Looduskalender

i googled "buzzard nestling with eagle" and found this article:
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199 ... zards.html

it seems that there are several known cases were mixed-species broods of birds of prey have been found. it says there: "The most plausible explanation for these phenomena is non-lethal predation followed by parental care.".

this is strange: the Pontu camera has started again yesterday at 13.01
http://pontu.eenet.ee/kotkas/2011-04-23 ... -13-01.jpg

i wonder why it went off and why it came live again...? i haven't found P-pictures since 18.10 on Apr 18th.

OHansen: have you checked Pontu every day? has it been off all the time during 19th and yesterday?

- not that it matters much though... so few of our occasional visitors have been captured in P-pictures. the bullfinch was one and the elks, and the buzzards naturally, but that's about all. the rest have stayed for such short times that it the chances of capturing them in P-pictures is minimal...

it seems that Pontu pictures have been stored rather randomly during the last week. there are no pictures from 19th, 21st and 22nd and only 12 pictures from the 20th April. also 23rd has only 464 pictures which is only about half day's worth. i wonder does Techno-Urmas know this...?

and just when i wrote that Pontu captures almost no visitors in the nest i found one little visitor who was captured yesterday morning at 7.17.
http://pontu.eenet.ee/kotkas/2011-04-24 ... -07-17.jpg
it's a KBV again.


could it be a greenfinch? it's looking in the direction of the Sun and we see its back/side which is in shadow so it is not easy to tell what bird it is. the tip of its tail looks like a heart upside down...

Hello Ame its me again, trying to solve your mysteries. i dont think it is a greenfinch, and it is difficult to see, but when I look at its beak, eyes and the feathers I wonder if it could be a Wood Lark (lulllula arborea)?? But it is difficult to see so I will not bet on it

the last picture of the Pontu camera was taken at 20.55:
http://pontu.eenet.ee/kotkas/2011-04-25 ... -20-55.jpg

Lussi
i was thinking that is the wood lark in the right place here but who am i to say: i was wrong about the gold finch just a feww days ago.

A lovely morning, lots of nice birdsong, & a little mist near the forest floor. No WTEs in the nest, & no cows!



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I hear the snipe's tail singing, & I hear the bittern a little bit, "blowing across the top of a jug-- foo-foo-foo."

good morning!
there have been some strange bird voices near the nest. at 9.18:


at 9.28 there is a wood pigeon fluttering its wings, but who is/are the caller(s)?


at some stage there was an angry magpie calling, but i did not capture that. there was some arguement going on... at 9.45:

ame wrote:hello!
it's a beautiful sunny day in the eagle forest. the cow has gone for breakfast i think...

there were some bird calls near the nest at 11.54 which i did not recognize. it sould have been some thrush...?

It's nuthatch (Sitta europea). At first one of his spring voices, at end typical call.

ame wrote:good morning!
there have been some strange bird voices near the nest. at 9.18:


at 9.28 there is a wood pigeon fluttering its wings, but who is/are the caller(s)?


at some stage there was an angry magpie calling, but i did not capture that. there was some arguement going on... at 9.45:

Sound system of my computer is simply a catastrophe. I don't hear almost anything in video 2 and 3. In first video it could be voice of Hooded Crow. In spring they sometimes makes some strange sounds. But maybe I'm wrong.

vainamoinen wrote: It's nuthatch (Sitta europea). At first one of his spring voices, at end typical call.

thank you vainamoinen!
i still haven't learnt the nuthatch here though i know some of its voices. there must be a pair living somewhere close to the eagles' nest because these voices are there often.

my birdguide says that nuthatches come to winterfeedings occasionally here after wandering from behind Ural mountains in some autumns but they leave here before summer, so they don't nest in Finland at all.

vainamoinen wrote: Sound system of my computer is simply a catastrophe. I don't hear almost anything in video 2 and 3. In first video it could be voice of Hooded Crow. In spring they sometimes makes some strange sounds. But maybe I'm wrong.

the buzzzing crows in the beginning of the second video reminded me a bit of a grey heron and a young begging fieldfare at the same time. but it's certainly too early for fieldfare babies.

corvids can make funny voices sometimes and i did hear a magpie there before the beginning of the second (or third?) video. some voices reminded me of crows, too...

