Decorating drama

Screenshots from today at nest #3 of Satakunta Ospreys.

Starting with breakfast. And with the chick N2 having grown overnight again. The not-so-little one turned three weeks old yesterday.

Painting a Psittacosaurus

I decided to finally repaint the mini Psittacosaurus figure I got quite a while ago in the Safari Ltd. "feathered dinosaurs toob". Here's what we're starting with:

And here's the end result:

Cranes, fish gifts, and that life continuing

Two cranes walking below the Satakunta Osprey #3 nest. They're a bit hard to see without movement, but one is next to Nuppu's head and the other just at the edge of the frame on the left, at the middle height-wise. N2 is napping under Nuppu here.

Fly high, fly free

Yesterday was a sad day for not one but two of the nestcams I've been following quite closely this summer, and that's how it goes sometimes with this hobby, but it's hard not to feel a bit heartbroken after the news.

I had a feeling of saying goodbye when taking those last screenshots of the Cornell Red-tailed hawk nest featuring K-2, and though having been in good hands after being retrieved from the nest, K-2's injuries proved too severe for the chick to recover. Official post is here.

What was much more unexpected were the news from Satakunta Ospreys, where things had been going great lately at both occupied nests. Yesterday nest #1 was attacked by a raven, and it ended in the deaths of both the mother osprey Alma and the youngest nestling A3. Though A1 and A2 survived, they are too young for the father Ossi to be able to take care of them alone, but fortunately with us humans having a window into their lives and knowing about their predicament, the decision was made to retrieve the two osplets and have them be fostered in another nest, giving them a second chance. Post on the situation is here (in Finnish and English).

Life still continues for both hawks and ospreys even amidst the sadder events. I'm happy to see K-2's siblings thriving as they learn to be fledglings and capable juveniles, and little N2 at the #3 osprey nest growing fast. I hope everything goes well for them and for A1 and A2, and for Ossi, who will hopefully keep the nest and territory. And hoping is all I can do about it, things in nature will go as they do. No hard feelings towards the raven, either; it's just being an animal doing animal things.

Red-tailed hawk fledglings K-1 and K-3 hanging out at the nest. (warning for visible prey in the screenshots)

Sibling moments, and K-3's fledging

The oldest Cornell Red-tailed hawk chick K-1 fledged yesterday, with younger sibling K-2 being retrieved from the nest for veterinary treatment soon after, leaving youngest chick K-3 alone. While there's no further news yet on K-2 as of writing this, the other two chicks have been up to things in the meanwhile.

(warning for visible prey in some screenshots)

K-3 alone in the nest. K-1 flew back later in the afternoon, and perched above the nest for a while. Then K-3 dug up a meal from among the sticks, which K-1 found more interesting than the view from higher up.

Stormy afternoon

Zoos aren't bad, Jurassic Park and Jurassic World were bad zoos

(Spoilers for the movies, mostly JP1 and JW1)

Ray Arnold: We have all the problems of a major theme park and a major zoo, and the computers aren't even on their feet yet.

K-1 fledges!

K-1, the oldest Cornell Red-tailed hawk chick fledged this morning! (With K-2 present but not watching, being asleep with head tucked in back feathers) Hoping for safe adventures for K-1 as the fledgling gets used to flying, and also hoping for the best for the two chicks still in the nest.

K-2's injury has not improved over the days that veterinary intervention has been waiting for K-1 and K-3 to fledge naturally so as to not scare the chicks out of the nest before they can safely jump out. K-3 is now considered able enough to fledge as well if it so decides, so K-2 will be retrieved from the nest very soon (around 11 nest time). The cameras will be offline during the retrieval. ETA: K-2 successfully moved to vet care. K-3 remains in the nest for now, K-1 is perched in a tree across the road. Updates on K-2's condition will be posted here.

All three chicks earlier in the morning. Clockwise from the top: K-2, K-3, K-1.

K-2 and K-3 waiting for the lift to arrive at the nest. K-3 is right at the bottom of the screen, lying down and well camoflaged.

Thieving and other raptor activities

(Warning for again some peeks at raptor prey)

Satakunta Ospreys, nest #3. Baby N2 is so big already! Even bigger today, as this screenshot is from two days ago.

Hello, day

Pretty sunrise clouds.

Growing and coping

Some nestcam screenshots from yesterday. All from raptor nests, so warning for visible raptor prey.

Midnight cropdrop by little N2 at nest #3 of Satakunta Ospreys. Yes, it's night in this.

Little bird faces

And the rest of the birds, too, but quite a few of the nestcam screenshots I have right now seem to be of a birb looking directly in the camera('s direction). (Headless fish warning for the Osprey nest screenshots.)

