looduskalender.ee

This is not much of a story but it is a bit poignant

Since January 23rd, 2011, a wild Bald Eagle has been visiting the OC Zoo inside Irvine Regional Park. This Bald Eagle has been spotted perched in trees above the zoo's Bald and Golden Eagle exhibits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASYmBVjkYqs

About the oldest known WTE in Estonia, by our favourite eagles and storks journalist Ulvar Käärt
Article in newspaper Eesti Päevaleht, EPL, July 7, 2007
http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/392291
Vanaeit, Grand Old Lady of White-Tailed Eagles, is 22 years old
07. juuli 2007 00:00
Author: Ulvar Käärt
FOTO: JOOSEP TUVI
Once ringed in nest at Koosa lake in northern part of Emajõe-Suursoo bog.
When Eagle Club member Joosep Tuvi was checking nesting sites of the rare white-tailed eagles at Kaarepere, Jõgevamaa (Eastern Estonia) he found one nest where a 22-years old eagle was raising her young. The eagle had been ringed at midsummer, 22 years ago.
Talking about this remarkable find, Urmas Sellis, board member of Eagle Club, said that the coloured rings on her legs showed the age and origins of the bird that was in the nest with her two young.
“The blue-white ring on the right leg shows that this is a bird ringed in Estonia, and the blue and black ring on the left leg shows her hatching year”, said Urmas Sellis, adding that the venerable lady was then ringed in a nest in the northern part of the Emajõe-Suursoo bog area, near the Koosa lake. “This is such ancient history that her ringer Einar Tammur has been walking the eternal eagle paths for many years now.”

Life of eagles is improving
This white-tailed eagle is according to Urmas Sellis the oldest known eagle in Estonia. „From Sweden sightings of a 29-year-old white-tailed eagle have been reported; there eagles, threatened by extinction, have been ringed for ten years longer. In Estonia colour-coded rings have been used only since 1984, so the age of eagles hatched earlier cannot be determined,” Urmas Sellis said.
The eagle, hatched 22 years ago and known as Vanaeit, was one of three nestlings. “A quarter of a century ago a 3-bird nest was a great rarity, today it occurs almost every year,” Urmas Sellis noted.
When the numbers of white-tailed eagles started to increase again in the 1980’s, only a few nesting sites were known. Now nesting white-tailed eagle pairs are nearly 160. “You can say that during the lifetime of Granny conditions for white-tailed eagles have improved, and she has lived through it all” Sellis remarked.
Urmas Sellis believes that the dignified white-tailed eagle, who moved to Jõgevamaa in the early 1990’ies, has a new young mate, because her earlier mate perished some years ago on a power line.
From 1984, when eagle researchers started the ringings, more than 600 birds have got coloured rings on their legs.

Wing span of more than 2 metres
•• The white-tailed eagle, belonging to the first priority category of endangered species, is our largest bird of prey with a wing span of 200 – 245 centimetres, and a weight of up to 6 kilos.
•• The nesting sites of these rare birds are generally in fully mature seashore pine forests, mixed forests or on bog islets, in the top of an old pine or aspen. The nests, used for decades, may weigh up to a ton.
•• Observations of 19th-century birdwatchers suggest that at least 30 white-tailed eagle pairs may have been nesting in Estonia then. The decline started during the last quarter of the 19th century, and culminated at the end of the 1960’ies, when for a long time no successful nestings were known
•• It is strictly forbidden by law to disturb or harm white-tailed eagles.

Thnak you Liis, this is very interesting!

A story with a happy ending -- of a pet

Earlier this week, an eleven-year-old Doberman named Turbo escaped from his yard and plunged into a canal in Marco Island in Florida. Since the vertical walls of the canal are high, Turbo couldn't get out, and was forced to tread water against the current for over half a day. Nobody noticed him until, fifteen hours into his ordeal, a lady living nearby heard strange splashing. It wasn't Turbo, who by that time was exhausted. It was a pod of dolphins who had found him and were staying with him, splashing loudly until they received human attention. The neighbor jumped into the canal and fished him out. When owner Cindy Burnett was joyfully reunited with her pooped pet, she fretted that he had been alone and scared for so long. "No," the unnamed rescuer told her. "The dolphins were with him."

