looduskalender.ee

http://www.ilmajaam.ee/?id=237057

Kured ja kotkad on juba koduteel ( homeward-bound storks and eagles )
15.03.2010 12:21
Madis Filippov, reporter

Although Estonia is still covered with a thick blanket of snow, but transmitter-equipped storks and eagles, who wintered in the south, have started to fly back, towards Estonia.

Member of the Eagle Club, Urmas Sellias told, that this year birds have flown further towards south, than usual. "This could be because drought in southern Sahara has started earlier than in the earlier years." he guessed.

First to set homeward was Osprey Erika on March 2nd, who has been in the fish bonds near the Suess canal since March 10th.

More than a week ago, black stork Valdur started his journey from Ethiopia, who stayed in the fish bonds in Israel and has now arrived in Syria.

Also homeward bound are greater spotted eagle Nimetu (no name) who has flown back already 350km. Other birds are standing still. Most furthest, wintering in southern Kenya is black stork Raivo, who hasn't started his way back yet. " Usually he has started to come back in February" said Sellis.

Two young black storks, who flew south in the autum, Raivo's sons, died on their flyway. " They were probably killed near the border of Turkey and Greece in the beginning of November" said
Sellis. " Since we lost the signal, we don't know where they are and we haven't got a reason to go search."

It isn't possible to set a certain time, when the birds arrive in Estonia. "It depends on what weather welcomes them here. If they are met with snow, they'll wait" said Sellis. He added, that few arrivals have been seen in the end of March or in the beginning of APRIL but most will arrive after the snow has melted.

The way birds know, when exactly to start their way towards home, is probably related to the lenght of the day, Sellis said. " They know somehow when to start moving. Biological clock is working"

White-tailed eagles don't migrate to south and at least two white-tailed eagles' nest-life can been seen already since last week on the website:http://www.looduskalender.ee. "Right now they are building their nest " said Sellis " Actually they started with that already last autumn but then it got covered with snow"

Blanket of snow has melted off, but thick ice is still in the middle of the nest. " They have tried to get it off with beaks and claws but couldn't. One other reason for delayed nest work is lack of suitable lining for the nest-bowl, dry dead grass and moss.

When to expect fruits of their cohabitation, is not known, but last year, the first egg was laid on March 12th.





Since this article is mostly about black storks, i posted it here...

Thank you Kenny. Now when the cold weather has moved on we can expect to see the BS..when ? ?
Winter is very slow to leave us this year.

....and from what we see on the Pig camera No 2 there is still a lot of bad weather there tonight.
Is there any further news of the travellers ?

I don't have any traveller news - we rely on Urmas for that.

But I have heard a rumour that the Black Stork situation will be discussed today - meaning - is the weather suitable to allow a safe visit to that forest? Will there be enough time between the arrival of safe conditions and the arrival of the storks?

I think there has been a small space of time, each year, that allows Urmas to get the webcam into the tree, just before the storks arrive.

Urmas, please correct this if I am wrong.

I think after getting data from the transmitter of Toomas it will be clear when fix the cam, so all is up to Toomas.

Padis hasn't found a mate (what is he doing, by the way? out fishing with the other boys?)
But what about the GPS storks? are they busy breeding? Or enjoying bachelor life?
Has Lembit been seen "at home", and is it just his transmitter data that are still in Belorussia?

Padis may have found a mate, but he has no time to breed this year. As for other tagged storks, I would like to learn about them too. I am almost sure that Toomas has another nest and maybe chicks of his own.

The eagle is in the nest!

Black Storks in Spain,White Storks and Ospreys too. See Birgit's blog here:
http://www.iberia-natur.com/en/reise/20 ... Teil1.html

New photos from blackstorks Raivo and Oss are now posted on the interactive migration card http://birdmap.5dvision.ee/ : click to the cam symbol besides the name of the birds.

Carsten Rohde, German blackstork expert and one of the authors of the best book on blackstorks is at the time in Israel and observing them. As in the last years he could identify both birds. Raivo is his absolute favorite as you can see on one of his own websites: http://schwarzstorchberingung.de/page14.php

A story in newspaper Eesti Päevaleht by special eagles and storks reporter Ulvar Käärt about the GPS-tracked migrators. Nicely lined up in southern Sahara, it seems!