Starting with this little Kestrel who paid a visit to the unoccupied nest #2 at Satakunta Osprey cam.

And less-little osplets at nest #1. Left to right: A1, A3, A2, mom Alma. The chicks are watching dad flying away after he delivered a fish to the nest.

Big bird feathers

The Cornell Red-tailed hawk chicks are starting to each have a full juvenile plumage.

Left to right: K-3, K-1, K-2. The youngest, K-3, is still missing a few accessories in their outfit, but will soon catch up. K-1 has a bit of down still showing near their beak and K-2 on top of their head.

Messy babies

At nest #1 at Satakunta Ospreys, osplet A1 fails to get out of the way of sibling A2's poop shoot.

Maybe it'll work as sunscreen.

Moderate fluffening, and the things you put up with as a bird parent

More osplet screenshots from Satakunnan sääkset. (Warning again for headless fishies in screenshots.) Here's Alma, A3, A2, and A1 at nest #1.

A2 seen from their most flattering angle.

Raptor logi(sti)c(s) thoughts

Today's Indoraptor thought concerns the logistics of his escape and the space it takes place in. How did he get from point A (the display cage in the auction room) to point B (grabbing the two mercenaries who were with Mills during exposition about Maisie)?

My first thought, because it's the route most explicitly featured on screen, was that what if in addition to accidentally getting the elevator doors to open, he managed to get the elevator to move, too.

"Didn't I just tell you to hold the door? Rude."

A day at a time at a nest

Some of last night and today at nest #3 of Satakunta Ospreys. Only warning for the screenshots is headless fishes again.

Supper feeding. There are quite a few shots of this, as I was really happy to see N2 doing so well and being active at begging and crawling to where the food is.

Fluffy and less fluffy chicks, and happy and sad events

A few cute screenshots of the Royal Albatross chick Tiaki, who is still a poofy cloud of a bird.

Got stung

Finally got my covid vaccination today. The arm doesn't hurt too bad so far, but I'm glad I didn't pick my drawing arm.

Some ridiculous-looking feathered dinosaurs

The legends are true, they exist. [Warning for raptor prey visible in screenshots]

For the somewhat less ridiculous end of the spectrum, the Cornell Redtail chicks. They're starting to have their juvenile plumage grown in, even little K-3, who is in the foreground in the above screenshot. They still have those fluffy white pants under their smooth big bird feathers, though.

Synchronized tracking headtilt.

Meanwhile the nest #1 Satakunta osplets have their "plucked Velociraptor" phase in full swing.

Double osplet!

Osprey nest #3 at Satakunnan sääkset has finally had a hatch - two of them, in fact! There has been discussion and debate for a while now among viewers about whether any of Nuppu and Ahti's eggs would hatch, as they had a long period of exposure to cold during the incubation (due to something scaring Nuppu away from the nest, I believe), and now that they did start hatching, it's a double event. In four days we could be seeing a baby every eight hours until they are coming every four minutes.

[warning for some headless fishes as is standard for osprey nests]

Our young mother Nuppu with her firstborn, N1. What is this squirmy, tiny thing coming out of the smooth rocks she pooped a month ago and instinct has told her to sit on??

Sibling piles

Cuddles at the Cornell Red-tailed hawk nest.

K-1 stretches out their wings, and K-3 gets a cozy wing blanket.

And more from Satakunta Osprey nest #1, where the chicks are still too small to arrange themselves any other way than in a pile. Warning for some headless fishes in the nest if that's something you'd like to avoid seeing.

Little A3 awake and looking around when mom got up and left the nest for a moment early in the morning.

A trio of raptor trio goings-on

Some more screenshots from the nestcams I've been watching. 'Tis the season for a lot of them to have things happening, after all.

First a bit of an update on The Trio - Starr, Valor I, and Valor II, the three Bald Eagles nesting together. A storm having destroyed their nest after the end of the previous nesting season, the trio have built a new nest nearby. This is the closest closeup available, but luckily the nest is still in the camera's sight. This year they're raising a clutch of three eaglets! The chicks are already big and starting to be ready to fledge.

This nest has been difficult for me to keep up with since the stream doesn't have a backlog, but they're still interesting to follow even in less detail and through other watchers' reports.

Then a few shots of the Cornell Red-tailed hawks, starting with this adorable closeup of the youngest chick, K-3. Starting to change eye colour from baby blue-grey to light brown.

The rowans are blooming!

Best smell best smell

 

Okay, that's all.

Baby buzzards self-feeding

The Cornell Red-tailed hawk chicks are learning to handle prey items and eat on their own.

[Warning that most of the screenshots will show prey, including ones where it's not the focus]

First a bit of allopreening from K-2 to youngest chick K-3.

And toe nibbles for big sibling K-1.