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[Lani]

Royal Albatross ~ UQ Dual Hovers w/ Another Chick! Crashes A Feeding & Takes Short Cut Home 9.18.23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJXzfoblZ6c&t=106s

Sep 18, 2023
UQ chick hears another chick wheeing and getting fed by a parent down the track to the right and of course, he has to paddle over there to crash the party. UQ is now taking Manaaki's place as the parent crasher! He then starts to walk back towards his nest but decides to take a short cut and flight express hovering home instead! So much more efficient and so fast!!

UQ will head to Top Flat and is seen hovering in sync with another chick! Very cool to watch the dual hover. I am not sure if that one chick fledged or just came down out of cam view. UQ makes his sneaky way back to his spot. Then it is back over to Top Flat again! Rangers check to see who is up there and Julia reports is was UQ. He is seen hovering again and then out of view. UQ shows back up in his spot again. Another exciting and fun day for UQ - I am glad he found a new friend to fly with! Thank you for watching!

Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk

The rangers give UQ a feeding late yesterday.

He/she tries

and tries


then settled for the night near Manaaki's nest and moved down hill to his own nest later that night.

[Lani]

Royal Albatross ~ Beautiful Closeups Of Sweet UQ ♥ The Last Of The Fab Four Chicks! 9.18.23 by Lady Hawk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNxbnxPxFRE
Sep 18, 2023
UQ chick is the last of the Fab Four chicks - NTF, Quarry and Manaaki have all fledged. UQ is the youngest of this group and is 10 days younger than Manaaki. Hopefully he will stay around for 240 days like Manaaki did before he takes that leap of faith and flies out over the ocean to meet his destiny. Enjoy some beautiful closeups of UQ as he settles in for the night in his comfy spot on the grass. Thank you for watching!

Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk

[Lani]

A few pics I captured today.
Around 3pm New Zealand time, which was 8pm Central time, adult albies started flying above and around the island. UQ started calling to them....
UQ sees a parent and starts running and calling 

A nice long 10 minute feeding

"Excuse me" another parent is walking by as UQ's parent continue feeding and spending time with him

UQ returns to the nest with a full tummy for the night and a happy heart 
[/size]

[Lani]

Royal Albatross ~ UQ Gets A Supp Feeding! ♥ A Chick Comes Over Wheeing! GLY Or L Brief Visit 9.21.23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tpG6e4qu-U

Sep 20, 2023
UQ stayed below the hill for the most part of the day but did pop his head up so that we could get some great zooming on him!! Later in the morning, UQ is walking around and sees the basket people arriving one more time.The rangers weigh UQ (he came in at 7kg which is a bit low) so they give him electrolytes of 600ml and 1kg of fish & squid - bringing his weight to 8.6kg which is much better.

One of the neighbor chicks comes by wheeing excited for a feed too! This chick has been receiving regular supp feedings as well and can smell the fish/squid in the container. When the rangers were finished with the feeding, they get up to leave and the chick turns around and leaves as well.

Later, UQ is in his spot below the hill when one of Manaaki's parents is seen flying in.  They walk up the hill and sit next to UQ for a brief visit. It might be Mama Lime, she looks up at the empty nest as UQ is wheeing and begging for a feeding. She does not stay long - she was kind to UQ chick  , perhaps realizing now that Manaaki is really gone and so she flew off in a beautiful departure over the sea. She circled around, perhaps saying her goodbyes for the season as she disappeared into the horizon. It is time for her to head to South America as her work here is finished. Both GLY & L have done a great job raising Manaaki and they should be very proud. ♥ Thank you for watching!

Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk

Good night!

UQ has settled into his old nest, where his mom waited for him to give a feeding yesterday. He's been there since his feeding from the rangers. 

[Lani]

Good night pic on the 21st!

[Lani]

Royal Albatross ~ UQ Gets A Supplementary Feeding! A Chick Walks Up The Hill ♥ 9.22.23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up1zRUjOUZs&t=4s

Sep 22, 2023
QU is sitting in his usual spot just below the hill but still in view of the cam. Another chick comes walking up and looks around the area. This is a male chick with a black Darvic band from one of the nests below the hill. It may have been the same chick that came up and was interested in the feeding that UQ got yesterday from the rangers.  He is getting supplementary feedings as well.

Rangers Colin and helper arrive a few minutes after the chick departed back down the hill and they gave UQ his supp feeding. First they gave him hydration (electrolytes) through a syringe and then comes the whole fish - 9 of them I counted. Ranger Colin makes sure each dish is swallowed before they feed the next one. That is a good meal for UQ and he should be feeling quite content now. Watch UQ shake out his wings after the rangers are getting ready to leave!!! Thank you for watching!

Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk [/size]

I took this pic of UQ yesterday, it rained most of the day

[Lani]

Friday the 22nd - good night post

UQ hasn't been seen for two hours, since 14:53 pm New Zealand time, they keep searching the hills. My last pic of him was at 14:48 pm their time. I snipped it as he was going to the left of the cam. And then they lost him. Never saw him again.  . ... it's so strange not seeing him sitting at his favorite spot staring out to sea.

I took this pic today, New Zealand time was 9:26 am


Royal Albatross ~ UQ Beautiful Closeups!! Wet & Very Cute! 🐦 ♥ 9.22.23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVL2pXQppPU

Sep 22, 2023
UQ wakes up and does a lot of preening of his feathers & stands up and shakes out his wings with the raindrops. Enjoy some beautiful closeup coverage of UQ looking wet but oh so cute as he sits on his comfy place in the grass & shakes the raindrops off his feathers & does a paddle scratch 🙂💕 It was a calm day with no wind so no hovering or flight practice for the chicks. UQ seemed to be content to hang out in his spot just below the hill 🙂 💚 Thank you for watching!

Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk [/size]

Good night! I'd like to think UQ is one of the albies soaring the skies with his friends 

[Lani]

I think UQ has fledged or he is out of sight and below the hill. When UQ moved to the left off cam's vision the cam operator moved too quickly to the left thinking he would hover. Well, he didn't he probably went down the hill. I haven't seen him or his white top. You could always see the white of his head in the dark on his 2nd nest. This is the latest lady Hawk video of him. There is not chat room and they don't allow comments on their youtube channel. I went to their facebook page and asked a question. 


Royal Albatross ~ Time To Ring Those Bells! First Albies Are Back! UQ Skycalls A Parent!     9.23.23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrtWSAV4t1k&t=11s

Sep 22, 2023
We have only 9 chicks left on the headland - 24 have fledged so far! And it is time to ring those bells! The first returning albatross have arrived back to the colony (GBK a 20 year old male and YGK a 30 year old female).  Ranger Sharyn has said "Both GBK and YKG have been away from the headland and waters around New Zealand since January 2023. Feeding in the waters around South America during the winter gets the toroa in condition for the next breeding season at Pukekura.

YKG last fledged a chick in 2020 but her mate has not been seen since 2021. GBK is also a bereaved toroa and last fledged a chick in 2017. It is hoped that since they are both looking for a new mate that they may pair up. Egg laying is in November so we should know in a couple of months whether they will breed for the 2023/23 season or not.

To celebrate these new seasons arrivals the Royal Albatross Centre will organize bells to ring on Monday 25th September at 1 pm. The celebration of bell ringing is a great reminder for people to take care of the ocean where the toroa spend over 85% of their lives."

 For those in the USA it will take place on Sunday Sept 24th 6:00PM PST/ 9:00PM EST and Hawaii time 3:00PM.

UQ is 235 days old today and he continues to do his wing exercises showing off those incredible 3 meter (10 feet long) wingspan. Simply gorgeous! He then heads down the track and comes back as a ranger takes a chick head count to see who has fledged and who is still here. UQ does more hops, flaps and paddle walking before he stops to gaze out over the ocean imprinting his home upon his heart. We are going to miss UQ when he gets ready to leave soon. Thank you for watching!

Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk

Kb, I just received a facebook reply from a poster on the The Royal Albatross Center fb website. She sent me 3 posts, here is the last two. When you and I saw him go to the left that was the last anyone saw him too. We'll need to wait and hear from the rangers. I'm sure they will post something today.

Stacy L wrote: I just watched again, walked off cam at 14:50, cam didn’t move to the left until 14:53, so no idea where he went. Hopefully he just went down the slope near his nest to sleep. I can’t imagine that he fledged, there was barely any wind. Sharyn, the ranger, said it’s unlikely for them to fledge under 5 knots.



Stacy L wrote: I just checked the port website, wind speed was favorable. It didn’t look windy on the cam. 😞 I’ll be happy for him if he left, but sad that I missed it. Going to miss UQ. He helped me get over Manaaki leaving 🙂




Beautiful UQ, I snipped this pic yesterday at 8:07am New Zealand time, Saturday 23rd - baby fuzz no more! 
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[Lani]

Finally found a Royal Albatross discussion website with the Ranger Mod who handles the webcam that we watch, and I was able to find a few answers.

