NEWS FROM OTHER NESTS - 2022

Great news about Glen--thanks Geemeff and Bart and anyone I've missed. I expect that champagne is being consumed at Tweed Valley today! I read the possibly dire news yesterday and then earlier today I read the good news elsewhere. What an amazing surprise since it certainly sounded as though he was a goner. Luckily there were no strong Easterly winds which might have blown him farther out into the Atlantic. It will be interesting to see if he heads further south at some point or chooses to winter where he is. Hope he continues to lead a charmed life and survives to return to the UK and a nest and chicks of his own. Perhaps he will continue to be one of the lucky ones, fingers crossed.

SW Florida Bald Eagles - Harriet & M15

28 November

Still no egg, but the couple is carrying on their pre-laying routine.

Starlings are frequent visitors, sometimes they even congregate around the edges of the nest - but here was an individual which I thought was a Starling but now wonder - very long beak!

Harriet was being regal and protesting at... either the passing Starlings or a closer invader of her space; M15 was bringing in the latest of quite a few nest materials:

Harriet caught one of the passing birdies  

Morning,

here's Episode 6 of Flight of the Ospreys broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this morning. Bleak, but with a bit of hope at the end, sums it up.

A bit like the 48 hours I stayed up frantically looking for Glen - there was more than hope at the end! He's doing well, exploring and fishing in the same small area of Khnifiss bio-reserve in Morocco he made landfall after his epic flight (36 hours straight!), it's a very safe place. Contacts Sacha made on the way through there are out looking for him. Will keep you posted.

Janni said:

Wonderful news indeed that Glen has reappeared.
So does this mean that when the tracker data has "greyed out" it is not within transmitter range as opposed to the assumption that the osprey has perished?

Glen's transmitter is the new kind which uses mobile phone satellites and obviously there aren't any far out over the Atlantic Ocean! There have been odd data skips, eg last transmission 09.13, next due 13.13 but when I checked at 13.13, there's nothing there then ithe message suddenly changes to next at 17.13. So initially it wasn't too concerning. But his info stays black during these skips.

So when there were several data skips in a row on Friday and then continued to skip and his data line greyed out on Saturday at the same time as his battery percentage dropped dramatically, it really looked like he had died and was on his back toes up so the little solar cell couldn't recharge.. The greying out usually means no further transmission..

I was exhausted staying up checking every four hours all through Friday and Saturday, did the last one in the early hours of Sunday then fell asleep so missed the 3am download. Awoke at 7am, checked out of habit, and got a photo of a yellow patch with a pin in it. Zoomed out, looked like sand, zoomed out some more and it was Morocco!!! Unbelievable! Theory for his battery percentage dropping is that it was very overcast weather. It did fluctuate during those 48 hours from 43 - 45% but that could as easily have been a dead bird toppled over, I'm told.

Here's his latest data - look at the very top line - note Kirk and Tweed's have gone from greyed-out to blank.

Bart molenaar said:

I was so happy.. just had to share it . They keep surprising us don’t they

They certainly do! Can hardly wait to see what he does next! BBC are probably running another feature on him, here's the link to the first one if anyone missed it.

www.bbc.co.uk/.../uk-scotland-south-scotland-63584969

Thanks for the thorough explanation! It's great to follow his progress - I hope he finds a good wintering spot soon.

NE Florida Bald Eagles

27 November - Earnestly preening tail:

For the past week or so I've only been checking the live stream periodically and if there's no-one or no egg on the nest I delete my footage - so this news is very late being brought to you.

Worrying news:

28th - Gabby in the evening:

28/29 Gabby spent the night alone and didn't leave until nearly 14:00, after a brief nest check.

I am SO confused! ... due mainly to so many cams (4) and being so late checking thru.

My Samson news was BOPS'd !!!  Well you won't BOPS this one

Egg #1 for Harriet & M15 @ SWFL:

G'night folks!

Oh rats. Sorry  , can't watch for  a while is Samson is missing , I need to keep my mood positive  - this weather makes for a somewhat glum Cirrus but thank you Scylla