Bird Watching: Whopper - heading towards independence at a leisurely pace., 0 by MargaretK

MargaretK wrote:
I'm sorry about the lengthy absence, but the heat has drained the entire population. We're expecting rain on Thursday and IF it happens, it'll be the first drop of rain in 60 something days. It has been the longest, driest summer on record and here we are, more than month into autumn and it's still summer. We got to 94F today. We're still getting 11 hours of sunshine (not daylight, but sunshine) every day. Can someone explain what "blankets" are for?

Belated thanks for your lovely comments, sunnyg and duc.

I have continued to go to the nest, just to see how long Whopper, who is now six months old, sticks around. Some days I see and hear nothing. Madam X provides regular updates, so I know she's still there. I went this afternoon and she was on the right hand branch (Whopper, not Madam X), with a partially eaten fish. There's no doubt she would be catching all her own food now. Initially I thought it was Big Hook, she is so big, but after about 15 minutes, she started calling with the unmistakable call of a young Osprey.

I know this thread is getting a bit long, but I don't want to start a new one, because I'm kinda anticipating there won't be much to report for a while. If I'm wrong, I'll then start a new one.