Latvian WtE nest webcamera Juras-erglis Durbe 2018

[ame]

White-tailed sea eagles in Latvia: Juras-Erglis 2018

A new topic for the new year!



The beginning season is direct continuation to the previous season as the camera has been working practically all Autumn, with only one break. You may catch up where we came from here:
viewtopic.php?p=559086#p559086


Camera links

The video transmission from the nest is streaming in Youtube, presently in this address
(starting from Oct 19 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu7bChYGfiA

The Youtube stream can be scrolled back in time four hours from present. This way it is possible to see what happened at the nest 4 hours (or less) earlier. This makes it also possible to record the delayed stream with some screen recording program. From the Settings-button in the lower right corner one can adjust the resolution of the picture. For recordings it's best to use as high resolution as possible.

The address of the Youtube sometimes changes. If this should happen the new address can be found by making a search 'juras erglis webcamera' in the Youtube. The link to the WTE camera, as well as the other the live cameras of Latvia's Nature Fund LDF (Latvijas dabas fonds), can also be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIcQwg ... hMBclDJENw
The WTE camera is not on the top of the list so you need to scroll down a little. In Latvian it is called "LDF Jūras ērglis tiešraide".
We'll try to remember to update the address here if it changes. If you have trouble finding the camera please let us know (write to ame or Liz01) and we'll try to help.

An introduction to the Latvian nest cameras is given here (in Latvian but you can try your luck with some translating machine like Google Translator; recently the translations have unfortunately been corrupted by some comedians who are changing the meanings of words):
http://ldf.lv/lv/tiesraide

The stream can also be viewed (for example) on Potplayer by opening the above URL address. The Potplayer can also be used for recording the stream and for taking snapshots from the stream. The VLC player which was widely used for viewing the Looduskalendar webcameras cannot do these tasks with the Youtube stream. The use of Potplayer is discussed here:
viewtopic.php?p=499450#p499450
There are also several screen recording programs which can be used for recording the stream. The use of some of them are also discussed in the Questions and help-topic:
viewtopic.php?p=376697#p376697


Working hours of the camera

Traditionally the working hours of the live cameras have been different in different times of the year, depending on the lighting conditions. This is because the camera systems are usually powered by solar panels which feed a battery. In order to save energy in the battery the camera is then turned off for the dark time. However, this camera is operating 24/7, thanks to the installation of a methanol fuel cell power system in Autumn 2017. The fuel cell provides power to the camera system when the solar cells will not get enough sunlight to feed the batteries.

Sometimes there may be a malfunction in the streaming system. If refreshing of the Youtube-window or reopening/restarting of Potplayer will not help, please report either ame or Liz01 and we'll try to look for help.

The camera time is the local, Eastern European Time EET which is 2 hours ahead of GMT (or Greenwich/London time), and one hour ahead of the Central European Time CET. In summertime the daylight saving time adds one more hour to GMT.

The camera clock normally runs somewhat delayed compared to the 'real' time. This delay is quite normal and may vary from time to time from a few seconds to even some minutes. The delay is due to the data transmission chain and its efficiency, and it mainly depends on the speed of each viewer's own internet connection. Therefore it is important that the camera time is given when events at the nest are reported, because the camera time is 'the real time' for the nest. It's also strongly recommended that the camera's date&time stamp is not removed from any pictures that are posted. Without the time stamp the picture will only have an artistic value (which is naturally not overlooked! but it will not be useful for ornithologists).

[ame]

Important events at the nest
search keyword: searchnestsummaryDurbe searchword searchnestsummary

Events will be added to this list as times goes on and interesting and important events take place.

24.3. The first egg was laid at 14:08.
http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/view ... 31#p570331
Expected hatching date is May 1.
27.3. The second egg was laid at 20:26.
http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/view ... 17#p571117
Expected hatching date is May 4.

28.4. Egg talk was heard for the first time at 17:03. There was also a clear pip hole on one of the eggs.
http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/view ... 96#p579596

29.4. The first chick hatched at last at 19:46 after struggling with the egg shell for 26 hours.
viewtopic.php?p=580023#p580023

2.5. The second chick hatched at 8:52. The crack on the egg was seen at about 5:46 the same morning.
viewtopic.php?p=580728#p580728

The people in Dabasdati forum began to call the older chick Robis and the younger chick Vilnis. Both names are masculine form. Later when the eaglet grew bigger Robis began to show characteristics of a female (thick ankles and low-pitch voice). The younger eaglet Vilnis started to call in a male voice. Vilnis also remained smaller than Robis who grew up to a really big eaglet.

