Oh, my. No one was expecting it. 496 people were watching the streaming cam at Dyfi expecting Ystwyth to fledge and it was Tiny Little who beat her!
It had all been over a fish. Imagine a big fish on a nest and three juveniles. The fish came in around 19:00. 464 ate some of the fish at the beginning. Then 462 flew in and decided it was their turn. In the middle of all of this was Tiny Little trying to eat the tail, dig at the middle, twist the fish and gently unbalance his siblings.
For awhile they all give up. The fish just sits in the middle of the nest.
464 pulled it over to the edge of the nest and began self-feeding. 464 is a pro at this!
At 20:22 Tiny Little is watching 464. He moves over to the rim and food calls to mum.
At 8:19:57 Tiny Little lifts his wings and flies to the parent tree. I think he was tired of calling for mom to come and feed him! And then he proceeded to safely return to the nest at 20:22:07. Tiny Little flew like a pro. Tears of joy today.
Tiny Little returned to the nest and got curious about the fish and tried pulling it out. Hopefully mum will reward him…gosh, that was a smooth flight.
What a glorious day. Everything pales in comparison.
Thanks for stopping by and thank you to the wonderful folks at the Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Foulshaw Moss Osprey cam where I took these screen shots.
Whenever there are sad moments in Ospreyland, I find it is always comforting to head down and spend some time with Taiki, the Royal Cam Albatross in New Zealand. Taiki was 170 days old today and she weighed 8 kg. She was at 8.2 kg. Around this stage in their lives the weight of the chicks stabilizes – meaning they will not gain vast amounts of weight as they will be focusing on getting their wings strong for flight. If, however, the chick’s weight drops too much, the rangers will provide supplementary feedings. Taiki is right at that point where they are watching her.
Lady Hawk posted a video of Lime-Green-Lime, the mom, coming in to give Taiki a feeding. If you haven’t seen the adults feed their chicks, please have a look. Taiki will be making food callings and her bill will be clacking at the parent’s. That is to stimulate the feeding. Taiki was taught this when she was just a day old. How precious. LGL does beautiful sky calls.
Tiny Little spent his first night alone in that big Osprey nest at Foulshaw Moss in Cumbria. When asked if Tiny Little would be lonesome for his older siblings now that they have fledged, one person on FB said, ‘Not the way they treated him’. Yes, Tiny Little might not have survived but he did! And we are all so happy. Tiny Little was flapping his wings hard wanting to fly but it will be a few days more. Hopefully he won’t get too restless.
Both White YW and Blue 35 have been alarming and flying on and off the nest. This happened around 6:10 am.
Tiny Little did what he had been taught. Stay as still as you can and don’t move – keep your head down!
By 6: 19 the disturbance seemed to be over and Tiny was looking around hoping for a fish delivery.
There are advantages of being on the nest alone. Tiny Tot at Achieva was a pro at finding fish scraps. Look what Tiny Little finds around lunch time! You got it – an entire fish hidden in the nest!!!!
He looks around to check and see if anyone else is around and then he tucks in. He is still eating when Blue 462 lands in the nest two hours later.
Tiny Little is not showing 462 what he is mantling. Meanwhile 462 is pecking around the nest to see if there are any fish scraps left. Smart one Tiny Little!
What an absolutely tranquil scene at the Dyfi Osprey Nest in Wales. The cows are out in the fields and Dysynni was in the nest with his sister, Ystwyth, waiting for a breakfast delivery from dad, Idris.
It is a beautiful day up in Scotland at Loch of the Lowes and both fledglings, LR1 and LR2 are in the nest waiting for breakfast, too.
Those two are just beautiful. Well done Laddie LM12 and Blue NC0. Looks like they decided to pose and look at the camera instead of turning away. Thank you! You are both gorgeous fledglings!
The Rutland Manton Bay nest is growing grass after the Two Bobs fledged. Little birds have been around but seldom do we see any of the Ospreys —–until there is a fish drop and then everyone seems to show up.
Blue 33 shows up with a nice Bream and both 095 and 096 land simultaneously. 095 gets the fish in its talons.
You can see Blue 33 flying off leaving the two kids to sort the fish.
Blue 33 returns less than a minute later. Is he looking for Maya to feed the chicks? He leaves as quickly as he arrives.
Blue 095 is starting to eat the fish. No worries there will be plenty for 096.
Have a look back in time. Here are 095 ad 096 exactly two months ago tucking into a Bream. Just imagine. They are so tiny and now they are preparing themselves to migrate in about six weeks. Gosh they were cute!
It is now around noon in the UK. Only Bob, Blue 496 decided to take a flying spin around the Llyn Clywedog Nest straight to the trees where Dylan goes around 11:47. Yesterday, Only Bob flew to the camera post but today they are counting this as his official fledge! It was a great one, too. Mom, Seren 5F was on the nest with him watching her baby take those next steps.
