Tag Archives: WRDC Eagle Nest

Wow..the pace is picking up. Wednesday in Bird World

15 March 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

It is my last day in Toronto, and as the old saying goes, ‘There is no place like home.’ Toronto is a fantastic city with so many things for everyone. It has been particularly busy because of the Harry Potter show, and March break for the students. Exciting to see young people at all the museums, going to the theatre, and looking at dinosaurs! A short break can recharge the batteries. It has been a fun time. I am, however, looking forward to being home with Missy and Lewis and everything familiar!

A few hours after the little one of Ron and Rose hatched at the WRDC Bald Eagle nest in Miami, DG3 hatched at Dulles-Greenway in Virginia, but that wasn’t the only other. My goodness. It would take a tiny army to keep up with all the nests, the pips, the hatches, and now the returns of the UK Ospreys. It will be crazy when they fledge on the same day.

Rose and Ron’s first hatch and this morning R5 is wanting to get out and join its older sibling.

Oh, R4 has been ‘goggly’ eyes.

Ron and Rose’s baby a couple of hours later. This eaglet has ‘strong’ and ‘trouble’ written all over it.

Gosh, Rose loves her fish! The little one is getting some bites at a later feeding, but Mum is making sure she gets plenty. Too funny. Just wait til that eaglet is the size of the Es!!!!!!

This eaglet covered with fish juice reminds me of Connick when Connie was figuring out feeding, and Connick was trying to focus and grab the fish from the beak.

HeidiMc taped the action for us. If someone could please move that piece of nesting material!!!!!!!!!!! All kidding aside – the feedings are improving from one to another. Well done, first-time Mum, Rose.

Rose is going to be a very busy Mum. R5 is pipping. ‘H’ says it was called at 0705 on the 15th of March.

Rosa telling Martin their first eaglet has hatched at Dulles-Greenway.

At least two nests are experiencing bad winter weather. One of those is Duke Farms. The parents got busy once the snow and wind came and fed both of the eaglets quickly so they did not get wet and sick.

That miserable weather got itself sorted. The nest at Duke Farms was drying out, and the eaglets were having a meal at 1827.

Big Red and Arthur were not at the nest today. So glad she doesn’t have eggs yet. Even though we know Big Red can be encased in ice and snow and keep her eggs warm, it would be much nicer for those watching if the weather were better!

It was still snowing at midnight at Cornell.

Two raptors who were at their nest working yesterday and today were Jackie and Shadow. What do you think? a replacement clutch? It is certainly starting to feel like a possibility.

Thanks ‘A’ for the link!

As I write this, it is 1700 at the SW Florida Bald Eagle nest of E21 and E22. The pair have spent the day standing on the rails and wing flapping. One small fish was delivered at 10:39. They had a lot of fish yesterday and are fine with this. Dad needs a break and he could be off fighting an ever-growing number of intruders in the territory. M15 has managed what many believed would be impossible. 6 weeks he has cared for these two alone. They are now 10 weeks old and within fledge range. We will start watching for branching soon. The average age of fledge in Florida for Bald Eagles is 11 weeks. Can you believe it?

I cannot see her talons, but this appears to be the female that landed in the nest the other day. Most of us got attached to R23-3, who has not been seen for many days. Let’s see how long this one lasts! Poor M. I am sure he would appreciate a companion that kept everyone else away while he finishes up raising the Es as a single parent.

The Bald Eagles are still going strong with the late hatch of Ron and Rose at Miami, all the new hatches in Virginia at Dulles-Greenway, a new baby at Tobacco Creek and so on.

Chandler and Hope’s new little one at Tobacco Creek, Maryland. Chandler has a lot of fish in that nest for Hope and the baby.

At Bluff City, Tennessee, Eugene and Frances have a little one at the ETSU (Eastern Tennessee State University) Bald Eagle nest. Goodness! On top of having a new baby to care for, Chandler has had to fight off intruders while trying to feed the new hatch!

At Johnson City, Tennessee, Jolene and Boone had a hatch, too!