13.7. Only one eaglet was seen on the nest when it became light.
viewtopic.php?p=603735#p603735
It turned out that that the younger eaglet Vilnis had dropped out of the nest in the middle of the night at 1:35.
In the morning Jānis Ķuze went to the forest to look for Vilnis but could not find him.
13:36 Robis flew out for her maiden flight.
viewtopic.php?p=603820#p603820

The eaglets were not ringed.This pair of pictures shows the tails of Robis and Vilnis a day before their departure from the nest. these pictures are from the early morning of July 12th. The tails provide the only reliable clue of their identities.

Robis (on the left) has a beautiful undamaged tail with dark outer edges on each tail feather.
the tips of the tail feathers of Vilnis (on the right) are damaged because Robis had the habit of chewing and biting them.

[ame]

reserved

[ame]

Introduction
search keyword: searchnestsummaryDurbe

Season 2015

This territory was first found in 2014, but the original nest was not the one that we see now. The owners of the territory were a ringed female who had Estonian rings and an un-ringed male. These were later named Durbe and Robert by the Latvian Dabasdati-forum members. In 2014 this couple raised three eaglets in the original nest which was destroyed later that year. In the winter 2014-2015 the eagle couple built a new nest (the one that we see now) starting from zero. The camera was set up at the nest in one night during their construction work in that winter. In the first camera season 2015 the couple raised one eaglet who was given a male name Durberts. Later the DNA test revealed that the eaglet was female so actually the name should be Durberta. (Our forum members have also called this eaglet with several nicknames like Princess and Angel because of her charming character. )

Season 2016

The season began with bad news: Durbe was seen for the last time on 29.12.2015. Robert returned to the nest alone with an injured foot on 31.1.2016. The nest had already been visited by several strange eagles before that, and plenty more came during the spring. Robert didn't accept any of the bride candidates who were interested in him, but he left for good. He was seen on 10.3.2016 for the last time.

The nest did not remain empty, however, despite of these losses. Many eagles only visited but some stayed for a longer time. The last bride-wannabe to Robert, who later was named Egle, was seen for the first time on 17.2.2016. After Robert left she started to date with a male who visited the nest for the first time already on 29.1.2016, even before Robert returned. This male was later named Ansis. For some time Egle tried seduce both Robert and Ansis in turns but she was rejected by both.

After Robert left the feelings of Ansis towards Egle warmed up and they began to date seriously. They repelled together some strange eagles who tried to steal the territory. Ansis turned into a really hot lover-boy, but unfortunately he had only a faint idea about what that should be. Also Egle didn't like at all Ansis jumping on her back. Their romance cooled and Ansis left. He was seen on 16.4.2016 for the last time.

On the next day, 17.4. a new male wearing Latvian rings C602 came. A similar male was seen for the first time on 29.3.2016 but on that visit the two last numbers of the ring remained unread. Maybe he had something to do with Ansis disappearing, who knows. On 17.4.2016 also another strange male came to visit Egle. She didn't like either of them and later she stopped coming, too.

The Latvian male, on the other hand, stayed. He spent the spring and the early part of the summer alone at the nest. Only some ravens kept him company every now and then.

On 29.7.2016 a Lithuanian eagle with individual code B556 on its black-over-blue left ring arrived together with the Latvian C602. They seemed to get along well from the very beginning: for example on one of their arrivals on that day they landed on the nest simultaneously "hand in hand". These two eagles started to come to the nest together. The Dabasdati members named the male Vents and the female Šilutė (Shilute).

During the summer and early autumn the friendship of these birds grew and the prospects of getting a fruitful season 2017 at this nest became brighter as the autumn grew darker. The eagles started to bring sticks and twigs to the nest. Especially the female Šilutė was very diligent in this work. By the end of the year nest was almost completely ready for nesting. They also began to show each other expressions of tenderness in the eagle way, pulling each other's feathers and pecking each other's faces which in human eyes looks rather scary but must be the eagle equivalent for kissing. Vents was the more active partner in this activity. He also often sang softly to his sweetheart. One or two mating attempts were observed during the autumn, so the prospects for a fruitful breeding season were good.

Season 2017

Complications arose as Šilutė was not seen anymore after 27.1.2017, when she left the nest together with Vents. The next day both eagles were absent and on 29.1. Vents returned alone and waited at the nest for a long time. A young Lithuanian female L076, possibly Šilutė's full sister was seen on the next two days together with Vents. In the morning on 1.2.2017 a youngish but mature-looking unringed female came to the nest together with Vents. She seemed determined to take possession of both the nest and Vents, but Vents didn't seem to like her. He was seen on 11.2.2017 for the last time.

