looduskalender.ee

Video Collection
Find video clips and additional information on White-tailed Eagles.

“Eagles have inspired humans for thousands of years with their power and presence."
Click here for some basic information, presented by: Jo Cooper, January 2006, Natural History Museum, London, UK
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/nature-live/video-archive/videos/eagles/

You want to suggest a video for this topic? Please post the link at "Add a link or an article". Find detailed "how to" information at "FAQ & Support":
http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=252

Part I
Introduction: Eagles of Estonia

1.Eesti kotkad – Eagles of Estonia

(Estonian Film Foundation; 50:57 min., in Estonian. Merikotkas – White-tailed Eagles 30:10-40:25)
Click here to see a documentary film about the eagles of Estonia:
http://pontu.eenet.ee/player/kotkas.html

Shortly about Estonia and the Eagles (Eagle fact sheet, in Estonian and English)
http://www.kotkas.ee/failid/Kotka-aabits.pdf

Information on White-tailed Eagles in Estonia
http://www.kotkas.ee/ENG/whitetailed_eagle.html

Find a general overview of Estonian nature (location and natural conditions, flora and fauna, Estonian nature by regions) at the Encyclopedia about Estonia
http://www.estonica.org/en/

Part II
A camera observed White-tailed Eagle nest (Silma Nature Reserve, Western Estonia)

2.White-tailed Eagle nest - observed by a live webcam

The project started in 2009; the nesting site is located in the county of Läänemaa, Western Estonia (Silma Nature Reserve http://life.silma.ee/index.htm).

Pictures of the nesting site and technical details http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/2909

Since March 5th the events in the nest could be watched via live stream online and in high quality. As yet for two breeding seasons the time between the first nest inspections and the maiden flights of the young ones are well documented.

Members of the “Looduskalender” forum used to call the ringed female eagle who could be observed in the nest in 2009 “Linda”. In the same year the rings of this bird could be read from a photo. On her left leg is a white/black ring with the legend H407. On the right leg is a blue/white ring which shows that she was hatched in Estonia. It turned out that Linda was hatched in 1998, in the Alam-Pedja nature protection area, where she was one of two chicks in the nest. The male eagle of the breeding pair 2009, named “Sulev”, was not ringed.

Click to see videos of the season 2009 http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/2907

In 2010 the same nest was observed again via webcam, and the same constellation could be seen – a ringed female and a non ringed male eagle. The offspring of this pair was named “Teele” (the bigger one; almost certainly a female bird) and “Timmu” (the smaller one; almost certainly a male bird). At the age of four weeks both were ringed. The bigger one got ring no. 791 on right leg and no. C525 on left. The smaller one got rings no. 792 and C526.

More about Linda and the nest http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/6771


Information offspring/ringing: Told by Renno Nellis from Eagle club (Kotkaklubi), who ringed the chicks; translated by Liis from a video posted by fireblade1
Information about Linda and the nest: Renno Nellis and Urmas Sellis at LK mainpage, translated by Liis
Link to Silma Nature Reserve posted by ame

3.The camera observed nest, Silma Nature Reserve. How to find pictures and videos

Photo documentation, breeding season 2009 (pictures taken from the webcam in regular intervals)
http://www.mejuba.com/member/folder/default.aspx?id=7234&folderid=5_46940

Photo documentation, breeding season 2010 (pictures taken from the webcam in regular intervals)
http://mejuba.com/member/folder/default.aspx?id=4473&folderid=12_23306
(opens very slow)

Photo documentation White-tailed Eagle nest, 2011
http://s1127.photobucket.com/albums/l633/Pontu_Photos/Kotkas/

Videos, breeding season 2009
Playlist March 5th - June 13th 2009 http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DB4754B69621B5D2&sort_field=added

Videos, breeding season 2010
Playlist March 3rd - May 9th http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=93407257B2DAF198&sort_field=added

Videos are available e.g. at YouTube (even the playlists are not complete yet) and in the WTE cam forum.

