ESTLAT Estonian WTE Webcam 2013

[MarshaMay]

What a relief! Finally!

[Schmutz]

Everything is fine. Linda is back on the nest, and I saw her uncover the eggs before she settled in.

[MarshaMay]

I wonder why Linda left... Is that not normal behavior? I'm fairly new to this nest.

[Schmutz]

Oops! i guess it is Sulev? Either way, nest and eggs are fine.

[ame]

I wonder why Linda left... Is that not normal behavior? I'm fairly new to this nest.

i should say that their normal behaviour is not to leave nest unguarded for more than one minute. that's when incubating parent sees the other coming and takes off before the other lands.

but this was not quite out of the ordinary either. it has happened a few times. the longest interval that i've seen was 46 min on day 6 in 2010.

[MarshaMay]

Okay, thank you for the answer. I'm very glad that all is okay. And she did cover the eggs.

[MarshaMay]

I think he's a little anxious to see Linda since he didn't see her earlier because she had already left about 30 minutes before he arrived.

[Chimega]

ame, are you here? what is that bird that is calling in the background? and do you or anyone else know what may be nearby such as roads, trains, things like that? if something happens to Linda, what will happen to the eggs? or if she doesn't show up, will someone go look for her? poor Urmas...

[MarshaMay]

I, for one, don't know the area. It sounds like a woodpecker of some kind in the background, but the bird calling sounded like some sort of hawk.

I hope that Linda is okay! Now I'll need to wait until morning to find out, since it's late here where I am. Again, I hope all is well.

[MarshaMay]

I think she'll be back, but if for some reason something bad did happen, he would have to abandon the eggs. :(

[Chimega]

I, for one, don't know the area. It sounds like a woodpecker of some kind in the background, but the bird calling sounded like some sort of hawk.

I hope that Linda is okay! Now I'll need to wait until morning to find out, since it's late here where I am. Again, I hope all is well.

Yes, I thought a hawk sound, too. Perhaps a Buzzard. I am not familiar with their call but it sounded very hawk-like or maybe goshawk.

I agree, if she doesn't come back, Sulev will have to abandon the eggs. I hope and pray, not!!!

[MarshaMay]

Me, too, Chimega! I hope all is good when I check first thing in the morning. I was hoping she would come back before I had to call it a night. :(

[ame]

sorry, i've done some other things...

so the hawk-kind of call came from here. i have the feeding place camera open, too, and wasn't sure where it came from. it sounded like a buzzard to me (Buteo buteo). it's a smaller bird that a WTE (well the WTE is largest European bird). buzzards are not capable of hurting Linda.

there are some roads going by at a few hundres of meters. in calm weather like in early mornings it's possible to hear traffic humming there. there are no railways nearby.

there are also some farms nearby. if my memory serves me the closest is less than 500m away. i think they have a dog there and those other farms have dogs, too. the dogs can be heard greeting each other in the early mornings, too.

btw: the snow scooters haven't been making noise for some weekends now. i guess that noise came from ice. that must mean that ice is getting weaker.
besides i hear some seagull calls last week, and that means open water somewhere not very far.

[Bea]

09:34
Sulev poking a bit in the nestbowl and proceeding incubating the eggs

[ame]

... if something happens to Linda, what will happen to the eggs? or if she doesn't show up, will someone go look for her? poor Urmas...

both parents are needed for the eaglets to be raised successfully. there are no single parents in the eagle world.

EDIT (July 26th):
later this spring a female WTE who had two chicks was injured when it collided with a windmill blade. she had lost almost half of the other wing and she was taken to Dr Madis' clinic for treatment. fortunately her chicks were old enough so they didn't need constant care and shelter from a parent. their father has been able to raise the eaglets alone.
the story of how the eagle lady was found can be read in this link:
http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/16867
see the link below for a more detailed story of the treatment of the eagle lady:
viewtopic.php?p=245409#p245409
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the policy with theses cameras is not to interfere with the life of birds in any other way than ringing the chicks. last summer an exception was made at the black storks' nest when the storklet with injured beak was fetched from the nest for inspection.

in real life i don't know what would be done if one of the parents would disappear here... would Urmas and Renno have the heart to leave eaglets to certain death? i hope that this question will never come up here.

[ame]

i checked the Pontu pictures from this morning. Linda was absent already in the first picture at 5:56.


i haven't got enough imagination to think of a reason why she left.
apparently she didn't leave in hurry because she covered the eggs carefully.
in the previous case (which i wrote about earlier) when nest was empty for a longer period in 2010 Sulev saw something interesting in the forest and took off in a hurry, leaving the eggs uncovered. Linda was the first to come home and she looked a bit surprised to see the nest like that. Sulev returned just five minutes after her. it seemd that he received some sort of scolding from Linda for his carelessness. that was day 6 after laying.

another case was on the first day after laying in 2010. then Sulev left the nest empty (with eggs) for 22 minutes before he returned. there was no apparent reason for him leaving at that time.

[ame]

it seemed that Sulev wanted to stretch his legs just a little. both eggs safe.

[SadLily]

Looks like Linda had a busy weekend. I'm very grateful for you all for making the pictures and video of Linda laying the 2nd egg.
I guess there won't be a 3rd one?

[Chimega]

sorry, i've done some other things...

so the hawk-kind of call came from here. i have the feeding place camera open, too, and wasn't sure where it came from. it sounded like a buzzard to me (Buteo buteo). it's a smaller bird that a WTE (well the WTE is largest European bird). buzzards are not capable of hurting Linda.

there are some roads going by at a few hundres of meters. in calm weather like in early mornings it's possible to hear traffic humming there. there are no railways nearby.

there are also some farms nearby. if my memory serves me the closest is less than 500m away. i think they have a dog there and those other farms have dogs, too. the dogs can be heard greeting each other in the early mornings, too.

btw: the snow scooters haven't been making noise for some weekends now. i guess that noise came from ice. that must mean that ice is getting weaker.
besides i hear some seagull calls last week, and that means open water somewhere not very far.

Yes that call was from here and did sorta sound like a buzzard to me. They are so much like our red-tailed hawks but just a bit different and the call is a bit different.

If Linda went missing for sure, no one would be going to see if they could find her, then? it has been over 3 hours, i believe and she left in the dark or nearly daylight but not sun up, yet. I've been hearing the dogs, too.

Oh, who is that who just came back to the nest? i am not familiar enough with them to be able to tell the difference, yet.

[Bea]

10:00
Sulev got up and took off - eggs alone