The cam is on UQ's favorite hilly spot, down the slope is two chicks.
They think it's UQ and the neighbor chick that would visit UQ from the right side of the hill.

There are three cams facing this area. The Port Harbor cam takes photos from a higher location, and they captured this photo of the two chicks down the slope.





The photo below is taken from the opposite direction or seaview. You can see the white heads of the chicks. UQ has got to be the one closer to the top of the hill where he usually sits.
That is why the webcam is focusing on that part of the hill.

The black arrow is the webcam, the signal station camera is inside the green building to the left.
[/size]


This is headland where the Royal Albatross nests

[Lani]

This is a cool site I found on the discussion board regarding Royal Albatross

Look at the video of the chicks up on the top left corner of webcam.

https://www.windy.com/-Webcams/New-Zealand/Otago/Aramoana/Taiaroa/webcams/1508610974?-45.787,167.443,7

[Lani]

great news! I received info from someone I connected with on Royal Albatross Centre Facebook and UQ is okay and still there![/size] 

[Lani]

Royal Albatross - 9/24 🔔Get your bells ready!

Ringing of the Bells | Return of the Wandering Toroa | DunedinNZ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uanfnBN6OPI&t=7s


Not one but two new seasons arrivals touched down at Pukekura on Friday afternoon

GBK Green, Blue, Black on the right is a 20-year-old male & YGK Yellow, Green, Black on the left is a 30-year-old female.
Image credit: Colin Facer.  Thank you.

[Lani]

Royal Albatross ~ Say Hello To Beautiful Miss YD21 ♥ She Is Checking Out The Cam! 9.24.23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4S6eNZzQqo

Sep 23, 2023
UQ is still here as of today (Sept 24th) He was seen half way down the hill this morning and received a supplementary feeding by the rangers. He will probably fledge from below the hill when he is ready!! ♥

In the meantime, we have a visit from one of the neighboring chicks - YD21. She is seen at the cam doing some gardening, She is so cute - and still has  bit of down on her neckline. YD21 stands for (Yellow for the female, D for the designation of this season's chicks 2023, and her number 21). I don't know which nest she is from but she may be the chick from Signal Station Flat on the hill. Thank you for watching!

Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk

[Lani]

Royal Albatross - posted by Sharyn Broni (Ranger, DOC)
Kia ora koutou (hello everyone)

It appears the UQ (Upper Quarry) chick has fledged this morning. There are some good breezes today and he was supplementary fed yesterday. He is now 237 days old and has been looking in good condition for fledging.

There are still 9 chicks as we (DOC rangers) picked up another one from the Aramoana Salt Marsh over the weekend.


The cam will stay in this location until after egg laying in November. We may see new arrivals coming to this location over the next several weeks.

[Lani]

Royal Albatross ~ UQ HAS FLEDGED! 💗 Safe Travels To The Last Of The Fab Four Chicks! 9.25.23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-_ZTucKLJs

Sep 24, 2023
UQ has fledged! 💕🐥 He sure picked a special day to take flight with the ringing of the bells today on Sept 25th! Godspeed UQ - the last of the fab four chicks to take flight! Enjoy some of the last coverage I got of UQ before he went down the hill and out of cam view on Sept 23rd. 

From Ranger Sharyn: "UQ (Upper Quarry) chick has fledged this morning! There are some good breezes today and he was supplementary fed yesterday. He is now 237 days old and has been looking in good condition for fledging. There are still 9 chicks as we (DOC rangers) picked up one from the Aramoana Salt Marsh over the weekend. This chick took the long way back around the harbour to the headland but was safely picked up!
The cam will stay in this location until after egg laying in November. We may see new arrivals coming to this location over the next several weeks." Thank you for watching!

Video captured & edited by Lady Hawk

I took quite a few pics of UQ on his last day on the cam. I took more pics of him than I did of Manaaki    I'm happy Lady Hawk made a video of his last day too! 

UQ his last day on the cam 9-23-2023  9:04 am  My favorite pics are those of him looking out towards the Otago Harbor waters on the right is the South Pacific Ocean.


4 chicks Manaaki on the left sitting on his nest, UQ, NTF coming from right, followed by Q (Quarry) chick.


This is one of my favorite videos 
Sept 9th morning.
It's the weekend, time to catch up with the neighbor...or maybe not.

Manaaki (r) Q chick (l), and UQ chick watching from the sideline.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1700471777733054773