Now the first osprey has landed at a streaming cam in the UK. It isn’t Maya on her nest but B25 from another nest

Everyone has their eyes set on the trackers watching as the ospreys and other birds enter UK territory after their winter break. On Tuesday, 6250 Black Kites crossed Gibraltar along with three ospreys.

Loch of the Lowes is so beautiful. Looking forward to your arrival Laddie, LM12, and Blue NC0.

Loch Arkaig is waiting for Louis and Dorcha.

At Moorings Park, Sally waited at 0830 for a fish delivery to feed the two osplets. It hadn’t arrived, and she sat back down on the pair! Their heads are now pretty bald and getting dark.

I am behind on reporting on the Venice Golf and Country Club ospreys but, it appears there has been a hatch there (perhaps on the 13th). The remnants of the egg can be seen at the rim of the nest.

Lou came to Annie’s aid in warding off an intruder. Thanks for catching this SK Hideaways! All I can say is ‘wow’.

‘A’ sent me a note. Lots of bonding – four minutes of it – by Diamond and Xavier in the scrape at Orange. Indigo might have been heard but, for now, the parents are enjoying time together.

There is snow in the East and rain coming down on the Channel Islands eagle nests. Audacity looks completely miserable at Sauces Canyon. One precious egg to keep warm, dry, and whole!

Cholyn at Two Harbours is wet, too.

Making news is this huge mess that is heading to Florida. How will this impact our beloved birds?

A-Giant-Blob-of-Seaweed-is-Heading-to-Florida-The-New-York-TimesDownload

Thank you so much for being with me today! The Thursday blog will go out just a few hours later than usual. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, tweets, posts, videos, and streaming cams that help make up my blog today: ‘A’, ‘H’, WRDC, HeidiMc and the WRDC, Sassa Bird, Dulles-Greenway, Duke Farms, Cornell RTH, FOBBV, SW Florida Eagles and D Pritchett, ETSU, Mary Kerr and Friends of Loch Arkaig, Osprey Sky Call, @Tommy Finlayson, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Friends of LOTL, Woodland Trust, People’s Post Code Lottery and Friends of Loch Arkaig, Moorings Park, VGCCO, Cal Falcons, Cali Condor, Charles Sturt Flacon Cam, IWS and Explore.org, and The New York Times.

Harriet and M15 return to nest tree…and other brief news in Bird World

1 October 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

It is a super cloudy day on the Canadian Prairies and the bird feeders and baths are relatively quiet this morning. The visitors have been mostly the Crows who, for some strange reason, have decided they only want to eat the dried corn off the cob this morning – nothing else. No cheesy sandwiches. Nothing but dry corn. It is 11 degrees C as I write.

The big news in Bird World – and there is lots going on – is the arrival of Harriet and M15 back at their nest tree. Thank you bogs for getting images and posting them! With all the damage that the hurricane left behind, there should be no shortage of building materials even just on the Pritchett property. I know that all of you will be so relieved that they survived and this gives us great hope for Lena and the eagles over at Captiva.

Thank you Linda Russo for sharing your image and providing such relief and hope to everyone that the nest will be rebuilt!

Samson and Gabby are fine and they have been seen at their nest near Jacksonville, Florida.

Ron and Rita are back to their nest in the Miami Zoo. It is nice to see that they are also safe and sound. We wait to hear about Captiva – all the wildlife there – and Pink Shell Resort.

There were two and then there were three eyases at the 367 Collins Street scrape yesterday. Mum has done a great job feeding them – and herself – from a single pigeon carcass which appears to be depleted now. Everyone is wondering if her thwarting of male2 is because he is arriving empty taloned? Let us all keep a close eye today to see if she has new prey items. Let us all hope that the young male brings in a nice fat pigeon first thing.

Of course, there were tears and cheers when Xavier and Diamond’s had their first hatch of the 2022 season. What a fantastic falcon family!

