Meanwhile, inside the box...

Peregrines @ the museum, March 26, 2021. Rough edit

Great beachcombing find

Two Bald Eagle chicks on their tide line nest, almost a decade ago on Middleton Island (Gulf of Alaska). The entire family (as well as 5 more nesting pairs and some non-breeders) were subject to a certified diet study at the time, for which we met once every two weeks. Currently trying to close that gap between fieldwork and publication…

Urban refugees

A neighbour destroyed their nest just before any eggs were laid. But those eggs were coming and the couple found refuge on our balcony. No time to build a nest. Around here, if not disturbed, exposed eggs like these usually get predated by Magpie Pica pica or Carrion crow Corvus corone.

Hibernating Amsterdam parakeets

Ring-necked parakeets Psittacula krameri visiting a potential nesting cavity today, in a wall in Amsterdam Oost. Reportedly, it were Great spotted woodpeckers Dendrocopos major that constructed the cavity first, but it was later taken over by the parakeets. Whether any of these bred there this year remains unknown. For Amsterdam there are only two other reports of Ring-necked’s occupying holes in walls (here the species nests in tree cavities), but breeding did not get confirmed. This one fits at least three parakeets. Perhaps they find some warmth together this way; it’s currently cold as **** here and much too early for breeding. (Thanks Frank!)

Failure...

Two-egg clutch of Barn Owls (Tyto alba guttata) in a wall mounted nest box located in a green suburb of Zwolle, The Netherlands. An infrared camera connection showed that one of the two breeding birds disappeared during early egg-stage (halfway April), but the true cause of failure remains unknown. The box was installed over 20 years ago and became occupied by a single Barn Owl pretty much every winter and occasionally in summer. During summer 2015 a second bird appeared and a first breeding attempt was made the following year, which also failed during early egg stage. Today the box got cleaned out, the eggs were removed and 85 pellets were collected and will be used to identify prey items.

Back in Aveiro...

Where spring is already in the air... Many White Storks Ciconia ciconia (like these ones today near Pardilhó) are now reconstructing their nest, as many had been blown away by a recent storm that lasted multiple days and took out many trees in the area as well.