Seren leaves and Only Bob moves over to the rim of the nest looking at his target. Those trees that he sees dad come out of.
And he’s off. If you look at the right side of the image you will see his two legs flying and heading for the trees! Gosh that must feel fantastic.
A couple of hours later, Seren has a nice fish on that nest trying to lure Only Bob over to have some lunch. It was really interesting watching Seren look at or for Only Bob. At times it sounded like she was talking to him – has slipped trying to land on the rim and is on a lower branch of the tree. Only Bob is 50 days old today.
What a great day in UK Ospreyland. Things are going really well. Aran was seen flying high over at Glaslyn today which is a good sign of an improvement. Hopefully he is not having to contend with intruders. Z2 actually landed on the Glaslyn nest the other day – his nest and chick are at the Pont Cresor nest which many consider to be close to Glaslyn. Sadly, one of the chicks on the Charlo Montana Osprey nest died because of bailing twine. If you don’t know, it is what farmers use to tie up large hay bails. So sad. Montana seems to be having a rather bad year with this twine winding up in the nests.
That is it for me today. Thank you for joining me to check in on all the babes. Take care. Enjoy your Tuesday wherever you are.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I grabbed my screen shots and to Lady Hawk for her videos: Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest, Dyfi Osprey Project, Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Friends of the Loch of the Lowes, LRWT and the Rutland Manton Bay Osprey Nest, and Carnyx Wild and the Clywedog Osprey Nest.
I cannot but think that something terribly wrong is going on at the Cowlitz PUD Osprey Nest in Washington State. The two chicks, already undernourished, are crying out for food with their heads bent over in the middle of the nest. Electra is not there. Wattsworth has not brought in any fish. Perhaps something has happened to him but Electra has proven that she is a good fisher and she literally has two starving babies. They should be growing with fat little wings and bottoms and that is not happening. Why has she not gone to catch something?
It is 16 degrees C and partly cloudy where the nest is located. Thank goodness it is not the high temperatures in Florida right now or elsewhere in the United States. The Ospreys depend on the fish for their hydration but these days are critical for the wee ones. These two should have feedings every few hours – should have had since they were born – but haven’t.
For those who watched the Achieva Osprey Nest you might well remember the physical state that Tiny Tot was in at this stage. This can be turned around. Right now it would help if Electra would bring in a big fish for these two.
Electra is back on the nest brooding the two chicks. She is loudly calling Wattsworth. I wonder if something has happened to him? has he been injured like Aran was at Glaslyn and unable to fish? has something worse happened? Still, I would hope that Electra would go out and fish. It would be 7:40 pm there Friday night. If she does not go soon it will be too late. It is difficult to remember precisely when these two had something to eat. It was sometime yesterday. This is very, very disturbing.
I have seen no food today. There are the two little ones thinking Mom has returned with fish – but, sadly, she has nothing for them.
In St Petersburg, Florida, Tiny Tot got his fish. At 8:19:06 – after he had been food calling and watching – he took off from the nest. Jack must have flown by with a fish and made a drop for Tiny away from the nest. Maybe the adults will slowly wean Tiny off of getting fish on the nest.
In the image below Tiny Tot sees one of the adults with a fish. He is calling out loudly.
He immediately takes off to go and chase them and get that fish!
Tiny Tot returns at 8:49:29. The little bit of sunlight is quickly disappearing. Tiny Tot is not giving up any secrets as to how much of a crop he has or hasn’t. However, he was gone for approximately thirty minutes. He eats a lot faster than he did when he was younger so that could have been a nice size fish.
Tiny moves up to the perch at 8:54:27 where he will spend the night. Good Night Tiny. Happy Fish Dreams!
Meanwhile, Little Bob at the Foulshaw Osprey Nest is hanging in there. He had a really good feed today. Let’s hope this nest stays civilized and that none of us have to worry about this wee tiny tot again. Just look at the size difference between him and Big Bob the old meanie.
Thank you for joining me on this quick check in with these three Osprey nests. I wish there had been better news coming out of the Cowlitz Nest. Send all your warm wishes their way. It just feels like something has happened. Wattsworth wasn’t great at bringing in massive amounts of fish but he was delivering. It would simply be a tragedy if he is injured or has been killed. The fortunes -good or bad -on the nests can change as quickly as you can snap your fingers.
Thank you to the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust for their streaming cams where I got the shots of Little Bob and his two siblings. You can view them here:
Thank you to the Cowlitz PUD for their streaming cam where I grab the still images of Electra, Wattsworth, and the two chicks. Here is the link to that nest:
And thank you to the Achieva Credit Union in St Petersburg Florida for their streaming cam where I get my stills of Tiny Tot. Here is that link:
