Loch of the Lowes - 2010

Val C said:

She has been looking a lot brighter for quite a while and was sitting right up withdropping her head.  She has moved around a fair bit too.  She was responding to sounds round her as well.  It would be wonderful if she could come through this. 

We have no way of knowing right now, but there have been many birds who caught the "Bird flu"  Maybe she has this and will recover.  Her alertness today gives us a "tiny" glimmer of hope. 

Back again and find that Lady has rallyed a bit. Yes it would be good new if she could come through this setback but we don't know yet if is old age taking its toll or as one poster said "bird flu"  Only time will tell.. Just noticed that the chicks were calling but have now stopped.

''They have double eyelids, to protect their eyes, as do many birds and mammals.

I saw her this morning, and again later on today, open her eyes fully for just a moment or two, and look around.  It's as if she is paralysed except for her wings and neck, and I wonder if she has had the equivalent of a stroke in a human being. If that is the case, there is absolutely nothing that can be done either to help her recover, or help her feel better.

EDIT:    Sorry if that sounds callous - but I can't give you a hug from here.... just feel that I have done, will you?

Lindybird (Linda);;

 Thank you Lindybird - I understand now and it was wonderful that you saw her open her eyes properly. Lady has lived long and has produced chicks all her life from maturity - it's just wonderful.  Two beautiful chicks this year and if she is to go I'm glad it's with her chicks near her and in Scotland. And I very gratefully accept your hug.

OH NO! Laird brought a fish.

One chick started eating from the fish in  his talon so he just left the fish and flew away.  He must have thought it wanted to take the fish. I sure hope the chick figures out how to eat it 

He still has not returned then Barbara Jean?  On the main blog someone said The Laird flew off with the fish ??  !!!

Unknown said:

Thanks Barbara Jean:   This must've happened before - wonder if there's any record of survival rates for chicks in this position. I'm going back to the LG thread and will check back here in the morning (our time).

Annette  Sorry I did not see this before and you presumably have not seen my post about what happened at Loch Garten in 1993.

In 1993 the female at Loch Garten died. This is what happened.

Super-Dad

In 1993, a tragedy struck the Loch Garten osprey nest. Our regular male Ollie, delivered a fish to the nest to his eagerly awaiting family. As soon as he landed on the nest we knew something was wrong, for entwined around the fish was fishing line.

As we looked on helplessly, one of the two chicks, only a few weeks old, immediately became entangled in the line. The female, seeing there was a problem, moved closer to her chick but herself became entangled in the line. After several attempts to detach herself, she took off, fortunately for the chick, taking the fishing line with her. Her sacrifice for her chick was greater than we could ever imagine. She never returned that day. We know she would never have abandoned her chicks at this stage, so we were left imagining the worst.

The loss of our female was a great shock to all at Loch Garten but this soon gave way to our greater concern for the chicks. We were left with a young male who, if the chicks were to survive, was now responsible not only for catching the fish but for taking over the female's role of feeding the fish to the chicks. Could he do it?

If he did accept the challenge, would the chicks survive alone on the nest while he was away fishing? What would we do if he abandoned them? All we could do was wait and hope for a miracle.

A miracle came, the morning after the female's disappearance, Ollie appeared with a fish and for the first time since his arrival in 1990 at Loch Garten, we saw him remove small bits of fish and cautiously feed them to the chicks. Ollie in fact became an expert in chick-feeding and despite all the odds, both of the chicks survived and on the 21st of July the first chick fledged, followed soon after by the second chick.

There are also two examples of it happening with peregrines. The amazing Ma, Pa and S2 , de Mortel saga in 2007 played out on webcam. Pa managed to raise two chicks hampered by the lovesick S2.

There is another example of a peregrine called George raising chicks when his mate Calypso was killed by lightening.

Thus the omens seem good.

I agree Tiger. But I would like someone to report they've seen The Laird back on the nest and feeding the chicks.

I wonder if it is possible that one of the intruding females might pair up and help the male. There is a sort of precedent where an unringed female at  Rutland in 2005 did supply fish to the translocated ospreys.

In the case of Pa, S2 did adopt the chicks after 10 days.

REALLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Tiger.  Well. I'm wonderfully gobsmacked. That's beautifully amazing. Will The Laird keep posession of the nest next year then?