Video playlists: Thanks to kenny
Photodocumentation: Many thanks to Ohansen, ame and Felis silvestris for making the pictures available at mejuba and photobucket

4.The camera observed nest (Silma Nature Reserve) - more video playlists

April 2010: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5DA7B481B5A2FF8B

May 2010: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A9710FF22DD6B5C5

June 2010: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E7AC506200564CF1

July 2010: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4D191D5B3CC296D1

August 2010: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=ACC9974D1873FF13

September 2010: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=62F187B3E54C86DB

There was a break-down of the data transmission due to an unknown reason in May 2010 and therefore there is only little data from that month. The problem disappeared spontaneously and the camera began working again in June 2010, until the camera failed altogether in the beginning of September 2010.


Playlists April-September 2010 and camera information submitted by ame

Part III
The camera observed nest: A choice of videos and information (breeding season 2010)

5.Male eagle works at the nest, March 8th 2010



Learn more: Avian monogamy http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/om/om037.pdf



Male eagle brings a new twig; both try to arrange it, March 9th 2010


Videos posted by kenny


Learn more: White-tailed Eagles, sky dancing
The RSPB Film Collection; Audio: Chris Watson, BBC Natural History Sound Library
http://www.arkive.org/white-tailed-eagle/haliaeetus-albicilla/video-09a.html

This kind of mating dance is not without risk. Accidents like the one in the article below are mentioned in some sources.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/04/12/tech-eagle-mating-fall.html

6.Mating, March 14th 2010



Learn more: Breeding density, cuckoldry risk and copulation behaviour during the fertile period in raptors: a comparative analysis, Francois Mougeot http://www.cebc.cnrs.fr/publipdf/2004/MAB67.pdf

Linda lays the first egg, March 21th


Videos posted by kenny

Learn more: Courtship feeding in birds, David Lack http://64.106.42.23/sora/Auk/v057n02/p0169-p0178.pdf

7.Breeding. And: the voice of the White-tailed Eagle, April 5th 2010


Video: kenny


White-tailed Eagle chicks hatching, April 30th 2010

Already last night a glimpse of a newly hatched little head could be suspected. Today it seems that there might be the voices of two eagle chicks. Early in the evening, just before 6 pm, Linda fed the sturdier one. A heartwarming view, and at about 7 pm there were already two who were eating. Linda laid the first egg on March 21, and in the evening of April 28 the first eagle chick was hatched, so the hatching period was 38 days.

Click to see the video mms://video.eenet.ee/2010/kotkas-2010-04-29.asf

Submitted by Looduskalender to LK main page, April 30th. Translation: Liis. Video (April 29th): Urmas Lett

8.The male eagle covers the nest and the just hatched chicks with his wings, April 29th 2010





The female WTE eats fish and feeds her chicks in the morning on May 1st 2010


Videos submitted by ame


Learn more:
Incubation and breeding at the camera observed nest 2010 incubation took 37 whole days (1st day was March 22nd after the first egg was laid on the 21st, and the last whole was April 27th as on the 28th at least one chick had already hatched). Linda was in the nest every morning when the camera turned off, and it was also staying in the nest in the evenings, except on (four) CORRECTION: FIVE evenings out of 37 (14%) when Sulev was still incubating at the time the camera turned off. it is likely that they switched turns also on those evenings before it got quite dark.

from the data i calculated how many minutes Sulev spent incubating on each day. i also calculated the time which the camera was on, because this is a good estimate for the daylight time. then i calculated the percentage portion of Sulev's incubation time of the daylight time. it's shown in the picture below.

it turned out that
- Sulev took a considerable portion of the incubation duty: on the average 42 % of the daylight time. the amount of time he was incubating varied a lot from day to day. usually he spent two periods in the nest, but that varied, too.
- Linda and Sulev did not have a rigid timetable (except that Linda probably always took the night shift). on the contrary they seemed to be very flexible and adjusted their behaviour to the circumstances often determined by the weather. it seemed that the eagles did not like to fly when it was raining hard. on those occasions the bird who happened to be in the nest also stayed there till the weather improved. on two days (Apr 3rd and 22nd) it was rainy from the early morning. on these days Sulev came to release Linda in the afternoon at about 4 pm), but on both days he came to see Linda already earlier.

these conclusions are of course based on only one nesting but i think this is a great improvement to the situation of 'no knowledge at all'.

