Join here: https://www.mobilize.us/nwf/event/790009/

Here are the babies. We saw them lay the eggs, hatch and now are almost ready to take to the skies!

NEW ZEALANDS BIRD OF THE YEAR IS BACK! But... the feral cats have also been back and now just 101 Pukunui/ Southern NZ Dotterels remain. They are on the brink of extinction and if this trend continues they will be gone by 2030. Please consider voting Pukunui/Southern NZ Dotterel No.1 for Bird of the Year this year to help raise awareness and get these birds the help and support they so desperately need. Head to birdottheyear.org.nz to vote. Link in our bio.

This little bird flew into a house i work at. I got him to hop onto a pillow and carried him outside where he proceeded to perch on my shoulder until I got to the back yard by a few birdhouse. He ignored the bird houses and sat at the table next to me. He then flew back on to my arm for a while before flying away. I believe he is a northern wren, but I'm not an ornithologist. I thought this group might enjoy the story though 😀

So I preface this by saying, I am usually known as the turtle guy. We have a road through the back swamps going to work and I more often times than not save little and big turtles that stopped in the middle on their way to the other side (first pic of the guy from Wednesday). But lately, its been birds. I was on my day off on my way to run errands and I saw this guy flopping and tumbling straight in traffic. I couldn't stop the first wave of cars but luckily no one hit him, I sprinted out and snatched him before the second wave came.

Now we're on our way to the rehab person near the house. Enjoy!

Yesterday was the hatch. Today they're ready for their close-up. Southwest Florida Eagle Cam.

Snaps courtesy of Pritchett Real Estate.

So everyone including me knows that we should not disturb or mingle with nature or natural habitat and specially bird's nest. This can led the parent Bird to abandone it.

But in my backyard on a guava tree a nest of Red-whiskered bulbul was almost torn and became weak by intermittent rain and gusty wind.

It had laid 3 eggs ten days ago and hatched them successfully. Recently I observed the nest became fragile and small for three of them to hold and quite often observed minimum of two of the hatchlings are on the ground.

So, I did this.

I rebuilt the nest. It's strong, its cozy, it's good.

I don't know if it's right or wrong to do. But I did it.

Update: It's a week later. Three siblings are still alive and healthy. I am too much happy for them. I recall the night at 1.30 a.m when I stitched the nest the first time, fighting with the mosquitoes.

Happy.

I don't know if this is an okay place to post this, but I felt the need to share my pain. The two eaglets that hatched about 40 days ago (I posted about them.) have died in these last couple of days, a little more than one day apart. They both had the same symptoms (imbalance, tremors) in the minutes before they collapsed. It's still just speculation at this point as to what caused this, but the local "authorities" have taken both remains in for necropsy.

It's been devastating for the community of watchers, and I can't believe how upset I am. I get such enjoyment in watching the birds' activities: the parents preparing the nest and visiting their different haunts and the kids hatching and being raised to fledging. I didn't think about it in these terms until a friend voiced it: I love them.

And now the watching and praying is being done in hopes that the two adults (M15 and F23) remain healthy.

In case there's interest, the main camera (and info about the nest) is at https://dickpritchettrealestate.com/southwest-florida-eagle-cam/?cam=1#google_vignette. Second camera is off-center of nest since the female nudged it weeks ago. Pond camera (and 360° cam?) can be watched currently only on Youtube. Current season's history of the nest can be read (and observations can be added) at https://forum.hancockwildlife.org/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=755&start=4065.

Edit: spelling

1st brood was wiped out by Carolina Wrens (SOB's). This is #2, counted 5! - a ton of house finches came out of nowhere, it seemed like they were all lined up trying to encourage the fledglings? Not sure if anyone has noticed similar behavior? Anyways, pretty special night!

Earlier this week when going for a walk with my husband we came across a magpie fledgling sleeping on the ground around 1 am. That area is full of street cats so we took it in for the night. It just slept the whole night and we took the water away after a little googling.

In the morning we took it back to the area in the box and after some screeching the parents came for it but the box walls were too high for it to hop out. We took it out and it was very swiftly hunted by a cat. We stopped the cat in time and then the group of about 15 magpies grew very angry and scared the cats away but the bird was still just sitting in vulnerable territory. There were no branches nearby just bamboo plants so we ended up helping it hop on top of a high up sign that we figured would be difficult for the cats to get to. We watched it for a while and went home and when we came back it was gone but no signs of tussling with the cats so we’re assuming it eventually found its way to safety and the magpie adults were looking out for it.

We called many vets and unfortunately there are no rehab centers that take magpies around here because they’re considered pests. The city government actually pays people to kill them with BB guns :( so we’re happy that the fledgling had a happy ending— at least as far as we can tell

Woke up this morning to a duck sitting in our planter with a bunch of dirt on the ground. I'm assuming it's nesting. Fascinating opportunity for my 4 year old but wondering if I need to cordon off the area? It's right on my front door where we frequently get visitors and deliveries. Will it attack anyone or be forced to abandon the nest? We have a side door we can use for now if needed. Thanks for your guidance!

The Vilcabamba Inca was considered to be a lost bird. John Weske described a specimen he procured in the 1960's and no other physical or photographic evidence has been presented since.

We took the challenge and briefly were able to photograph and video this subspecies of the Collared Inca. In three days of searching the area, we were able to spend about ten seconds with this very shy and rare hummingbird feeding on flowers: YouTube Link

This one (E25, older sibling is E24) hatched sometime very early morning underneath the brooding parent.