looduskalender.ee

Eha in the Estonian LSE nest is also being harassed by a couple of Jays. Sometimes their attacks are really nasty

Pruuni seems to have returned home rather late: at 20.43 in the Pontu picture she is on the front rim and Halli is going out.

http://pontu.eenet.ee/saunja/2012-05-21 ... -20-43.jpg

macdoum: i was also wondering today which way it will turn out: would the jays manage to distract Mr or Mrs B off the egg and then smash it, or would Mr B make a flash grab on a diving jay and slay it in a split second.
- a friend of mine once told me how swallows had made similar dives on a cat who was lying in the yard seemingly in a deep sleep. suddenly the cat had raised a paw and smack! it had caught one of the swallows who had become too courageous. i began to expect that Halli would do something similar when he did seem to fall asleep in the middle of a jay attack.

borje: i think that jays were indeed often imitating buzzard calls, especially meows today. it sounded like Pruuni had been in the vicinity of the nest when the jays where attacking Halli, but i don't think she was there.

today's playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0C22CDDEC3BFE6B3 good night!

May 22nd
good morning!

Pruuni took off and left the egg alone at 7.21. hubby had been up earlier than me and he told me that he had heard jay's voices earlier. it took me a while to count 1 + 1 to get trouble as result and i just had time to think aloud "this is bad business: jays around and egg alone"...
then Pruuni returned at 7.24


and she was followed by a jay!
it seems that the jay kicked Pruuni on the back as she looses her balance.
http://picasion.com

then the jay returned to the front branch on the left and repeated the kick on Pruuni's neck!
http://picasion.com
maybe the jay was frustrated to realize that it had lost a chance to get the egg, not being around earlier.
look at the expression on Pruuni's face here: is this surprise, annoyment or what?!
..............

the jay stood a while on the back branch... then returned to the front left.


and then it flew around among the other branches and scolded Pruuni and Pruuni replied...


in the beginning here Pruuni first calls kaa- kaa- kaa and then the rascal jay imitates her! and i think both said kaa-kaa almost at the same point once. the jay is on the big trunk on the upper rim of the picture, next to the time stamp


compared to this jay yesterday's jays were almost friendly.


the jay left at 7.28, but i've still heard some jay-like buzzes near the camera a few times. they are keeping an eye on the nest.

second jay attack today at 10.16 by two jays again. one arrived first and made a few dives on Pruuni.






don't they have a nest of their own? shouldn't one of them be on their eggs??

then the second jay followed the first to the back branch.

at 11.38 Pruuni began to call loudly and eagerily, but i did not see why. she turned her head from right to left as if someflew by... she called and called near 10 minutes and then went silent. maybe she saw Halli fly by and began to demand food. she hasn't had breakfast yet.

now a raven's call makes her look up. those calls and calls of hooded crow alarm Mr and Mrs B much more than jays "gentle" buzzes.

at 12.16 a lonely jay came to pay a visit at Pruuni's and sang a little to her. it also shrieked and made some attacks on her.


Pruuni didn't like this visitor.




after 12.22 i haven't heard nor seen any jays but Pruuni keeps calling kaa - kaa - kaa.... maybe now she's finished.. no, more kaa's.

edit: at 12.33 i have heard some jay voices again and now Pruuni begins to call again.

this time it was Halli! he brought a vole to Pruuni, who took it and flew off.




a jay was shrieking there, too, as Pruuni kaa'ed in the forest. Halli lay down safely on the egg.


at 12.55 jay voices again.... they have become a pest and blight...

at 13.42 there were sounds of splashing footsteps under the tree. this time the rhythm of the steps sounded like a boar. the splashing went on slowly for about 10 minutes. maybe there was an oink or two, but it was difficult to hear because the wind was so hard.

at 14.06 hooded crows began a quarrel in the forest but fortunately not quite near the nest tree. Halli has listened to the voice and he has looked a little worried... the voices are still coming from there. i wonder what has upset the crows.

i'm almost getting worried... there's still no sign of Pruuni and she's been away since 12.32.