Incubation and breeding information collected, written and submitted by ame

9.One adult in the nest, both chicks are visible, May 8th 2010


Video posted by Ohansen


Family life. Both adults in the nest, May 9th 2010


Video posted by kenny

10.How the Eagle Club members Urmas and Renno ringed the eaglets, May 28th 2010

Part I



Learn more: Selected trends in bird monitoring and in communication, Urmas Sellis, Eagle Club http://ph.emu.ee/~conference100/Abstracts/Abstract_Sellis.pdf

Learn more: Morphological and genetic sex identification of white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla nestlings. By Björn Helander, Frank Hailer Carles Vilá http://www.springerlink.com/content/g4620887402762qu/

Part II



About the dialogue (in Estonian):
Renno Nellis, who is ringing the young eagles, says, roughly: “The bigger one got ring no. 791 on right leg and no. C525 on left. It is almost certainly a female bird. The second smaller guy got rings no. 792 and C526, and it is almost certainly a boy." Renno and Urmas Sellis talked about the ring colours, Estonian country- and year codes, the ring numbers and who got what and about the probable gender of the two eaglets. At last Renno says: “"And grow up well now, guys [poisid]."

"In Estonia coloured rings are used on 4 species of eagles and black stork. Coloured rings have been attached on the eaglets in the nests of white-tailed eagles since 1984 when Estonia joined the ringing programme of Northern European sea eagles lead by Bjorn Helander." Read more: http://www.kotkas.ee/ENG/ringing.html


Information offspring/ringing: Told by Renno Nellis who ringed the chicks; translated by Liis from the videos; videos posted by fireblade1

11.White-tailed Eagle chicks (four weeks old) get up for a while May 29th 2010



Learn more: Causes and consequences of reversed sexual size dimorphism in raptors: the head start hypothesis, Keith L. Bildstein
http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/jrr/v026n03/p00115-p00123.pdf


The male WTE brought a half-eaten fish to the nest. The female took the fish and began to feed the chicks (they are five weeks old), June 7th 2010


Videos posted/submitted by ame

Learn more about White-tailed Eagle diet:
Articles, diagrams and tables can be found at the topic "Full Text Documents - English (online available)". Log in and use the internal search mask at the bottom left of each page - key word: diet. Or try this link and scroll the page up: http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=233&p=78407&hilit=diet#p78407

12.In June the adult eagles brought some fresh spruce or pine twigs to the nest


Video posted by ame

See also: May 9th http://pontu.eenet.ee/kotkas/2010-05-09/2010-05-09-06-28.jpg
Learn more: The Use of Green Plant Material in Bird Nests to Avoid Ectoparasites, Peter H. Wimberger http://www2.ups.edu/biology/Peter/articles/Use.pdf

Exercises (six weeks old), June 12th


Video posted by caysa

13.A cygnet escapes from the nest (the eagle chicks are seven weeks old now), June 21th 2010

After nesting the mute swans are now with their young in the sea bays, and the white-tailed eagles have discovered this easy prey. One cygnet escaped over the rim of the nest - but it is a long way to go to its family and the sea...

Click to see the video: mms://video.eenet.ee/2010/kotkas-2010-06-21.asf
Video: Urmas Lett, eenet.ee, translation: Liis

See also:

Video by Aivar Veide, October 2010

14.Two month old. More wing exercises, June 30th/July 1st 2010





Videos posted by ame

15.The female Eagle brings some food, July 14th


Video posted by ame

White-tailed Eagle diet in Estonia: "In Tiit Randla's book "Eesti röövlinnud"/"Estonian birds of prey" (1976), prey for WTE is stated to be mainly waterfowl and fish. Mammals occur too but often as carrion and in winter. From Estonia Tiit Randla mentions 5 species of fish (pike, perch, tench, crucian carp, eel - surprisingly no salmon?), 19(!) bird species, and 5 mammals (grey seal, deer, rabbit, squirrel, polecat (!))."

