'FORUM FRIENDS, WILDLIFE-FROM-WHEREVER' (Off-season, all cams off at Loch Garten)

Peanut butter cake! YES it is. And thanks for the ID video to help clear my muddled brain.

Sydney White-bellied Sea Eagle nest ©SeaEagleCAM Team

08/09 January

The progress of the Pacific Black Duck with eggs:

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The eggs lay unattended for a very long time, until a Brush-tail Possum took an interest:

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Pacific Black Duck ©SeaEagleCAM Team

Back she came at dawn on the 10th, didn't seem to take any notice of her existing eggs, ignored the protesting birds (which I couldn't ID - I didn't think they were any of the ones who tormented the sea eagles, nor a Noisy Miner) and then laid another egg, the future of which I am not hopeful about 

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Back to the 9th morning

Boreal Ontario

The Western Meadowlark vied with the Nuthatch for "first in" status but only from the ground.  Also seen, Chickadee, Gray Jay, Blue Jay, and...

Female Pine Grosbeak:

And as she left the male arrived and stayed longer - I was restricted by the Meadowlark pottering about by the Grosbeak's tail so I chose an unconventional shot ;)

Boreal Ontario afternoon

More mystery treats!

This time the Gray Jay made off with most of it/them:

Later quite a lot of peanuts were added and of course the Blue Jays saw to them.

Late afternoon the Ruffed Grouse arrived, I'll do him when I'm next awake ;) ... maybe just snaps because it was rather dull light.

scylla said:

Pacific Black Duck ©SeaEagleCAM Team

Back she came at dawn on the 10th, didn't seem to take any notice of her existing eggs, ignored the protesting birds (which I couldn't ID - I didn't think they were any of the ones who tormented the sea eagles, nor a Noisy Miner) and then laid another egg, the future of which I am not hopeful about 

https://youtu.be/VTUIJv7Q34M

Fascinating! I watched the opossum video first, and couldn't tell if it ate the eggs. Then watched the other video with the sea eagle and miner and I guess if the eggs were too big for them to take, they're too big for the opossum. She's obviously abandoning them for long periods which isn't a sensible strategy. Someone should tell her.

Unknown said:

I watched the opossum video first, and couldn't tell if it ate the eggs.

It was a shame but perfectly understandable that there was no-one on duty to zoom in, we'd have got a clearer view than my cropped version.

©FalconCam,  CSU, NSW

09 January - I posted this in the perry thread in Wildlife on the Web but thought it might be of interest here to those who don't follow the Sydney perries.

Izzi is the sole survivor from the 2020 clutch of 3, and appears to be unwilling to leave home   ... he's just spent the night on the ledge, as he often does:

Interesting sight, I don't know the first thing about Northern Shovellers (nor any ducks, for that matter).  I've only skipped thru it - I presume they're coralling "prey":

scylla said:

Sorry!  I've had to go back and edit my post, I called it an Opossum in the text but that's the American critter, the Oz one is a Possum without the O, as per the video title

I think the fault was all mine. I see no 'O-scylla-ting' between the use of possum and opossum in your posts, unless there's an opposing view?

Scylla, That is fascinating. I went hunting and underneath a still photo (which could easily have come from the video you posted) at the side of their Northern Shoveler page, I found this on Wikipedia: "Large groups of northern shovelers swim rapidly in circles to collect food from the surface by creating a funnel effect." While my constant reaction to nearly everything I read online is 'That's interesting; I wonder if it is true,' that explanation sounds possible to me.