Halli is mostly sleeping in the nest. the wind is so hard that it is difficult to hear much anything else, but i think i may have heard some jay's voices again. - the hooded crows made a racket in the forest for hours in the afternoon. they never seemed to stop... after 4 pm they weren't cawing all the time but they still went on at times till at least/about 18.25. i'm concerned that maybe Pruuni's absence has something to do with the noise the crows made....

Pruuni came home at 21.01.


it seems that their timetable is getting more and more late, shifted to the evening hours.

today's playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL79723B8ACDFCE97D
good night!

Ame What a relief to have Pruuni safe back home

ame....such happenings here today. Those jays [u]may[u] have a nest nearby,nothing else could explain their behavior yesterday and today. They must have realised by now that the egg is well guarded so,why insist exept a nesting of their own even is the same tree. ?
I know nothing about jays (even less about buzzards) so can only give my impressions.
Pruuni was away for so long. Another mystery.

May 23rd
good morning!

Lussi: i was also relieved when i saw that Pruuni was safely back home. i guess that i should trust that she's a big girl and can take care of herself.

macdoum: i think the jays must have their nest somewhere near. they have visited Mr & Mrs B all spring every now and then and have been trying to get rid of the buzzards. - jays and other corvids harass birds of prey, and thrushes do the same, especially fieldfares. fieldfares often nest in sparse colonies and attack as a flock. besides shrieking they bomb, too, with amazing accuracy! fieldfares also attack other predators who they see as their enemies, like cats. my cats all have been afraid of fieldfares and other thrushes.

Mr and Mrs B seem to be rather irregular in the manners: today they have changed already at 5.25 this morning! yesterday they changed at 12.32.
here's Pruuni on the rim of the nest calling.




at 5.25 Halli has arrived.


... but it's impossible to see did he bring something to Pruuni. Pruuni is on the right/front and is bent a bit so she can have something in her beak. Halli is already climbing down. -usually Pruuni turns around to leave with the prey already before Halli climbs down to the egg.


at 5.26 Halli has settled on the egg.

at 9.22 Halli began calling but this time he didn't sound troubled. he was looking up wringing his neck like a corkscrew. then he climbed up on the rim and lay low there. then Pruuni landed on the nest


Halli jumped on the back branch. they talked a little and after Halli had left Pruuni purred silently to herself when she lay down.

the wind has become loud again but still i've heard a jay's song every now and then. it is a song really: a very silent twitter or chatter, not the shrieky RRRAAAHH!! which is the warning call. the song is so quiet that the singer must be rather near so that it could be heard, and it is the territorial or courtship song of jays.

i don't quite understand this: the jays in the past days have been singing by the buzzards' nest, even to the buzzard in the nest. have they actually plans to build a nest here?? one would think that building the nest next to a buzzard family's nest is not a good idea for jays....
besides i thought that jays should be incubating already...

Pruuni is dozing in the nest which is swayn by the wind like a cradle...

Halli brought a vole at 13.56.


Pruuni took it to the forest and Halli lay on the egg.
http://picasion.com

afterwards Pruuni called in the forest like she does when she's got food. there were also some shrieks of a jay (but the wind is so hard again that it is difficult to hear much more than that! )

the leaves in the nest ashtree are so big already that they make a good shadow now, but together with the wind the shadow makes the picture difficult to watch: the video is almost like a gif, too, as the shadow and bright sunlight change on and off.

Halli is still incubating. he's doing a lot of that duty.

the light was coming from the left so that it was shining on the right side of the nest and i realized that there's some plant growing there. it's not a nettle like in Tuuli's and Remo's nest and not the clover which grew here in the middle of the nestbowl last year. this something else. i wonder what this could be?


Halli got up at 16.52 for a little round trip to the nest's rim and back.
http://picasion.com

http://picasion.com