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.