For those of you just learning about falcons and hawks, I want you to look at the yellow eye ring, the cere (the part of the beak between the black razor sharp tip and the forehead) and the legs. Notice that deep rich orange-yellow colour. This is an indication of a super healthy bird. To me, Xavier and Diamond seem to be in much better physical shape this year than last.

This is Xavier who is delighted to get time with his newly hatched eyas.

Will there be another hatch at Orange today? We wait.

The Sydney Sea Eagles are still home! They are so big. Dad and Lady continue to fly from the branch showing the sea eagles a good spot to fledge from. Fingers crossed that the Currawongs leave our beautiful SE29 and SE30 alone! I know – it is wishful thinking but, gosh I wish they were otherwise occupied elsewhere when these two fledge.

That was some dust up between Big and Middle Bob at Port Lincoln yesterday. Poor Little Bob got caught, literally, in the middle of this spat for dominance on that nest.

Dad brought a nice sized fish to the nest at 1700 and Mum filled the trio to the brim. The cam operator gave us some incredibly beautiful close ups.

Little Bob was right up there and look at that nice crop before bed. Fantastic. None of the osplets seem to be the worst for the big battle, lasting more than six minutes, that occurred a few hours earlier.

Everything was fine at all four of the Australian nests when lights when out for the night. ‘A’ sent me a note to remind me – and all of us – that Daylight Savings time starts in Australia just about now! I also want to remind everyone that Big Bob is 14 days old today.

In other news, Scottish landowners who have grouse hunting estates continue to deny killing raptors even in the face of the evidence of the 9 found in bags at the Millden Estate. The movement to make Red Grouse hunting illegal continues by those that are concerned about the killing of raptors that are being re-introduced into the UK after being wiped out by shooting, egg collecting, habitat loss, and climate change.

Scottish Land & Estates still refusing to acknowledge extent of raptor persecution on grouse moors – Raptor Persecution UK

Thank you so much for being with me this morning. It is so nice to have you here with us. I will do a round up of the days happenings later today. For now, everyone should be sleeping in Australia! Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for the images and streaming cams which make up my screen captures: Linda Russo, NEFL-AEF, WRDC, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, and Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park.

Wednesday in Bird World

16 March 2022

Wow! What the morning. The two surviving chicks at the Captiva Osprey nest chirping for fish and Grinnell – finally – bringing Annie a gift of prey!!! You know the only way it could get better is if the Ravens would leave both Jackie & Shadow and Thunder & Cheta alone and if Little Bit at Dale Hollow grew ‘a mile’ overnight.

Peregrine Falcons. If you are new to this species, the female – in this case Annie – expects the male to delivery her prey and prove that he can take care of her and the chicks before she is ever going to lay any of his eggs!!!!! Well, Grinnell finally did that this morning. He had better sweeten the pot with several more nice fat pigeons! I have a feeling that Grinnell was in Annie’s ‘dog house’ for some reason.

CalFalcons did a video of the first prey offering. All of this is part of the mating and breeding rituals of the falcons. Notice how Grinnell is bowed in submission to his mate, Annie.

There will be several more Peregrine Falcon streaming cams coming on line. One of those is The Wakefield Peregrine Falcons in the UK. Here is the link to the camera.

If you are familiar with Ospreys and Eagles you might find it odd that Falcons prefer shallow areas with gravel called a ‘scrape box’ to lay their eggs. The female will ‘scrape’ in the box making a slight indentation for the eggs. These scrape boxes – now on high buildings and skyscrapers – mimic the traditional cliffs where the falcons bred. They have adopted to the urban landscape and are doing well in most instances. There are many challenges for them including traffic, cars, rodenticide secondary poisoning, and windows that rural falcons do not have.

Oh, the two remaining osplets on the Captiva nest look really good today. Here they are with big crops and it is 16:08 nest time. Andy and Lena are decidedly having to adjust the fish deliveries now that Big is no longer with us. Andy came in with another Ladyfish this morning before I went for my walk and Lena had most of a Ladyfish left from an earlier feeding. Even so, both chicks and Lena were full and happy.