Original article: http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/587449
Our storks in Africa line up
Weather determines the wintering places of the birds – hundreds of kilometres apart.
Eesti Päevaleht, EPL, November 17, 2010
Author: Ulvar Käärt

Our rare black storks and eagles with tracking equipment set off early on their autumn migration this summer. By now five birds have already reached their African wintering places. A remarkable thing is that four storks and one osprey have lined up on a nearly 2000 kilometres long straight line across south Sahara.
At the western end of the line - that shows up nicely on the migration map (birdmap.5dvision.ee) - black stork Pirsu from Läänemaa has settled down; in the eastern part are osprey Erika, nesting on the verge of the Puhatu bogs, and black stork Valdur from Võrumaa.
Urmas Sellis, member of Eagle Club, who keeps a watchful eye on the migration movements of our eagles and storks explained that the settling of the birds along this straight line is greatly governed by the current weather in the south of Sahara. "When the birds leave us, the rain period in this half-desert area has just ended and the periodically dried out lakes and rivers are once more filled with water. Thanks to the plentiful supply of water and also of fish our birds stop there“, Urmas Sellis said..
But they will probably not stay in their present locations all the whole winter because the water that brought the abundance of life will slowly begin to recede again at the end of the drought period..

Flies to Cameroun
Black stork Pirsu for instance who now stays in Chad, in the Zakuma national park that was created to protect elephants, should quite soon fly nearer the equator, or more precisely to Cameroun. At least this was her pattern last winter.
Urmas Sellis said that in this year’s autumn migration our birds with senders surprised with their early starts. First of all to leave Estonia was black stork Leida, nesting in Soomaa. Leida is at present busy in Sudan together with stork Priidu from Saaremaa. Leida set out on her migration immediately after Midsummer. “Leida went to her old nest this spring, but when one egg had been laid, a larger female stork came to the nest and drove her off, and even pushed the egg out of the nest“, Urmas Sellis sadly tells about the incident that forced Leida to go on her migration.

Greater spotted eagle Tõnn made an amazing solo tour
•• All who are interested in eagles have been particularly following greater spotted eagle Tõnn who got the tracking device on his back in Läänemaa in 2008.
•• Last year the young bird surprised scientists by going adventuring in Finland after having arrived back from El Hondo in spring. This year however Tõnn travelled on to Sweden from Finland and even made a little detour into Norway. That young spotted eagles may be such great travellers when they search for a breeding area hasn’t been demonstrated earlier.
•• As Tõnn set off on his migration this autumn scientists were eager to see whether he would fly from Sweden to Spain northwards around the Gulf of Bothnia and then from Finland via Estonia or if he might take a course straight across the Danish straits. Tõnn preferred the latter option although he had never earlier used this path for migration. Urmas Sellis notes that by this Tõnn confirmed the opinion among ornithologists that birds are aided in getting to their intended location by an internal „GPS device“.
•• Whether Tõnn will again fly across the Danish straits in spring to Sweden, or take a course to somewhere else no-one knows as yet.

Thank you for the translation.

Thank you Liis for translating all that very important news.

Liis - please - NEVER RETIRE!!

This is a story of a Black Stork that apparently got lost,then injured over Jersey in 2010.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-11862374

The stork has been sent to Edinburgh..

This is a report of Bird sightings over Gibralter this year. Soaring birds.
http://www.gonhs.org/Soaringbirds2011.htm
from
The Gibralter Ornithological and Natural History Society

http://www.gonhs.org/records.htm#March2

Is it possible that 54 Black Storks were seen on 12 March.

edit Then there is this site.
Colectivo Ornitologica Ciguena Negro. COCN
http://cocn.tarifainfo.com/spip/spip.php?article207

O'boy!
A Black Stork has been sighted in Vendelsjön north of Uppsala, Sweden http://kartor.eniro.se/m/an8i3
Could it be one of the birds with a transmitter?

Yes, why not, but none of the ones from the map, cause they all are now at home.

Spotters in the Pyrenees today count a lot of Black Storks passing through to Spain.

Though its in French its easy to see who has been counted by today. Amazing..they have rarely seen so many migrating birds from the same spot exept maybe in 2008


Here is the map of France. Now on this link choose any or all spots to see what bird was registered on each day.

http://www.migraction.net/index.php?m_id=1512
.......................................................................
I choose on spot and thats what I could see for 8th Sept.
http://www.migraction.net/index.php?m_i ... ction=list

Black Storks 260 total ;65 today (if I understand rightly.. )

This is another volunteer birds spotters page in Georgia.
The Batumi Raptor Count where a volunteer group gather every year.
This is a video of their work,equipment and it seems a good time was had by all. In all weathers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJAu4NoGXEg

This is today's count;
http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/latestcounts.htm

More Black Storks.