A lively pair-changing carousel followed when new eagles came and struggled with the old ones and girlfriends and boyfriends were shuffled depending on the results of the fights. "Winner takes it all" seemed to be the principle in this game. It soon became clear that no breeding would be seen at the nest under these circumstances. However, the pair selection process was very interesting to follow.

Eventually a male named Raimis and a female who went unnamed for a long time remained in the territory and formed a stable dating couple. Raimis came to the territory on 3.3.2017. He had two girlfriends one after the other before a new strong female banished the last girlfriend on 7.4.2017 and stayed. Only in the Autumn the Dabasdati people were certain enough that she would stay and they gave her the name Milda.

Raimis tried hard to mate with Milda in the spring but with no success. However, the eagles settled on the territory and in October they began to rebuild the nest. They continued their work regularly till December but then they started to rest from the building for the darkest time of the year. Anyway they visited the nest almost on daily basis.

An introduction for season 2016 by Jānis Ķuze (in Latvian) here:
http://ldf.lv/lv/tiesraide
and this GoogleTranslated to English:
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... Ftiesraide

[ame]

Identification of the eagles

Knowing who is who on the nest is not a problem if at least one of the inhabitants wears rings. Unfortunately neither Raimis or Milda have rings and therefore we have to look for details in their appearance or hear their voices.

In general the voices of females and males have different pitches, females lower than males. Females are usually bigger than males and therefore also their vocal organs are bigger than those of males and thus produce lower-pitch voices than the vocal organs of males. In human terms one can say that females are altos and males are tenors. This is also the case with Milda and Raimis. Milda is cleary bigger than Raimis and her voice has much lower pitch than the voice of Raimis. However, it takes some practice before one learns to hear the difference of their voices, or see the size difference. Usually one needs to see or hear them together for comparison in order to see or hear the difference. For a reliable size comparison the eagles should be at the same distance from the camera because the optics of the camera exaggerates perspective strongly.

Female eagles have thicker ankles than males, and especially the shape of the ankles is different. A female's ankle is cone-shaped, like a capital letter V upside down. A male's ankle is the same thickness all the way down, like a capital letter |. This shape difference is easiest to see from the front.
Milda's ankle.


The beaks of females are usually bigger than males' beaks, and more importantly the shape of the beak is different. Urmas Sellis described this: "The male's beak curves down almost from the base of the beak, but the female's beak goes on and on straight out and finally the tip bends down."
The shapes of Milda's and Raimis' beak are not very much different though so this detail doesn't help much in identifying them.

Here's a picture of Milda and Raimis standing at about the same distance from the camera. Milda on the left has thicker ankles than Raimis on the right. She is also bigger than Raimis. A partial side view of Raimis' tail can also be seen.


The tail spots of eagles form individual patterns which allows identification of different eagles. Unfortunately the tail patterns cannot always be very clearly seen. Sometimes the light is bad or we see only part of the tail, or the feathers may be in disorder etc. Fortunately the tail patterns of Milda and Raimis are very different: Raimis has two big spots which form one very big spot if the tail is folded. He also has black stripes on both sides of his tail (I have called these stripes mustache, because they line the tail like a mustache lines a man's mouth.) The border between the white tail and the dark back is not clear but uneven like a saw-blade. Milda has three small spots in her otherwise white tail. Sometimes the middle spot is hiding and only two spots can be seen. The borderline between her white tail and dark back is clear and smooth.

Milda's tail with small spots and sharp border between the white and dark.


Raimis' tail with big spots and uneven border between the white and dark. The "mustache" on the sides are shown with lines.


The details of plumages of Milda and Raimis are different. the differences aren't very pronounced and they are difiicult to see if the light is not very good.
Here's a picture of Raimis' right wing. Note also the ankle: it is about the same thickness as the toes all its length.


Here's a picture of Milda's right wing. One feather in the outer edge of the wing is light. This is usually the detail that helps most in separating the two from each other, if the tail is not seen. Raimis has more than one light feathers in the edge of his right wing. The shape of their beaks is not very much different: Raimis has a rather feminine beak.


Here's a picture of Milda's left wing. Also there one feather in the outer edge is lighter than the other, but usually it is not as pronounced as the light feather on the right wing.


Here's a picture of the left wing of Raimis. On the whole their left wings are not very well distinguishable. Raimis is also slightly lighter than Milda in overall colour, but this is also not easily seen if they are not present for comparison. It should also be remembered that wet feathers are darker than dry feathers.
-These two last pictures cannot be used for size comparison, because Raimis stands much farther from the camera than Milda. Therefore his apparent size is much smaller than it would be if he stood at the same distance as Milda.