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/02/al ... cued.html#

Another sweet story but this time in pictures



Apparently the deer often visits the cat


a few more pictures here
http://www.thekindlife.com/post/deer-vi ... ry-morning

Yet another story

A death-defying fox, named Romeo, clambered up Britain’s tallest skyscraper and lived the high life on the 72nd floor of the tower in central London for nearly two weeks. The intrepid animal climbed to the top of the Shard, which is more than 288 metres (945 feet) high and still under construction, where it enjoyed panoramic views over the British capital living off builders’ scraps. However it was caught by the local council and released at ground level somewhere nearby

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthp ... ml?image=8

click the link for a picture of the poor but alive fox in a cage and the tower in the background

Even more about the finding of the 32-year-old WTE

Source: ERIKA ELFSBERG, newspaper Ålandstidningen, by way of Göran Andersson, SOFS, Swedish Ornithological Society, 2011-03-02,
http://www.sofnet.org/apps/nyheter/las_mer.asp?NewsID=6451

Record old white-tailed eagle found on Åland
A white-tailed eagle found dead on Foglö was 32 years old. This is world record. Just to reach adult age is a feat for an eagle, says environmental inspector (naturvårdsintendent)Jörgen Eriksson.
Ann-Mari Holmström caught sight of the dead white-tailed eagle when she and her husband Karl-Göran were out walking. The eagle was ringed, and Ann-Mari Holmström delivered the rings to Jörgen Eriksson. It turned out that the eagle had had a long life. It became 32 years old, and so is the oldest free-living eagle that has been found. ”We saw that there was something lying on the ice. Birds were pecking at it. Fantastic that the eagle turned out to be so old. We see eagles every day at our home on Föglö but this was the first dead one that I have found,” Ann-Mari Holmström says.
Threatened by many dangers
Jörgen Eriksson is enthusiastic over the age of the eagle. Was it really and truly that old!?
Just reaching maturity is noteworthy for an eagle. As a species white-tailed eagles are long-lived but they are exposed to many risks in life.
The liberal use of pesticides during a great part of the 20th century reduced the eagle population and eagles still suffer from it. Moreover, some pesticides are still in use. Other dangers for eagles are railway and road traffic and power lines.
During the first two months of this year another eagle has already been handed in. It was killed by a car as it was feeding on a carcass at the roadside. Jörgen Eriksson thinks that it is a real feat that the eagle found on Föglö managed to have such a long life. The outlook for white-tailed eaglets hatched now may be different. They have a much better chance to reach 30 years or even more, he says. Last year about 85 white-tailed eagle chicks were hatched on Åland and 74 of them were ringed.
Power companies pioneers
The eagle was fetched with the assistance of Johan Franzén, Bänö, and was delivered to docent Torsten Stjernberg at the Finnish Museum of Natural History, Helsinki; Torsten Stjernberg noted that apart from its age, the rings told that the eagle was hatched on the east coast of Sweden. It was born two years earlier than the previous age champion, an eagle that was ringed in Lapland in 1980. But that bird still lives so it can reach an even higher age, he says.
One measure to save white-tailed eagle lives was put in practice some years ago by the Åland co-operative power company.
They set an extra cross beam on their power lines; white-tailed eagles can land on these without getting a current through their bodies. There have been less power failures as well i a on Kökar where the ”eagle protection” has been implemented. The power poles are a very real danger for eagles, they are no unusual cause of death.
-"The Åland co-operative power company has been a pioneer”, Torsten Stjernberg says.
Recommendations will now be worked out in Finland and the same method will be implemented by Finnish power companies.

