Black Stork Nest in Karula - 2018

[Treia]

I wish a very good and safe journey to Maru, Päike and Karula.
and good night to the empty nest and the quiet forest !

[Crissy]

Hello everyone

I am mostly active in WTE camera forum, but i came across this fundraising post and one thing led to another and now I have just received a book of Karl Only reading few pages, I see what a great piece of art this book is. I love the way it is written and how witty Karl sounds I cant thank enough people, who made it possible!
I wish your storks Maru, Päike and Karula adventurous and safe life ahead, they sure deserve it!

[Treia]

Good morning to the Karula Forest's empty nest!

Once again thanks to Black Stork webcam 2018 and Camera Forum with this Black Stork Nest in Karula 2018 -topic for the fine summertime with Karl's family! But luckily we still have the Migration Map with Bird Map news about Karl's Family, is that right? So... now it's exciting to wait and see where the first update of Päike's and Karula's flight comes from, and when Karl leaves Karula Forest.

[UteL.]

August 15


Good Morning

8:08:15



The expected rain has dipped everything in particularly strong colors. When angels travel, the sky is crying.

Karl, I expect you to say goodbye, you can not go in front of the offspring and leave the nest over the winter!

[Urmas]

One of chicks is about 7 km of nest on some stream in forest and spent there also night,
another was yesterday about 23 km northwards, but returned by afternoon some 10 km north of nest (close to fish farm).
No further movements visible, probably because of rainy weather.

[Swenja]

Thanks @Urmas

Fish farm? I hope the fish farmers are not angry.

[UteL.]

Thank You, Urmas

Maybe they will come again, I told you, rainy weather

[kuhankeittäjä]

One of chicks is about 7 km of nest on some stream in forest and spent there also night,
another was yesterday about 23 km northwards, but returned by afternoon some 10 km north of nest (close to fish farm).
No further movements visible, probably because of rainy weather.

Interesting, thank You! Earlier, some of the feedings gave an impression that either of the parents had visited a fish farm to find adequate amounts of portion size, open water fishes which are farmed as a rule. Maybe this is the same farm, or are there others as well?

Promising, if at least one chick wants to see what it can find in the northern direction. Maybe, next spring in Finland then...

[Swenja]

Interesting, thank You! Earlier, some of the feedings gave an impression that either of the parents had visited a fish farm to find adequate amounts of portion size, open water fishes which are farmed as a rule. Maybe this is the same farm, or are there others as well?

I think it was 2016? Karl did collect some fish on a fish farm. But I can not find the place in the forum where this has been described.

[UteL.]

Maybe Karl is there with Karula or Päike, they wait until it stops raining and they are dry

[kuhankeittäjä]

I think it was 2016? Karl did collect some fish on a fish farm. But I can not find the place in the forum where this has been described.

OK! Karl has evidently done it earlier, as well. I have understood that the storks cause some economic losses at the fish farms, because of their excellent ability to fish. What is good for the chicks is not necessarily good for human business. Anyhow, I was happy to see that all chicks got an equal and rich portion.

[Summi]

Urmas, thank you. Great to know about the movements of "our" storklets before they appear on the Migration map!

[UteL.]

Summi, Yesterday you found very nice words, thank you very much and I join

[Felis silvestris]

According to literature we have had BS nests in Finland around 200 years ago. Unfortunately they don't find their way in couples here any more. But maybe it happens some day, when the Estonian BS population has increased enough. The old Finnish name of BS is musta tuonenkurki as compared to the estonian name must-toonekurg.

Sadly the population in Estonia is not growing, as Urmas told me recently. Yet we still hope that those youngsters we are able to watch through the camera will survive their first difficult years and one day return.

As for BS going to Finland ... the very first year I watched a BS cam here, Tiina and Tiit's nest further north in Estonia, which had 4 storklets, and the youngest, which we called "Neli" (Estonian for number 4), did make an outing to Finland and was photographed there:
https://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/vie ... 84#p115684

[Anne7]

Hello everyone
I am mostly active in WTE camera forum, but i came across this fundraising post and one thing led to another and now I have just received a book of Karl Only reading few pages, I see what a great piece of art this book is. I love the way it is written and how witty Karl sounds I cant thank enough people, who made it possible!
I wish your storks Maru, Päike and Karula adventurous and safe life ahead, they sure deserve it!