Find further information on eagles and the "camera breeding pair" in an Looduskalender interview with the ornithologist Tiit Randla. He´s is the best known Eagle Man in Estonia, especially as specialist on white-tailed eagles and golden eagles.
http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=115

Some notes on the the nesting time diet 2009 in the camera observed nest:
See Looduskalender forum topic “Bird Behavior – A Discussion” at page two. Scroll down the list to the last entry: Liis, July 11th, 2010, 5:47 am. See also page three, Liis, July 12th, 2010, 6:37 am. http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=118&start=20

Information on Tiit Randla: Urmas Sellis
Quotation "Eesti röövlinnud" and notes on the nesting time diet 2009: Liis

16.At the beginning of July, at the age of two month, the young eagles began to explore the branches around the nest. On July 16th the smaller one, called Timmu, fell down (see 0:35)



Message, later in the day posted by Eagle Club member Renno Nellis:
Timmu is all right! He is sitting 10-15m from the nest on medium size aspen tree about 6-7m from the ground. Based on video in the morning and sounds there I beleive he did not fall on the ground but on the smaller trees under the nest (10-15m down) - he was flapping wings to get the balance on treetops of smaller trees. And finally reached a bigger aspen tree. I did not tried to bring him up to the nest because then both of youngs will escape the nest.. Timmu will finally get back to the nest, hopefully soon in following days. If he get hungry then he must come on bigger tree or to the nest and will make first flight. Please hear what is happening there and if something seems wrong I will go there to check. Teele is probably "walking" on the nest tree.

Learn more about the Eagle Club (Kotkaklubi): http://www.kotkas.ee/ENG/club.html

Timmu happily returns home, July 17th (see 1:05)


Videos posted by Lucy

17.Maiden flight, Juli 23th


Video posted by fireblade1


Learn more about the plumage of the White-tailed Eagle:
The plumages of the White-tailed Eagle under the influence of individual and geographic variation, by Remo Probst & Bernd Struwe-Juhl, © Biologiezentrum Linz/Austria (in German with English summary; contains many pictures) http://www.europeanraptors.org/documents/wte_austria/DENISIA_PROBST_and_STRUWE_JUHL_0027_0159-0171.pdf

18."Birthday babies" seldom seen

The web camera leads its own life, and yesterday evening started working again all by itself. When Teele and Timmu leave the nest for good we can check the installations, dry them, and mount them on the nest tree again. Yesterday our white-tailed eaglets were three months old, and they already roam around quite widely. A week ago eagleman Renno saw one of them sitting in one of the pines that are visible in the background when he was changing the batteries.

Submitted by Looduskalender on 31 July 2010 - 9:42am, translation: Liis

Interested in technical details? Read more about the great variety of equipment and methods:
Using time-lapse digital video recording for a nesting study of birds of prey, by Vitali Reif and Risto Tornberg,
European Journal of Wildlife Research , Volume 52, Number 4, 251-258, DOI: 10.1007/s10344-006-0039-1
(no free access). http://www.springerlink.com/content/07602v1n288x0266/


"Duet": One of the young eagles (almost four month old) in the nest. The other arrives at 0:45 (one of the adults can be seen at the branch in the background), August 20th 2010. In the beginning of September 2010 the data transmission broke down again.


Video posted by fireblade1

Learn more about the habitat the young eagles can explore now: http://visitbalticsea.net/films/en

Learn more: Nest-site attendance of the resident White-tailed Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) outside the breeding season http://versita.metapress.com/content/01156582j47g7625/fulltext.pdf

How eagles see the world – get an impression
"Animal lover Steve Leonard explains the secret behind the spectacular footage of birds of prey in flight used in this short video. Take a flight with a Golden Eagle in Scotland with the help of the ultra lightweight animal camera. Great short video from BBC wildlife show Animal Camera." Just copy this sentence and paste it into the Google search mask:
Real birds eye view! Golden Eagle in flight - Animal Camera – BBC