About the Webcams, Food Supplies, etc

Webcams of eagles feeding during winter time
unp
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Re: About the Webcams, Food Supplies, etc

Post by unp »

My failing memory... Personal apologies to Dr Ülo Väli "(again difficult, but easy Estonian name)" if two preliminary apologies are not enough.
Urmas
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Post by Urmas »

unp wrote:My failing memory...
The questions are for to ask.
So if some appear, please don't hesitate to ask! And everybody could answer, write her/his opinion about topic. Think, all we learn something from each-other...
Kindly,
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Post by Jo UK »

I have a question.

Can anyone please tell us how to distinguish between male and female eagles? I think it is easier when they are on a nest as they stay in one place for longer, and if both male and female are together, then we can see differences. Any hints would be helpful. Thanks.
Urmas
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Post by Urmas »

Difference between male and female eagles (including White-tailed Eagles) is mainly in size. Females are remarkable bigger! But that is difficult to distinguish if bird is alone... Male White-tailed Eagle seems a bit quicker in movements also.

But everybody probably could find in different illustrated articles some more aspects. Also for to distinguish the age of eagle (eg peak colour and feathering)....

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Kuremari
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Post by Kuremari »

Thank you Urmas!
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Post by Jo UK »

About the webcams - there may be interruptions in viewing, tomorrow

http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/2025

Thanks for telling us about it, LK
leonia
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Post by leonia »

yarko wrote:LK Form members have asked
Answers - Mr.Looduskalender
Translation - Kuremari


3. How many hunters bring/shoot the food?

There is no special hunting involved with this project. There are several hunting clubs in Western Estonia.
On the 1st of September began the hunting season in Estonia. Since then all the leftovers including the
intestines were stored in cold houses.
Big amount of animals perish by accidents on the roads, it is the duty of hunters to clean up the roads. These animals are also stored for eagles. Just like the foxes and raccoon dogs which are shot during the hunting season.

Not one animal was or will be killed because of the eagles feeding project!
Dear Mr. Looduskalender,
I hope the hunters do not use lead amunition (pellets - chem.: plumbum)? Thanks for answers!
Leonia

Sorry, my question should not seem to be unpolite: :bow: :blush:
How do you successfully manage to avoid lead amunition in the feeding flesh? Here in Germany we have the problem that white-tailed eagle eat shot animals that the hunters didn'd find and they die from lead poisoning.
Thank you again for your answer!
Greetings, Leonia
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Kuremari
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Post by Kuremari »

Leonia ,
here are some answers to you.
okaskera was so nice and answered and Liis did the translation.
Maybe some day we can learn more...


At the moment lead shot is used in Estonia for hunting small game and birds, it is true.
It seems that the concern was that if eagles constantly eat some lead with their food, they will be poisoned. The world is on the road to not using lead at all for hunting. But the danger is quite small, because birdhunting has decreased clearly during the last years, shot is expensive etc. There is a chance that an eagle might eat just that duck that was shot with leaded shot and then not found. But at the same time only quite few shot stop in the body of the duck, and moreover the eagle doesn’t digest these shot, although they do produce a small effect; actually the hunters themselves eat much more leaded shot .
The game ‘remains’ that are used to feed the eagles at the Eagle webcam site mostly come from big game; they are generally shot with a rifle and there the cartridge is covered with copper or some other metal.
Oh, well, long story, it it is one of these many-sided things! But the short answer would be, Yes, in Estonia lead shot is still being used.



Thanks , okaskera and Liis :wave:
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renno
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Post by renno »

Kuremari wrote:Leonia ,
here are some answers to you.
okaskera was so nice and answered and Liis did the translation.
Maybe some day we can learn more...


At the moment lead shot is used in Estonia for hunting small game and birds, it is true.
It seems that the concern was that if eagles constantly eat some lead with their food, they will be poisoned. The world is on the road to not using lead at all for hunting. But the danger is quite small, because birdhunting has decreased clearly during the last years, shot is expensive etc. There is a chance that an eagle might eat just that duck that was shot with leaded shot and then not found. But at the same time only quite few shot stop in the body of the duck, and moreover the eagle doesn’t digest these shot, although they do produce a small effect; actually the hunters themselves eat much more leaded shot .
The game ‘remains’ that are used to feed the eagles at the Eagle webcam site mostly come from big game; they are generally shot with a rifle and there the cartridge is covered with copper or some other metal.
Oh, well, long story, it it is one of these many-sided things! But the short answer would be, Yes, in Estonia lead shot is still being used.



Thanks , okaskera and Liis :wave:
Hi
Spring 2008 in Matsalu Nature Park was found one exhausting eagle which was ringed in eastern-Estonia in summer 2007. Bird was transported to the Nigula rehabilitation centre but bird died there due to the lead poisoning (lead pellets were in the stomach) which can originate from some game bird.

