looduskalender.ee

thanks borje!

macdoum: you were both right and wrong.
it was the lighter who was in the nest when you looked but i'm calling him Halli (hall = grey like in hallhyljes = grey seal). Halli is the male, Mr B. the female i'm calling Pruuni because pruun is brown in Estonian. (it's the same word: pruun = braun = brown = brun). not very clever names but i've got poor imagination.

i looked in the Pontu pictures and it seems that Pruuni stayed away looong today. Halli has gotten bored and left the nest at 18.26 and had returned at 18.30. then he stayed till 19.45. at 19.46 he has gone and Pruuni is climbing on the egg.
http://pontu.eenet.ee/saunja/2012-05-14 ... -19-46.jpg
this behaviour challenges the literature again a little. in books it says that the male buzzard relieves the female for a couple of hours in the mornings so that she can go and find food. the rest of the day it's supposed to be the female who incubates. at least today Halli did a fair deal of incubation!
- today's playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FC0584C182C03C0

now i'm

May 15th
good morning!

Pruuni was sleeping in the nest in the morning.


she began waking up slowly: she had turned around at about 8.

at 8.35 she took off...
hacer un gif



... and returned at 8.36.
crear un gif


maybe she had to go to loo...?
..but buzzard should know how to poop overboard...

at 8.50 she began calling loudly: she had seen that Halli was coming.

he brought her breakfast: a frog. Pruuni took off with the prey and Halli stayed.


crear un gif

Pruuni was calling loud (cheerfully) from the forest for some time.

i think there's a new bird in the forest: a golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus).

edit: i think its voice is in the next video. it's calling at about the same time as Pruuni.

Pruuni called in the forest for some time and Halli stood up to listen to her and called once for reply, but returned to the egg.


now he's fast asleep.

i wonder what has he been up to in the night if he is that tired now??
btw: i'm a bit worried abou Kitty, too... it's been a long time since we've heard from her last...
Kitty: drop a line if you are reading these pages, please.

ame your comment about Pruni calling cheerfully from the forest made me smile.


Watching Tuuli and Remo I have been thinking about all the chatting that they do. I don't think it is realistically possible to deny that they are communicating with one another, but mostly I don't think we have much of a clue what they are communicating -- except sometimes I cannot HELP thinking I know what they are talking about. More seriously I do have a sort of suspicion that she is often in contact -- or knows approximately where Remo is even when we cannot hear or see him. I suppose some of that could be sort of verified for LSEs in general by field observations. I am not sure where the line is with our anthropomorphizing these birds we watch, but it is probably better than to just imagine them as little automatons.

well i later put the cheerful in parenthesis because i thought it might be too antropomorphizing! at least she was loud.

i think that these birds of prey must see and hear where their spouse is much better than we can. i'm glad that nowadays even biologists are giving up the "animals-are-genetically-preprogrammed-automata"-hypothesis and thinking that animals are sensuos and thinking creatures, too. like us qualitatively but not to the same extent as us. and i think that people are much-much more animalistic in their behaviour than most of us would never admit!

edit: here's another new bird in the forest: i think it's a garden warbler (Sylvia borin). it sings only one short verse at 20 s from the beginning.

maybe vainamoinen could confirm these new arrivals?

Yes, you are right, this is song of garden warbler.

thank you Vainamoinen!
how about the earlier sample, the bird which i thought could be a golden oriole? it's here:
viewtopic.php?p=140188#p140188
it's not singing properly and its voice is there in the background at the same time as the buzzards talk to each other.

i was away for a while and there was a change of turns in process when i opened the cam: Pruuni was in the nest calling to Halli who was outside the view on the branch on the right and purring to Pruuni. fortunately the Pontu camera had captured them both.

http://pontu.eenet.ee/saunja/2012-05-15 ... -12-22.jpg



after Halli had gone Pruuni made some homework.

this is Halli in a Pontu picture taken at 12.20:


and this is Pruuni in a Pontu picture taken at 12.26. now the "false face" which i used to see in the back of her head looks more like a light circle or a garland.

at 13.35 Pruuni did something which i first though was yawning, but then i realized that she wasn't looking sleepy at all. she repeatedly opened her beak wide open
(so that one could see her rosy pink tonsils if she has any )

i think she was trying to through up a pellet, without succeding though.
..

later at 13.53 she preened a little and so on... the egg is safe.

Yes, in this sample golden oriole voice is heard

thank you vainamoinen!

at 15.10 Halli took Pruuni by surprise (and startled me, too )
how to animate a gif

he brought a vole to Pruuni. she beeped to Halli and took off with the prey in the forest.
hacer un gif

Halli is staying at home. it seems that he is taking naps..
sleeping....


..waking up!


...and dozing off again...

it has become sunny again and Halli is feeling hot: it's keeping its beak open from time to time. he also made a little walking trip to the back of the nest and back to straighten his legs. he often does that.

Halli is doing a long shift again. it doesn't look extremely strenuous though...



... and then perky... -ish again. i think a blackbird woke him up, but i don't think that he knows it.


now he begins to call... but no-one came. he stood up, turned around and lay down again.

20:14 For the first time I just see a change-over on the nest. One is chirping...(complaining ?)

that was a late shift! Halli came in at 15.10 and only at 20.12 Pruuni came in.


then she kept calling and a little later, at 20.15 Halli came once more to the nest. he had a tiny piece of greenery, like a rose for Pruuni, too tiny for a substantial contribution for the nest linign. how touching!