I am anything but an expert on H5N1, the highly pathogenic strain of Avian Flu. I have, however, observed younger eaglets die from the virus on the nest and those chicks were not hungry. So the fact that these two are joyfully eating gives me real hope.

Lena went for her spa and returned to feed Middle and Little. Have a look at Little’s crop. I know it is big in the image above but look now. He is going to pass out in a food coma momentarily!

Popping crops is what it looks like.

Yeap. He is out for the count.

That Little Bit at Dale Hollow is really tiny. The difference in size between it and the eldest is quite unbelievable. Little Bit is still alive and has energy to scoot all around the nest. I am having trouble catching River or Obey feeding the three today but the last capture I took of them, Little Bit looks good.

Big has become a ‘couch potato’ of sorts preferring to sleep on the new hay brought to the nest. Wonder what Little Bit sees in the distance?

Will Little Bit be the smallest male eaglet from the region? Have a look at this really short video of it flapping its tiny little wings. What a sweetheart.

Thunder and Akecheta have been taking turns brooding their three chicks at the West End Bald Eagle nest on Catalina Island. I have not seen any new prey on the nest today – just the remains of the Cormorant. It is still early there! 13:52. Plenty of time for several fish to be brought in to the nest. Thunder is brooding so maybe Akecheta is out hunting.

Akecheta is getting better and better at feeding the three and also knows that it is good to saliva feed them as well so they get more hydration. It is really hot on that nest on Catalina Island.

The wing tags were put on as part of a research project so the birds that were introduced to this region could easily be identified. Akecheta still has his; Thunder has lost hers. They are meant to fall off eventually. That project to reintroduce eagles into the area began in the 1980s.

Akecheta shading his chicks from the hot California sun.

Thunder getting a chance to brood her chicks.

The little eaglet at the Big Bear Valley Bald Eagle Nest of Jackie and Shadow has been fed 5 times already. The last feeding was at 13:05 and one fish has been delivered to that nest by Shadow. There are various other items of prey there as well.

I wonder if that little one is hot?

How cute. They all look different. This one is simply a little sweetheart taking care of its ‘eggie’ once in awhile.

It is a beautiful day at Big Bear Lake. Jackie is as gorgeous as ever.

Sad news from the Kakapo Recovery coming today. Lung infections are the major killer of these non-flying parrots. The area they live in is also very damp.

The ‘baby’ at Berry College, B15, is no longer a baby. This morning he completely ate a fish by himself. Missy brought in a squirrel later and fed him and now, late afternoon, she has returned and is feeding B15 some more squirrel. This eaglet is doing great. So nice to see.

Two really beautiful eaglets at the WRDC nest. It is good to remember back when R2 had a really difficult time and we were worried that it would not survive. Look at both of them today. Rita and Ron sure have two gorgeous kids!

The weather is so much better here. The temperatures are around +2 C. The snow is melting and today the light was ‘bright’. I went for my walk determined to triple the distance that I normally try to do. When I finished I had done more than I wanted and, by the time I got to my car, really felt it. There was something wonderful about being out in the woods in the silence broken now and again by the honking of returning Canada Geese.

The resident pair of Bald Eagles was across the lake. I did manage to get their silhouettes against that bright sky.

I wish I could do calligraphy like the beautiful lines of the old bull rushes.

Nature is a much better artist than I would ever be!

The board walk looked particularly lonely today waiting for the ice to thaw.

The nature centre has set up a ‘Winter Bird Feeding Station’ as part of a bequest. What a wonderful idea. There were several benches to sit on, different kinds of feeders, and an illustrative board showing the birds, their names, and a little information about them. It was a nice place to stop and rest but the Black-capped Chickadees did not like me there. They would not come and eat so I quickly departed. Maybe having benches for observers is not a good idea – just food for the birds.

There are other feeders nearer to the building where you enter. Today I only saw the chickadee and the nuthatch. But I want you to notice the cords hanging in front of the windows. I tried to describe them one day. The cords are on wooden slats that are attached to the outside of the windows. They do not bother the view from the inside but they definitely prevent window strike.

