looduskalender.ee

Eagle incubating more than four hours, and it seems to continue the work:

13:35 it was on the nest also



..and at 14:06 and 14:06



at 15:16 and 15:26



at 16:53 the eagle was there, but for 30 seconds later the nest was empty.




it was back at 16:57



at 18:41 it was still incubating:



It's 19:07, the same eagle on the nest incubating..

At 19:09 she stood up, stretched wings and preened the underweathers a bit, rolled eggs and sat back on the eggs at 19:10. This seems quite relieving, doesn't it.. But why do we not see them together any more..

At 19:39 the eagle stood up, turned around and left





At 19:42 an eagle came. But, is this the same one who left for two minutes ealier




19:51

Rolling eggs.

At 19:57





Sleeping at 20:02

Now I compare two pictures (only) to each others - there is about one hour between. The eagle number 1 left at 19:39 and the number 2 came to the nest at 19:42.

Do you see any diffrence? The cam angle is the same, both are in same position... how about the tail weathers?? Or something else

1 at 18:41



2 at 19:57

The question who is who is ... grrr..

What is certain is that an eagle turned eggs of an Lesser Spotted eagle in Hungary at 20:39




And it setled down on the eggs at 20:40



..and was sleeping at 20:48

Renandeli, the only difference I can see between those two is that the tail feathers on number 2 seem to be darker than number one.
All else looks the same, to me.

The colour of the tail weathers can be the same, the sun is giving light from different angle,.. thought the 'sun shine' is soft, and there are no dark shadows.

But what I thought is that the number two is bigger than the nr 1. The lenght from the chest to the top of tail weathers is different - but: the eagles in the pictures may despite of that anyway be the one and same eagle - they are in different angle to the watcher, propably, though it is difficult to see.

I have no paint-program anymore and I am not able to draw lines and numbers on the pictures...


Why is there never two eagles present at same time.. I can't understand..

Oh, you are clever to notice that, renandeli.

So, I zoomed the page to 150% to make it easier to see beak tip and tail feathers.
Then I got the tape measure from the sewing box.
In the first pic I measure 95mm beak to tail tip

In the second pic it was 106mm beak to tail tip.

renandeli ~ thank you for all of the pictures and comparisons!

My reaction when I saw eagle #2 was that it was larger than eagle #1, but after studying them for a bit, I agree with Jo that they are the same bird. In the second picture, the tail feathers are extended back a bit differently, so the bird looks larger (longer). But - I opened both pictures in Photoshop, and superimposed one on the other, and the heads and front sections match exactly ... so I think it is the same bird.

I have not watched either Spotted Eagle nest enough to draw any conclusions, but it seems to me that it is always the female on the Estonian nest - perhaps this species does not share incubation duties, like the bald eagles do? More data is needed.

I wonder if the eggs survived the long absence earlier. I think Urmas said he thought they would not hatch. I have watched a couple of nests where the eagles were young, and they sat on the eggs long after the hatching due date.

But the heads may be slightly in different position. That is why measured the lenghts from the chest to tail top..
1) 47 mm
2) 51 mm

...without any enlargement..But the nr 1 may be in different angle as nr 2... oh, this is terrible.. If there is only one eagle to incubate etc it will be an impossible task..

As bociany has just reminded us, Urmas thought it unlikely, or impossible, for these eggs to hatch. So this adult bird just sits on the eggs from instinctive behaviour?
Miracles happen, though. Maybe this bird knows things about the eggs tht we don't know.

Bo, you are right, as well as Jo. I just wish there are two different LSEs!! Maybe they are too young, and this is their first try.. and it can happen as you said. It is only some kind of practise and learning the 'how to'..

Sometimes the birds sit on eggs that will not hatch- their hormones are telling them to incubate, but they can't tell that the egg is not viable. We will have to wait and see - collect data not guesses.

We never know as much as they by themselves..what their knowledge ever is, instincts, genes, practice, learning too, imitating etc. But people can help rare birds in many ways, we have other kind of knowlegde. But that's a different question.

I think it is important to follow this nesting, it gives information too what ever happens later, it will be different to a succesfull nesting without too big problems, but not less valuable or less usefull, ..

18 May

06:55 (just like our Eha, asleep)

TWO eagles! pictures later!

My first picture of two eagles on the nest!

at 11:39



slideshow from some moments on the nest today

http://s281.photobucket.com/albums/kk22 ... =slideshow

At 11:40



at 11:40



at 11:41



11:42



11:42



11:42



at 12:16



at 12:17



at 12:22



The other eagle continues to incubate at 12:37