Reporter Ulvar Käärt visited the white-tailed eagle winter feeding ground some days before feeding ended. Here is his report:
From newspaper Eesti Päevaleht, EPL, March 12
http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/594211
Author: Ulvar Käärt 12. March 2011 07:30

His Majesty the WTE or Rendezvous at a Winter Feeding Ground
Before the incipient nesting season Eesti Päevaleht went to the Nõva area to see Estonia’s largest raptor with our own eyes.
In order to meet rare and strictly protected birds like White-tailed Eagles (WTEs) at close quarters one must know where they mostly move. In winter the best place to get to know these grandiose feathered beings is a feeding ground that attracts eagles roving around in winter to it from everywhere.
So we go on a "WTE safari“ in the Nõva area where the Eagle Club men for several years already have dished out game meat to the WTEs on the coast. Not only out of the kindness of their hearts but with the purpose of finding out, by studying ringed birds at close distance, how old, from where and of what sex the eagles moving around are. All in order to know how our eagles are doing.

We get to the shelter at the edge of the feeding place that is surrounded by pine forest in early dawn, or one hour before sunrise. Quarter past six in the morning is now the last moment to get into hiding because just then, like black shadows, the first ravens, hungry again after the night, start to arrive at the meat chunks on the feeding ground. If the ravens get an inkling of people being there then it will be pointless to stay to wait for the eagles.
The behaviour of the ravens, with their nerves on alert, is like a litmus paper test to the WTEs skulking somewhere in a pine at the edge of the feeding ground or flying over it. The ravens’ behaviour tells the eagle if it is safe to land on the tempting meat chunk or not. If sensing the presence of humans the „forest sanitation gang“ members are apprehensive and noisy, which signals to the WTEs that it might be wiser to keep away from the spot. But if the ravens have settled down to munch on the meat without any croaking then WTEs feel that it is safe to land at the dining table.
We are lucky because the earliest arriving ravens at once go at the meat without suspecting anything. Soon there is a whole flock of them there. To start with they quarrel and craw between themselves, fighting for the best positions, but finally they are quite quietly busy at the meat.

Silently, as in the grave
Silently, nearly holding our breath, motionless and without letting out a squeak the first hour of our waiting passes. The morning degrees of frost already pinch at toes and the cold presses itself under the skin but there is no sight or sound of eagles. Yesterday at the same time viewers saw three eagles at once. 45 more ultra-long minutes passed, until precisely at eight o’clock, just some 10 metres away, a WTE sits on the ground studying what is going on at the feeding place. The majestic bird keeps his eye, with the head to one side, in turn on the now respectful ravens that have drawn back somewhat and in turn on the appetizing meat. Without letting itself be disturbed by the excitedly hopping ravens it finally climbs on top of the large meat chunk using its awe-inspiring claws, selects a softer spot there and begins to tear mouthfuls from it with its giant, curved beak. That this magnificent bird, held to be a well tended crown jewel of our original nature, whose every movement shows aristocratic dignity and exclusiveness goes on with its doings in front of us, nearly as if in the palm of ones hand, sends cold shivers down the spine.
From the looks of this unringed eagle we have to do with a so-called second winter bird, that is, one that saw the light of day the summer before last. Its youth is revealed both by the dark-coloured beak – that will turn yellow over the years - and the mottled plumage as well as the uniformly dark brown „knee breeches“.
The feeding goes on in a regular rhythm, about ten seconds chewing at the meat, then lifting its head to check possible dangers, then again tearing at the frozen meat for the next ten seconds. And when the sassy ravens tend to press too near it then spreading the large wings threateningly wide is enough for any creatures that disturbed the eating to jump back in fright, for some time.
This display lasts altogether a quarter of an hour. Then the eagle discharges some of its „body ballast“ straight in front of the ravens’ beaks, climbs down from the chunk of meat, walks with dignity to the edge of the feeding ground and stops, calmly observing the surroundings and ordering its feathers. As if reviving from the rich meal it finally flies off.