In November 2008 Estonia ratifies AEWA agreement (African-Eurasian Waterfowl Agreement in frames of Bonn Convention of protecting of migratory species) and Estonia got due to the hunters lobby 5-year extension for using lead pellets. But still it is achievement and in the end of 2013 using of lead pellets for bird hunting will be halted. Will see how this transition runs.
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Post by Liis »

OK, Okaskera, about hunters eating more lead shot than eagles do, but then you are so much bigger than the eagles too! 20 -30 - 40 times heavier (from all that nice meat... :innocent: )?
Poison risk = amount poison per body weight, very roughly
Does anyone know how long, roughly, a swallowed lead shot remains in an eagle? The same as, or longer than normal food? (No pictures of insides, please, I guess :rolleyes: !)
Some more about lead, lead shot, poisoning:
In Sweden lead shot is forbidden only for wetland hunting. A nearly-accepted proposal for a total ban was recently drawn back because of lobbying from hunters' organisations. The risk for e g eagles from eating other birds and small game with lead shot in them was said to be very small and not much discussed.
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Post by Jo UK »

In Other Birds and Animals, there is a health topic. You could be more specific in your posts without fear of upsetting other members, at
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=36
As it is about health matters, then anyone who feels squeamish can avoid it. The usual guidelines apply - any graphic images should be linked to an image hosting site, rather than posting directly to the topic.
It can be difficult to decide what is "graphic", that is, upsetting, and what is merely technical and descriptive. Your best judgement is called for! Thanks. :D
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Post by Urmas »

Hello Friends!
I would like to thank the translators in the forum, turning Estonian articles in LK into English. You probably understand importance of that, as from English is easy to translate articles to other languages (with help of Google Translator, etc)!

Special thanks to Liis for huge work she has made with translations! To date, this has been voluntary work (like composing of articles).

Not to overload Liis, I invite other members to be translators! As noticed, many of you has made some great translations from Estonian to English. For Tõnn and Black Stork stories we have agreed Scott to translate these articles, but in Looduskalender(LK) there appear many other interesting stories...
So if anybody feels to be ready to translate, please let to know here and we all together could decide how it may happen - will translate one translator through one week, certain themes, etc.

Translations into Russian have been managed by Gennadi up today.

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Liis
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Post by Liis »

Food - whom does it go to:
How much of the food do you guess, roughly, has gone to crows, ravens, magpies, jays, and how much to eagles?
Any chance / way of keeping more for the eagles, when the supply is limited? Do eagles ever catch crows and relatives?
renno
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Post by renno »

Liis wrote:Food - whom does it go to:
How much of the food do you guess, roughly, has gone to crows, ravens, magpies, jays, and how much to eagles?
Any chance / way of keeping more for the eagles, when the supply is limited? Do eagles ever catch crows and relatives?
Today there was some 5-7 kg of meat and we all saw the eating "speed" :shock:
Lets hope colder days when meat pieces are frozen into a block which they can eat much longer period - last week there was about 20kg frozen meat which they eat for four days.
Certainly the eagles have got small amount of the meat, mostly taken from the ravens but it is probably proportional compared to numbers of ravens, crows and others. Eagles they still wouldn´t eat on the ice and right now they have disappeared somewhere... probably due to very warm weather when energy consumption is much smaller.
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Post by Liis »

Report of another eagle found dead, January 13 or 14, at Võrtsjärv http://www.sakala.ajaleht.ee/?id=69029, so five have been found dead now.
Article on the analyses of the eagles found earlier, nothing conclusive found yet, http://www.postimees.ee/?id=68880
All in Estonian; but the information is largely what has been written earlier: no obvious death causes, birds all seem well nourished; various poisons, viruses, vaccine from the anti-rabies campaign are mentioned as possible risks
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Post by Jo UK »

Thanks for telling us Liis.
What a worry, and a mystery. Let's hope the cause is soon found,
leonia
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Post by leonia »

Thanks to Okaskera and Renno for the answers to our questions. We have read them last days but hadn't time enough, to say thanks. :bow:
It's sad as you say Liis: so many dead ones.
Greetings by Leonia and Eric :wave:
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Post by Kuremari »

About these dead eagles, i read from the newspaper that some of them have been sent to Finland for
further analyses.
Urmas or Renno, will you please tell us about the results if you get them.
There were speculations that these eagles were from Russia and that they might have eaten poisoned
meat.The hunters there have the right to poison the wolves?
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Post by Liis »

Some eagles eat, others look on, and maybe wait for their turn.
Is there a pecking order among eagles at a feeding place, and how do they decide the ranking: who gets the best, why?
renno
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Post by renno »

Liis wrote:Some eagles eat, others look on, and maybe wait for their turn.
Is there a pecking order among eagles at a feeding place, and how do they decide the ranking: who gets the best, why?
probably there is some pecking order. 3rd winter Finnish bird who was there on 23rd Jan was in December quite agressive and scared other eagles away... in nature generally the strongest can eat first but first one might be eaten also by predators... every individual must make their own decision.
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