Buzzard Nest Webcam Discussion - 2012 ESTLAT

[ame]

Asteria : i don't want to think too closely what was inside the shell at this point... but i'm glad that the marten took it away. now it'll not be wasted and that's most important. i would have hated to see the egg here in the end August still and being slowly covered by autumn leaves...

i think all these predators have stomachs of steel and they can handle "well-hung" food, too. (-except maybe all kinds of cats who prefer freshly killed meat. ... but at least lions eat carcasses too, i think..? )

i made a gif of how the marten tried to fit the egg in his mouth. it was almost too big for him.
http://www.picasion.com/

[ame]

maybe the same pine marten from a few weeks ago ?
He or she has taking his chance.
nice catch ame

thanks Fleur!
i had again my "fishing net" spread out. what is amazing is that i actually managed to see most of it live! i had just woken and gotten up.

[b.h-p]

thanks Fleur!
i had again my "fishing net" spread out. what is amazing is that i actually managed to see most of it alive! i had just woken and gotten up.

what a "fishing net" - it works very well!

amazing that such an animal can carry an egg up and down the trees.

Once again - thanks ame for sharing these moments

[Manu]

@Ame: Nice catch of the pine marten... Thanks you so much to catch all this moments on video and photo ...

[Bea]

WOW - what a catch, ame

This is somehow "a good end" for the egg .....

[ame]

now i had time to check the Pontu pictures (the "fish net") from this morning and i found out that the marten came again to the nest at 8.36. (so it has its nest somewhere within 5 minutes distance. )
this time it searched the nest thoroughly to make sure that there wasn't anything else.
http://picasion.com

i think that it also made some markings there: it seemed to rub it stomach/backside against the sticks on the nest.


it also had a look at the camera, smiling.


here's the video.

btw: no little birds of any colour were to be found in the P-pictures this morning.
Bea: i agree, it was a worthy ending to the story of the egg.

[Fleur]

nice video Ame.
Especially the part where he marks, and just before the camera, looking to meet you

[macdoum]

June 17th
good morning !
a pine marten took the egg.
finally it's gone. i had already that no-one would take it.

We wish him/her luck with that egg which will probably explode and stink to high heaven.
Now the little birds will have free access to all the sticks and feathers.

edit; How strange that the PM 'marked'...spayed the nest.. I wonder about the reason for that ?

[asteria]

Asteria : i don't want to think too closely what was inside the shell at this point... but i'm glad that the marten took it away. now it'll not be wasted and that's most important. i would have hated to see the egg here in the end August still and being slowly covered by autumn leaves...

i think all these predators have stomachs of steel and they can handle "well-hung" food, too. (-except maybe all kinds of cats who prefer freshly killed meat. ... but at least lions eat carcasses too, i think..? )

i made a gif of how the marten tried to fit the egg in his mouth. it was almost too big for him.
http://www.picasion.com/

Still not sure. I remember how my brother's dog digged out some old bone she found and ate it. After that she was sick for a few days. Eagles really eat old eggs and dead moles but I don't know about martens.

[macdoum]

From Wikipedia

Their habitats are usually well-wooded areas. European pine martens usually make their own dens in hollow trees or scrub-covered fields. Martens are the only mustelids with semi-retractable claws. This enables them to lead more arboreal lifestyles, such as climbing or running on tree branches, although they are also relatively quick runners on the ground. They are mainly active at night and dusk. They have small rounded, highly sensitive ears and sharp teeth for eating small mammals, birds, insects, frogs, and carrion. They have also been known to eat berries, bird's eggs, meat, nuts and honey. European pine martens are territorial animals that mark their range by depositing faeces (called 'scats') in prominent locations.

Martens have been known to chew rubber and soft plastic parts (e.g. windscreen wipers, garden hoses, etc.), often those of parked cars, ostensibly to sharpen/clean their teeth, though the exact drive for this behaviour is not known, and they do not actually ingest the rubber; damage to brake cables is a particular hazard. In rural areas it is not uncommon for wire fencing (chicken wire) to be placed on the ground under parked cars (martens avoid stepping on it) or dog musk or other natural repellents to be sprayed under cars.[citation needed]

PM eats ex; carrion....windsheild wipers too..

