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Thursday September 13, 2012

BET, you summarized the past season much better than I ever could. It was definitely a year that will never be forgotten. Never again will we see :koi: on the nest, unless by some miracle another O happens to find the pond, but I'm sure Dad had a personal relationship with the pond owner over the years.

I'd also like to say a million thanks to all of you who joined us in watching this year. The nice parts of belonging to HWF is that in a crisis we're a great support team.
I won't mention all your names, because I know I'd probably forget one or two , but I truly hope you're all here again next year.

Of course, special thanks goes to Enmax and the Calgary Zoo for allowing us all to have a glimpse into the life of these very special birds.

No way of knowing when Enmax will shut down the camera but it has been done in the past within a matter of a few days after the O's leave. Until such time we can report whatever we see.


Speaking of which..... It's 7:32 a.m. and there are two large dark birds near the sandbar. (added: they turned out to be ducks or cormorants and swam down the river)

The nice parts of belonging to HWF is that in a crisis we're a great support team.

And speaking of the Koi Pond, I feel badly for the owner. Their special osprey would have just stopped showing up -- I wonder what thoughts they had? I sure hope that somewhere along the line they have learned about the fate of the special family his/her fish helped to support. I know we feel for them and wish them warm thanks and for helping to care for this family

I suppose if any twist of fate has occurred and dad survived (maybe the storm caused him to migrate Very Early?) -- the arrival of Koi to the nest next season would be a strong indicator that nature out-smarted us yet again.

@ 3:51pm



I have 2 memories --- the chick who got a fish all the way to the nest only to drop it and "Old Crusty's" 'flight' off the nest. See next post.

My two memories -- links to them here in the thread.

1) Juvies are supposed to have some fishing skills by the time they migrate. We weren't seeing evidence of them having learned much under the special circumstances of their last weeks on the nest. There was this though:

Juvie brings a fish home and it drops -- and several subsequent posts.

2) Old Crusty is a fish carcass that for some reason the birds did not want to finish eating. We'd wished for it to be removed from the nest -- and we got our wish!

S'cap sequence: Crusty there and then gone - this post and 1-2 others
And this!!
BET's slo-mo video clip of Crusty being blown off the nest
An extra thanks to BET for doing this clip for us. Video is 'not her thing' but she made the effort!

5:19pm........Very nice thoughts indeed Terry! It really would be heartwarming to see Dad return next year and I don't know if early migration is a reasonable or even possible idea. But I suppose we can always dream. If that were to happen I'm sure we would hear simultaneous cheers from all the nest watchers! Realistically, I think we can hope that Mom finds a special beau and begins a fresh new life with him. After all, who wouldn't want her? She is very special indeed!

5:43pm a beautiful tranquil afternoon.

Thank you everyone- it looks as though the birds have flown. thank you for this opportunity to learn about these beauties.

Friday September 14, 2012
Good Morning GD. :hello:

Thanks for the recap Terry. Watching Crusty leave the nest was one of the highlights for sure.

8:09 am
Another very quiet morning. A magpie has been poking around on the nest for a few minutes now. There doesn't appear to be a soul on the sandbar.

8:29 am
Squirrel arrives to clean up. Whatever it is he found he took it with him.