Raven party starts
The ravens again have a party. They jump at the meat in a rush and again there is violent bickering and noise. As the meal again has become more peaceful and the birds have been gobblinmg meat quietly for some time they suddenly go off to wherever. Actually there is no reason to be surprised at the ravens’ sudden flights back and forth, spring and breeding time is near and the blood of ravens too has begun to bubble.
Precisely in the ravens’ absence an eagle flies over the spot. Because there is no trace of ravens it dares not land. But as soon as the ravens are back around 11 o’clock, the eagle lands on the branch of a pine at the edge of the ground. For nearly half an hour it intently studies the squabbling ravens that don’t seem to take notice of it. When the bickering calms down the eagle flops down from the tree and jumps up on the meat chunk in its characteristic imposing pose to begin breakfasting. The scene from the first meal repeats itself: again the threatening wing spreads calling trespassers to order, that even send off the local foxes that come to snatch meat, the piercing looks at the surroundings and the surreptitious leaving.
After a few hours one more WTE appears at the feeding ground. It also settles in a dried pine, waiting for the ravens to calm down. Finally the eagles stay on there by themselves after us to peer at the meat.
Soon the WTEs won’t have more use for the feeding ground, because their nesting period is beginning. During the winter some fifty eagles, coming from Estonia, Latvia, Sweden, Finland and Russia have passed through.

Local bird giants
Basic food waterfowl - At present nearly 180 eagle pairs

•• The WTE (Haliaetus albicilla) is our largest raptor, with a wing span of 2,5 metres and a weight of up to 6 kilos. The upper and underparts of adult birds are (dark) brown, head and neck pale brown with dark bands; the tail is all white, the beak pale yellow and legs yellow. Some pairs have adapted to foraging at fish ponds where they for instance habitually rob ospreys of their prey.
•• The basic food of WTEs is waterfowl (ducks)
•• Adult WTEs are mainly sedentary birds in Estonia but the young rove around quite widely. For breeding territory usually fully mature pine shoreside pine forests, mixed forests or bog islets are chosen. The nest is usually set in the top of an old pine or aspen; the weight of a nest used for decades may be nearly one ton. The WTEs begin arranging the nest already in winter, bringing green pine branches to it. The eggs are usually laid in the second half of March.
•• The decrease in the number of WTEs started during the last quarter of the 19th century and culminated at the end of the 1960ies; for several years at that time there was no information of successful nestings. The situation began to improve only from about 1975 onwards. At the moment the number of breeding WTE pairs is approaching 180.

Be sure to check on the link on Liis' post -- it includes lovely pictures.


Liis did you do all that translating
It was really fun to read such a passionate description of a visit to the feeding ground.

Liis, thank you for sharing that article about the WTEs at the feeding ground. It gave an interesting perspective that combined with our own observations to provide us a more rounded understanding of the activities there.

Knut,the polar bear raised by hand in Berlin Zoo has died.
Reason,for now unknown.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zei ... 06,00.html

Latest news of Knut

Berlin polar bear Knut 'had brain damage'
09:30 AEST Wed Mar 23 2011

Berlin's superstar polar bear Knut, who died suddenly over the weekend aged just four, likely fell victim to undiagnosed brain damage, his zoo said on Tuesday.

Berlin Zoo said in a statement that a preliminary necropsy conducted on Monday revealed "significant changes to the brain, which could be seen as the reason for the sudden death of the polar bear".

It said no other organ damage had been identified but that the examination of the cadaver was continuing


Visitors at the zoo at the time of his death said he was staggering,turning round before he fell into the pool.

Yet another article from storks and eagles special reporter Ulvar Käärt in eesti Päevaleht, about Estonia's oldest (known and proven) white-tailed eagle:

Author: Ulvar Käärt
(Joosep Tuvi's magnificent photo of the lady is in the original article. Remember? - it was Joosep Tuvi who ringed Spot)
Eesti päevaleht EPL, Thursday March 24, 2011
http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/594927

"Oldest white-tailed eagle seen again
The dignified female white-tailed eagle named Granny [Vanaeit] will be 26 years this spring.
Author: Ulvar Käärt 24. märts 2011 07:30; EPL
(The photo of Grandma was taken four years ago. She looks as impressive today. Photo: Joosep Tuvi; see original article)

