Internet is a video of the three of them crop dropping at the same time. Must find it.
It was a cuddle puddle at the Dale Hollow nest this morning. The snow is melting. One of the parents will be nearby serving as security while the other is out hunting for food. The chicks are doing well.
There has been a possible fledge at the Osceola Bald Eagle nest in Florida. This was one of three nests that only had one chick – the other two being Kistachie National Forest and Berry College.
It was a real fledge. OC9 has flown out of the nest and has returned also. This morning she was eating at the nest with the parent when they came in, flying back and forth from the branch to the nest and is now off to explore the world. This is excellent news. This fledgling OC9 needs to return to the nest for about a month. She will perfect her flying and continue to be fed by the parents until she can hunt on her own. Perfect. When they dart out and never return, there is always cause for concern. So well done OC9.
Speaking of fledges, E19 and E20 have both branched and, like the juvenile on the Osceola nest, could fledge any day.
E20 did some great hovering on Saturday. Have a peek.
It will not be long til Kincaid at the Kisatchie National Forest (KNF) nest is branching. He is really working his wings lately.
I have not checked on the Redding Eagles for some time. Liberty is 23 years old and she is incubating two eggs at the nest high up in the Cottonwood Tree on the Sacramento River. Her third mate is Guardian who is 8 years old. We are about one week away from pip watch at this nest!
You may already know the Two Harbours Bald eagle nest high on the cliffs above the town of Two Harbours on Catalina Island. It is a new nest to me. I am including it for a very good reason today. Two Harbours is the home of Chase K81 and Cholyn K82 proud grandparents to their 2009 fledgling Thunder’s trio.
Chase hatched at the San Francisco zoo in 1998. He was fostered at the West End nest which is now home to Thunder and Akecheta. In 2003 he bonded with Cholyn. Cholyn hatched from an egg taken from the West End nest to the SF Zoo – hence the sequence of their wing tags. She was fostered at Pinnacle Rock. Cholyn and Chase are 23 years old and they are incubating one egg so far at the Two Harbours nest this year!
There is snow on the nest of Big Red and Arthur from the storm that went through and the Port Lincoln Osprey Project’s camera on the barge is still off line. However, we do have news of Ervie. Here is his most recent tracking. He is staying right where he has been along the North Shore. Wonder if he has found his forever territory?
I hope that PLO do not mind but Rob Watson sent them an image of Ervie sitting in the top of a Norfolk Island Pine up from his house yesterday. Wonder where that tree is on that tracking chart?
Ervie is certainly intent on watching something. Ervie, you are lookin’ good.
Thank you for joining me this morning. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thanks to the following for their streaming cams and/or their FB pages where I took my screen captures: Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, Dale Hollow Eagles, Explore.org and Institute for Wildlife Studies, KNF Bald Eagles, SWFlorida Eagles and D Pritchett, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Redding Bald Eagles, and Osceola Eagles.