New Cameras
Two chicks for lesser spotted eagles
Text: Urmas Sellis
Image: Mobotix camera
Translation: Liis
The lesser spotted eagle pair, Eha and Koit, whose nest life we have been watching, have hatched a second chick. The first one was hatched nearly three days earlier and was named Spot by the viewers.
While the second chick was hatching Koit brought food but in Eha’s opinion this was not a suitable time for eating, and so she chased Koit off from the nest, with his prey
.
Although the age difference between the chicks is not very big, it is likely that only one of them will grow up – usually it will be the first-hatched one. In literature it is stated that the older chick crawls on to the younger one so that the younger gets no food and dies. If this will happen in our camera nest we will soon know. But the strategy of raising only one chick has kept the lesser spotted eagle population strong and stable, and interfering in this is not wise. And in a few percent of the successful nestings two chicks do grow up ...