The identification of eagles has been discussed in more detail here:
viewtopic.php?p=433902#p433902

[ame]

The location of the nest

The location of the nest is in Durbe County near the city Liepāja in Western Latvia, marked with blue line in the maps below. The maps were provided by Jānis Ķuze.


There is one big lake, Durbes ezers, with a nature reserve area. There are also other water areas in the county.

this nest is located not far away from several farmsteads, that is the reason why dogs can be heard, some of the chainsaws are coming from there as well. ...

The nest site was granted a micro reserve status in October 2015. Jānis Ķuze wrote about it in Dabasdati forum on Oct 12 2015:
http://dabasdati.lv/forums/viewtopic.php?p=53464#p53464
Translated with the help of Google translator:
"We just got a message from the State Forest Service - nest is officially established microreserve! It is surrounded by a wide buffer zone in which forestry activities are not allowed during the nesting season. Thus, from the forest to disturb the work, this place is now protected."

We may get some clues about the location of the nest from what we see and hear over the camera. Based on these clues it is possible to narrow down the location of the nest in more detail. We ask every one of you to keep all detailed information about the location to yourselves. Please also do not share any further information about the location anywhere in the internet, not in this forum nor anywhere else. More detailed information of the location of the nest may encourage some people to go and seek the nest in nature. Nest tourism like this is the last thing that is needed here in the delicate breeding time. People near the nest may frighten parents away from the nest and leave eggs or chicks unprotected from weather and predators. Thus an intrusion may lead to destruction of the clutch.
Thank you for your co-operation.

[ame]

The nest

The nest is built in the top of a spruce which has been broken possibly in a storm many years ago. After that several side branches have started to grow as replacement tops. The biggest branch on the right of the nest in these pictures has won the race of becoming the new top. This is also the trunk which we see in the left side of the camera view. The nest is about 30 m above the ground.

A spruce as a nest tree is rare because normally the branches slant downward from the trunk. Branches like this do not form a stable basis for a nest which may eventually weigh tons. The top of this spruce forms a secure basis for the nest: the nest sits in the top like in a palm of a hand with fingers pointing up.

Tringa gave us photographs of the nest tree. This was taken in Winter 2015 when the construction of the nest was not finished yet. The top of the nest is now higher, much closer to the branches on the right.
Thank you Tringa!
Apparently the picture is taken from the direction to which the nest camera looks.


The nest is described in more detail here:
viewtopic.php?p=433903#p433903

[ame]

Other information


Dabasdati forum

The nest life of the eagles is also followed in the Latvian Dabasdati forum (often DD forum or just DD for short like LK for Looduskalender):
http://dabasdati.lv/forums/index.php?si ... 582c70da1b
The live camera topics are under the title "Tiešsaistes kameras Latvijā" and the WTE -topic is called "Jūras ērgļi Durbē 2017 (Šilute un Vents)".
http://www.dabasdati.lv/forums/viewtopi ... =27&t=3686

The language of the DD forum is Latvian. You can try your luck with some translator machine to communicate there.
Most of the Latvian members understand English, too. Some of the DD members are members in LK, too.


Youtube chat

The events on the nest and around it in the forest are also commented in the chat on the Youtube page where the camera is streaming. The topics on the chat are less limited than in the DD forum or our LK forum. Often the comments may hover around quite other things than the nest events.
The chat is multilingual. The chat is reset each morning and comments are not stored anywhere.


Weather in Durbe, Latvia

Some websites where one can see the weather forecast for Durbe county, Latvia.
http://www.yr.no/place/Latvia/Other/Durbe/
http://www.accuweather.com/en/lv/durbe/ ... ast/224453
One can search for weather information for using Liepāja, too, since it is the closest larger city near Durbe.


Sky in Durbe, Latvia

This is a nice site where you can create the sky map for any location on any time.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/
Here the co-ordinates of Durbe, Latvia are applied:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Yourhor ... &elements=

Here the location is set to Durbe, Latvia. Just change the time. Note, that the program requires the UTC time which is 2 hours less than local time in Latvia (in summer time 3 hours).
http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Yourhor ... &elements=

The camera is pointed to about East of South-East. Here are two links to posts where one can see a comparison of the camera view with the sky map:
http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/view ... 36#p510236
http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/view ... 02#p510702


Information about donating money for the benefit of the nest camera

... you can support this project - more info can be found here:
http://dabasdati.lv/en/kameras2015
http://dabasdati.lv/en/cat/465

Some information about the technique

GoogleTranslated from the DD forum:

Observation system at the nest place helped Jānis Rudzītis (SIA "Rewind", system configuration) and Girts Strazdiņš, its maintenance have helped Maris and Leo Dabasdati.lv of the Forum, as well as van Drongelens Leks (Lex van Drongelen) and Jelle and Lips. Data transmission 4G network provides LMT.