and there were sounds of woodpidgeons wings in the second video, i'm rather certain of that.
woodpidgeons have become very common city birds in Finland during the last decade. there are almost more woodpidgeons in the cities than 'normal' city-pidgeons and they are everywhere in the suburban areas like around my home. one pair nested last year 5 meters aways from our kitchen windows last year. this spring there are several pairs flying around the neighbourhood. in the afternoons they come to pick grains in our garder under the birdfeeders. tits are so choosy: they drop grains down when they pick the nuts out of the seed mix that there is. fortunately the grains are good for the pidgeons so they are not waisted.

ame wrote: thank you vainamoinen!
i still haven't learnt the nuthatch here though i know some of its voices. there must be a pair living somewhere close to the eagles' nest because these voices are there often.

my birdguide says that nuthatches come to winterfeedings occasionally here after wandering from behind Ural mountains in some autumns but they leave here before summer, so they don't nest in Finland at all.

Hmm, I did not know that nuthatch don't nest in Finland. It's very common bird in Latvia and I think in Estonia too.

Hello Ame
The bird in your first video is almost certainly a Grey Heron ( ardea cinerea), I see that Vainamoinen says that the bird in the other video is a Nuthatch, and I am sure that is so, but it can also be the common song of a Starling ( but then again, the starlings is quite good in imitating other birds so.. ), I can also hear a Wood Lark at the end of your second video, and that bird we saw on your picture yesterday, I think....

ame wrote: the buzzzing crows in the beginning of the second video reminded me a bit of a grey heron and a young begging fieldfare at the same time. but it's certainly too early for fieldfare babies.

corvids can make funny voices sometimes and i did hear a magpie there before the beginning of the second (or third?) video. some voices reminded me of crows, too...

and there were sounds of woodpidgeons wings in the second video, i'm rather certain of that.
woodpidgeons have become very common city birds in Finland during the last decade. there are almost more woodpidgeons in the cities than 'normal' city-pidgeons and they are everywhere in the suburban areas like around my home. one pair nested last year 5 meters aways from our kitchen windows last year. this spring there are several pairs flying around the neighbourhood. in the afternoons they come to pick grains in our garder under the birdfeeders. tits are so choosy: they drop grains down when they pick the nuts out of the seed mix that there is. fortunately the grains are good for the pidgeons so they are not waisted.

Calls in the beginning of second video almost certainly is grey heron

Lussi05 wrote:Hello Ame
The bird in your first video is almost certainly a Grey Heron ( ardea cinerea), I see that Vainamoinen says that the bird in the other video is a Nuthatch, and I am sure that is so, but it can also be the common song of a Starling ( but then again, the starlings is quite good in imitating other birds so.. ), I can also hear a Wood Lark at the end of your second video, and that bird we saw on your picture yesterday, I think....

Yes, Grey Heron is reliable version. However, usually they makes some sharp sounds too. This is very calm version. But of course heron is more plausible variant than my crow.

thank you for trying to identify the birds from this morning and earlier, too!
i checked my bird guides to see what they say about grey herons. it seems that they are not likely to come and stay in the eagles' nest. the books say that they build their nests in tops of coniferous trees...

the camera has turned of a while ago. the last Pontu picture is taken at 20.56:
http://pontu.eenet.ee/kotkas/2011-04-26 ... -20-56.jpg

good night!

ame wrote: the camera has turned of a while ago. the last Pontu picture is taken at 20.56:
http://pontu.eenet.ee/kotkas/2011-04-26 ... -20-56.jpg

good night!

Isn't it 'miserable' to see that empty nest.?...

April 27th

And the nest continues to be empty. Nice bridsong this morning, & I think I heard a duck quacking. And I now hear the bittern hoo-hoo-hooing across "the jug top."

Good morning The nest looks empty, but a closer look shows a almost invisible visitor in the middle of the nest, looks like some kind of duck? :peek:

Good Lord, you're right! Could that have been what I heard quacking??? I see it moving but not so that the sun strikes its head so I can see for sure what it is.

Could it be some kind of mammal? Or do you think it is actually a duck. Do ducks nest up in trees in Estonia (wood ducks do here in the USA, but usually in cavities, not abandoned nests, especially eagle nests.