Granny, holding the honourable title of oldest known white-tailed eagle in Estonia, was last seen in the summer of 2007 in her breeding territory near Kaarepere in Jõgevamaa, [in eastern Central Estonia] After that there has been neither sight nor sound of her until recently.
That the aged but still vital bird hasn’t yet flown off to eagle heaven or just moved somewhere else was confirmed recently by a monitoring camera placed in her home territory at Kaarepere.
Eagle Club member Urmas Sellis says that Granny was revealed by her coloured rings in the camera image. „The blue-white ring on her right leg shows that we have to do with a bird ringed in Estonia, and the blue and black ring round her left leg shows her year of birth“, Urmas Sellis explained. „ Probably she nested somewhere else in the meantime and simply wasn’t discovered by us.“
Urmas Sellis added that the looks of the bird in no way show her age. „Until now it has been thought that that the older a white-tailed eagle becomes the lighter its head will be but according to this criterion Granny doesn’t seem particularly old at all – quite the contrary.“
Urmas Sellis said that because it is very complicated to determine the age of white-tailed eagles from their exterior already from the fifth year, the determination is most accurately done from rings.

The bird - named Granny, as fitting for her age and sex, when she was rediscovered for the first time nearly four years ago - was hatched in the spring of 1985 in the northern part of Emajõgi-Suursoo in a nest near Koosa lake. Two more eaglets were in the nest. Around Midsummer in the same year, eagle man Einar Tammur – now many years dead – set the coloured rings on the feet of the eagles-to-be. Granny moved to nest in Jõgevamaa in the beginning of the 1990ies. „Einar would have been really happy to hear about this,“ Urmas Sellis remarked.
Granny, 26 years this spring, is not at all thought to be at the limit of her life span, elsewhere in the world even older white-tailed eagles have been found. Urmas Sellis noted that in Sweden for instance a 29 years old white-tailed eagle has been observed. Moreover it has been suggested in various sources that the lifetime of white-tailed eagles may reach forty years and in exceptional cases even more.
Knowing this there may be white-tailed eagles older than Granny even in Estonia. „Coloured rings began to be used from 1984 in Estonia, and so we cannot determine the age of eagles hatched earlier,“ Urmas Sellis noted.

White-tailed eagles - belonging to the most strictly protected class - are Estonia’s largest birds of prey, with a wing span of nearly 2,5 metres and a weight of up to six kilos. The upper and under parts of a mature bird are brown, the head and neck pale brown with dark bands, the whole tail is white, beak pale yellow and feet yellow. The plumage of young birds is dark brown, and so they are easily confused with spotted eagles especially at a brief sighting. White-tailed eagles are however clearly more substantial and fly with slower wingbeats, reminding figuratively of a „flying barn door“.
The number of white-tailed eagles began to decline in Estonia in the last quarter of the 19th century, reaching a minimum in the1960ies; there were no reports of any successful nestings for several years.. Conditions began to improve from the later half oif the 1970ies and by now the number of breeding white-tailed eagle pairs in Estonia is approaching 180.

Life spans
Large eagles live up to 40 years.
•• The lifelength of birds is complicated to determine in nature. Some idea is provided by analysis of data from ringing and marking, and observations of bird kept in captivity.
•• The possible potential lifetime of a bird and the actual average lifetime in nature are two different things. In nature it is affected by several limiting factors such as adverse weather and feeding conditions, predators, illnesses and also by human activities.
The life of passerines: only up to a dozen years.
•• In general the lifetime of big birds is longer than that of smaller. There are for instance reports of eagles living to the age of 46; hawks, owls and ducks usually live to an average of 20 years, small passerines to about ten to twenty years . But only a few individuals reach these ages and in nature life expectancy is considerably shorter.
•• Many birds die in their first year of life.
•• The average lifetime of golden eagles is estimated to be 28 years but the oldest known golden eagle lived to be 48 years..
•• The oldest ringed greater spotted eagle was 26 years old, the longest known life of a lesser spotted eagle is 27 years. "

Thanks again for extra translation.

It is better to read a so far happy story.

Great story from the real life, thank you dear Liis!

A story about a woman who had an encounter with a spotted eagle ray in waters off Florida. Both survived, thank goodness.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/29/florid ... st/?hpt=T2

The Dangers of Wind-powered Turbines shown in this video.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com//go/news/b ... eo.html#cr

I am not sure I want to see this
I have heard that some studies suggest if the things are painted different colours they pose less danger (although this may be in reference to smaller birds, still one wonders if perhaps they should get on with it).

I knew I did not want to see it.