I went to check on Captiva and everything is just fine. Middle seems to be finding its way to being the biggest on the nest. He is a beautiful bird. The nest ‘feels’ peaceful. Perhaps Little and Middle are little boys.

You cannot see Little (or Mini)’s head; he is to the right of Lena. You can see its fat bottom and those lovely velvet-like pantaloons. Middle is sound asleep. Lena was calling Andy for another fish delivery before bed. Life on the Captiva nest looks good.

Wish for a lot of fish at the Dale Hollow Lake nest of River and Obey – add to that a tandem feeding by Mum and Dad so that each chick goes to bed full. That would really help Little Bit. The others have their thermal down but it does not have all of its and it really needs cuddling or brooding on the cold evenings.

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

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, West End Bald Eagles and Institute for Wildlife Studies, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Dale Hollow Lake Eagles, Kakapo Recovery, WRDC, and Berry College.

Monday in Bird World. 10 Jan 2022

I was so very excited last evening that I could barely sleep. It really is marvellous to be able to look into the lives of wild birds without harming them – watching them from egg to fledge. What an honour it was to see Falky catch a fish off the Port Lincoln barge yesterday. As far as I am aware, it is the first time a fledgling has been seen on camera catching a fish at the nest. Here is that incredible moment again:

Several hours later, with the camera focused on Falky’s perch, the sunlight playing on the water seemed to agree that Falky was a star.

Falky had another fish at 20:26:33 that he brought onto the ropes and ate. From the background noises, it would appear that this was a delivery to the nest.

Bazza has not been seen on camera since the 9th. At that time he had a nice crop indicating that he is either catching his own fish or is being fed off camera. He could be anywhere on the barge nest and we cannot him or he may have decided he wanted to move on to find his own territory ahead of Falky and Ervie. Right now Ervie is enjoying having fish deliveries. The lads are still sleeping. It is Tuesday, January 11 in Southern Australia. Wonder what will happen today on the Port Lincoln barge?

I continue to check on the three or four Bald Eagle nests I monitor for pipping. So far, I have heard nothing but, it is entirely possible that I missed something! Which reminds me. Thank you to ‘A-M’ for sending me a comment about Falky catching the fish. I am incredibly grateful. Luckily I had been watching and seen the catch but, if I had not known…well, thank you for the alert, ‘A-M’. It was an incredible moment. Still smiling.

The Kakapo Recover Project in New Zealand reported that the non-flying parrots had started breeding on Christmas Eve. This information was posted on their website yesterday.

R1 and R2 continue to do well on the Wildlife Recovery Nest of Dade County in Florida. Ron is keeping the pantry full of fish today and both of them have been feeding the eaglets.

The two eaglets of Mitch and Harriet on the nest at the Hilton Head Island Trust in South Carolina are really growing and doing fantastic.

Just look at the full crops on those kids!

The second egg for Lena and Andy 2 at the Captiva Osprey Nest on Sanibel Island is due tomorrow.

If you ever want to recommend a Bald Eagle cam to anyone, especially a first time streaming cam viewer, you cannot do any better than Harriet and M15 at the SWFlorida Nest. Experienced parents – and that makes a huge difference! Cool headed. Both help one another. Everyone gets fed at Harriet’s table.

E19 and E20 are really beginning to change their feathers and are moving into the next phase of their growth period. Both are having lunch and both have nice crops. One has stopped eating and is resting on his ‘cropillow’.

Hopefully there will be some pip or hatch news from some of the Bald Eagle nests for this evening and I will continue to monitor the lads at Port Lincoln during the day.

Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for your alerts and also thank you for your research into raptor cameras in Japan, ‘A’. I will include that information in my next report. Much appreciated.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB Pages where I took my screen shots and my video clip: The Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Kakapo Recovery, Berry College Eagle Cam, SWFlorida Eagle Cam and D Pritchett, Hilton Head Island Trust Eagle Cam, WRDC Bald Eagle Cam, and the Captiva Island Osprey Cam.