[ame]

June 18th
good morning!
i almost did not lay my nets this morning... fortunately i did because today the catch was something that hasn't been seen here before. in fact i think that only few of us has ever seen this bird (i think i've maybe seen one once a long time ago but i'm not sure).
nevertheless we all know quite well its unmistakable call and we've heard this call frequently both in nature and on these cameras:
a cuckoo!
a cuckoo flew to the backbranch at 4.01 and began to cuckoo. it went on for about 4 minutes... after it had stopped calling it looked around the forest but not quite as keenly as it did while it was calling. it also preened a little...
..

..


it sat there on the branch till 4.16. this second clip is a silent movie
(but i'll post it for completeness' sake and because it's a rare opportunity to actually see a cuckoo.)


macdoum
also our old cat Ritva has rubber fetish: she'll eat any rubberband she'll find.

[alice44]

(My Sammy is mad for red licorice. I had to put it above the refrigerator otherwise he opened the cabinets and pulled the bag out.)

[ame]

alice
at least licorice is foodstuff so that's almost understandable...

now i had time to check some earlier Pontu pictures and guess what i found: the cuckoo again! (at least i think it is a cuckoo... )
it was here on Saturday (June 16th) at 11.23 -11.27. here a clips from Pontu pictures.
..

..

i heard some strange voices then (silent whistling and some kind of snapping) but the bird was sitting too far on the right branch so it could not be seen in live cam.
picasion

here are voice samples:
..
i think in the end of the second clip one can see the cuckoo fly away to the back.
picasion.com

[macdoum]

ame,you did it again... I haven't ever seen a cuckoo either !!
image here;
http://www.google.fr/imgres?hl=fr&sa=X& ... ,s:0,i:102
Thank you.
NB I have heard from Jacci at the FFRC Anmal rescue site that elastic band are very dangerous for cats and can cause intestinal obstruction. Never heard about red licorice & cats though..

[borje]

Ame,
Rare it is, but I have seen it completely undisturbed, 5 meters from a golf tee several mornings in a row.
I have also eaten Kalla Kukko, baked by the mother of a Finnish student friend, but this was back in the early 50s.
_______________________________________________

We all look forward to your future excursions in the nest.

Börje

[ame]

Borje, you have been lucky to see a cuckoo alive!
Kalakukko means literally "Fishcock" which is obviously nonsence (could be Savolax i.e. Eastern Finnish humour ). it's a dish in which small fishes (usually european ciscos or sometimes maybe perches) are baked inside a cover of rye dough together with pork fat so it's basically a fish-filled rye-bread. it is a very tasty and nutritious dish. you are lucky to have tasted it, borje!

cuckoo is käki in Finnish and the word nor the bird has nothing to do with this dish. it's funny how the Finns have chosen to call the cuckoo by the less common call, the throat-opening voice krhakah! => käki (pronounced something like kake with the a like in cat). this is the call which the cuckoo does only rarely. i don't know why Finns have ignored the more common cuckoo-call.

this camera is indeed full of surprises!
..but i think it must be running out of them. certainly this can't go on much longer... but on the other hand all the surprises here have been unforeseeable so far...

[Urmas]

Maybe I did not understand all conversation, but for me the bird there on branch seems to be a Honey Buzzard... on Saturday.

[ame]

oh!! a honey buzzard is even better than a cuckoo!
thank you Urmas!

[borje]

Ame,
Thank you for the lesson in Finnish.
I´m so happy that it was`nt meat from the rare "Käki" hidden in the bread loaf.
Börje

[borje]

Urmas,
You are absolutely right. It is a honey buzzard- Size, black back and striped bellow.
Sorry for us all that we missed the Cucko, but a honey buzzard we don´t see so often either.
Börje