(last paragraph in the Introduction:
http://dabasdati.lv/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 93#p108693 )

[ame]

Ringed eagle visitors at the nest 2018
searchword searchringedvisitors

9.2. Lat-H357 with individual code K091. Jānis Ķuze ringed this bird on 28.05.2014 as an only chick in surroundings of Liepāja city, SW Latvia. This was the second visit by this bird to the nest. The first visit (and also the first control sighting) of this bird was on 8.12. 2017.
viewtopic.php?p=563582#p563582

13.10. Lat-H362 with individual code K0961 made a visit with very muddy rings. The codes could barely be read.
viewtopic.php?p=618350#p618350
This eagle has visited the nest before on 8.9., 23.9., and 7.10. 2015. This eagle was the youngest of three siblings in the previous nest of Durbe and Robert in 2014. Jānis Ķuze ringed this bird like most eagles around here.

26.10. Lat-H491 made a 2-second stop on the left branch.
viewtopic.php?p=619894#p619894
This eagle was ringed on 29.05. 2017 in SW Kurzeme as the only chick in the nest by Jānis Ķuze.
https://forums.dabasdati.lv/viewtopic.p ... 02#p200802

[ame]

Frequently asked questions FAQ

There are some questions about eagles and their breeding which rise repeatedly over and again during nesting seasons. Answers to these questions are looked for and given given during the season(s), but often they are difficult to find afterwards.

Therefore keywords for making searches for finding the answers are added in the posts containing the answers. Below is a list of these keywords. This list will be supplemented as new keywords are found useful.

• searcheggdevelopment for searching posts with answers concerning processes involving mating behaviour and development of eggs before and after egg-laying.
  searchhatching for searching posts about when and how chicks hatch.
  searchringing for searching information about ring-marking (or banding) of eaglets or other information about marking eaglets with rings or radio transmitters.
  searchfledging for searching posts about how and when eaglets fledge.
  searchnestsummary for searching for a short summary of the events during a nesting season.
  searchringedvisitors for searching ringed eagles or even other birds whose ring codes have been read at the nest.
  searchliterature for searching references (articles, books etc) about WTEs.
  searchcameradelay for searching information on the delay of the camera time relative to 'real' time.

Advice about how to make searches in the forum can be found in the Questions and help -topic here:
http://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/view ... ?f=3&t=595

[ame]

Jan 1

good morning and Happy New Year!

light is slowly coming to the forest. it looks foggy and it's windy. the stream is burbling... it's maybe raining as well.

[Abigyl]

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2018

Best wishes for all of us!

Good season and better times for our nest and the beautiful couple

[Abigyl]

Ame,

Thanks for the great work, as usual

[laranjeiras]

Ame thank you for this comprehensive information that will be useful as we go through the season

happy new year everyone

[Liz01]

Good Morning All

9:53 Raven visit the nest. Brings many luck to the nest


Ame, thanks for opening the new topic

[Abigyl]

09:53 A raven visits

[ame]

the raven talked a long time before he showed himself. he made various voices...
when the raven came to the nest then it could be seen that there were actually two of them who talked together. the more talkative one of them stayed out of sight all the time.

[ame]

14:45 sounds of cracking sticks in the forest...
and Raimis landed on the nest. he has very muddy feet.
he was looking down... and around...

14:48 suddenly he flew out in one slap! then at the same time another eagle flew over. is there a strange eagle? he looked a bit restless all the time.


playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjup ... 8UAiQ3sUiJ

[Abigyl]

I watched it again and again.

The stranger came from the top tree

It was so stormy and noisy at that time, that perhaps he was up there all the time.

[ame]

Jan 2

good mornign!
light is coming... it's windy.

Abigyl, i watched the video again, too. Raimis seemed to look down mostly and sometimes up but only very briefly. there was probably something 'funny' on the ground. the other eagle may have been Milda. Raimis was not worried about someone on the top. about a stranger he would have been much more upset. Milda could have been up on the top anyway. the wind was so strong that it was impossible to see or hear anyone landing on the top.

8:47 some eagle's voices from the forest.


8:48 some more voices. this time maybe talking to ravens.
- or was it some other bird? on both times? a jay?