Thank you very much for you kind words and your contribution, Crissy!
I'm really happy that you like our book!
Without the good work of the Kotkaklubi-team and without the efforts of many people on Looduskalender the webcams and the forum would't exist and the book would not have been written. Everything and everyone is connected!

............................................

It is very encouraging to see that our Fund Raising, in support of Kotkaklubi, is doing so well.
Our money pot is still growing. Currently we collected 3731 €.

You are wonderfull people! Thank you so much!

https://www.leetchi.com/c/support-these-wonderful-birds

For some members, it is easier to do a normal bank transfer directly to Kotkaklubi:
KOTKAKLUBI
IBAN: EE182200221040359778
BIC: HABAEE2X
Swedbank AS, 8 Liivalaia Street,15040 Tallinn, Estonia

(If you prefer to contribute this way, please send me a PM to receive the book.)

[sova]

I thank you all for the pictures, videos, comments and very good discussions you have had. (I was a steal reader).

The idea with a small book and the collection action was wonderful. The book is really worth reading!

And at the end; good luck for the 5 storks. I hope very well that all survive well the trip. The * old * will come again and the * young * master the first years well.

[kuhankeittäjä]

<snip>
For the brave among us, here is an interesting scientific paper about the "Avian crop function":
"...The avian crop plays a major role in feed storage and moistening, as well as functional barrier for pathogens through decreasing pH value by microbial fermentation. Moreover, recent data suggest that this gastrointestinal tract segment may play an important role in the regulation of the innate immune system of birds. ..."
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ba ... ion_detail

And here is an expert explanation about "Regurgitation"
http://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/wildli ... 89496.aspx

It is funny that you called birds "late born feathered dinosaurs".
This is something I intended to talk about on the forum, but it never seemed to be the right moment.
Birds, crocodiles and dinosaurs have the same ancestors, called archosaurs, some 240 million years ago.

"Crocodiles are the closest living relatives of birds but compared with their feathered cousins, they are stuck in the past, new research has shown. Both groups share a common ancestor that lived around 240 million years ago and also gave rise to the dinosaurs. But while the evolution of birds has flown ahead since the extinction of their dinosaur forbears, that of crocodilians has crawled. ..."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/scienc ... tives.html"
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/ ... alligator/

Thanks Anne7 for an extensive list of references.

You quoted almost all essential in them, as regards black and white storks.

I found there a further reference which may still be relevant:
Z i s w i l e r V., F a r n e r D.S. (1972). Digestion and the digestive system. In: Avian biology, vol. II,
Farner D., King J., Parkes K. (eds). Academic Press, New York, London, pp. 343–430.

but unfortunately could not see the book. Maybe there's no new edition of it.

To draw together, the crop in an important and highly varying organ for many birds and even protects their health, in addition to that it is used to temporarily store food. At this level of knowledge is unclear whether black stork can control its muscles around the crop.

As your second last reference states all other lineages between birds and their common ancestor with crocodiles got extinct. If this had not happened, maybe itwould not exist more than 10 000 bird species in our ecosystem. We had bats instead of, who knows.

The last link refers to a scientific molecular biology problem where the control genes of crocodiles have found a very stable combination with other genes and the Earths environment. There's no need to change the animal a lot. On contrary the control genes of the birds let the species vary greatly and hence adapt to new environmental niches. The strategies are different, both seem to be working, as regards transferring the genes ahead.

I am happy of the birds, but have no hard feelings towards the bats either. Crocodiles we don't have in the Baltic region. It is safe to go swimming.

Abstract to a recent publication of the rapid evolution of birds: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6196/562
Och samma på finska: https://www.tiede.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/ ... a_vuodessa

The birds have flown away from the corner of our living room. Lets follow their path and hope the best.

[asteria]

Migration map shows only Maru her thread, two other storklets and Karl are not seen.

[UteL.]

Asteria
it is not ready yet, nobody is traveling yet ... only Maru has already left the region

One of chicks is about 7 km of nest on some stream in forest and spent there also night,
another was yesterday about 23 km northwards, but returned by afternoon some 10 km north of nest (close to fish farm).
No further movements visible, probably because of rainy weather.

[Summi]

August 15
The expected rain has dipped everything in particularly strong colors. When angels travel, the sky is crying.

Marvellous colors and sharpness! My favorite farewell pic which I hope will become a greeting pic next spring.