Estonian White-tailed Sea Eagle Nest Camera 2023

[Susanne]

IceAge! Right, this is what I do all the time today.

15:55: E 340 on the nest:



Added at the end of the day: Interesting constellation. E 340 is in the nest, the strange male perches at the right, close to the stem, while the juvenile female is on the right branch. E 340 has to keep his eyes on two opponents. It is the young female that physically defends and attacks E 340, the strange male does not make the first or any move at that time - which I expected, I had reckoned with a noisy turn-around and then male vs. male. Nothing of the sort. - Was this a kind of strategy? "Let the girl do the move" - because a male usually does not fight with a female, so the risk of injury is minimized for the moment, and test E 340's standing?



15:56: pushed out by the young female! - This is crazy.

[Susanne]

Hoorray! Great defense by the resident couple!

15:59: strange male in the nest -> p-branch
16:01: E 340 pushes the stranger out of the nest. Young female flies off p-branch at 16:01/02.
Much calling.
16:05: Strange male again in the nest, and pushed out again - I guess by E 340 (it's usually male vs. male and female vs.female - when it's all about serious fighting.)
16:07: 'Smiley' jumps down into the nest bowl. Joined by the strange male.



E 340 joins her now:


In the following, the nest is defended vocally very often by E 340 and 'Smiley' . (16:10,16:12,16:13 ff., 16:14: duet, 16:16: duet etc.)

16:38: E 340 brings a bunch of new material.
16:45: Mating!

[Susanne]

16:58: Short duet. E 340 lies in the nest bowl . All settled and done for now, and as a far as I could see, no injuries

[BDrieliņi]

The fight for the nest

[Susanne]

Thank you BDrieliņi - I surely missed out something, so it's always good to have some video footage!

17:07: Another short duet ('Smiley' is on the p-branch, E 340 in the nest).
17:08: 'Smiley' leaves first, E 340 follows - they fly over the meadow straight towards the woods.

[IceAge]

Many thanks to you .

[IceAge]

March 21.

Good morning,

06:06


06:19
no stream

[Susanne]

Thank you IceAge!
Good morning everybody, cam is back since approx. 09:36 sth.

10:26: E 340 brings material.



10:29: ... and leaves.

[Susanne]

12:27 f./28: Agitated eagle calls, two voices - both male? (before: raven talking.)
12:57 f.: Agitated eagle calls, two voices.
13:01: Two WTEs land in the tree - 'Smiley' on the p-branch, E 340 on the right (out of sight). At
13:05:41 ff. I can hear his 'jingle bells' - he is scratching his head.
13:12: A male eagle calls - instantly answered by E 340.
13:14:10 ff.: 'Smiley' hops into the nest. Loud duet.
She is watching the sky, number 3 is still around.




13:16: E 340 scratches his head -tingeling.



13:27: E 340 flies off to the left.
13:30: E 340 is back with more hay, short greeting calls by 'Smiley'.


13:36: E 340 lies down in the nest bowl, 'Smiley' still is on guard.

[Susanne]

13:37: E 340 sings some notes - mating on the nest.



Not quite relaxed afterwards - watching, long necks.
Now, at 13:47 they have calmed down more - 'Smiley' is busy with preening and shows us her back.

13:48: Both leave and fly towards the woods.

[IceAge]

Susanne, many thanks to you .

13:35
So beautiful, the two of them.

[Susanne]

17:24: A WTE perches on the p-branch and then jumps into the nest. Could this be yesterday's male?
It definitely is a male - thin ankles.The tail is a little 'dusty' at the tips. Some very light grey hues on the beak.



His tailmarks:


I think we haven't seen this one yet ...hopefully he is just a floater passing by.
18:08 st.: A very spotty WTE perches next to him on the p-branch.



18:10: A 3rd WTE on a branch at the right. (must be 'Smiley')
18:11: Circles and back to the branch.
18:13: She complains. The guests are not impressed.
18:16: She continues to complain.

[Susanne]

18:17: E 340 arrives in the nest.


He is literally staring the strange male away.

18:17 sth.: The strange male flies away from the right branch.



E 340 perches next to the juvenile female on the p-branch - which she doesn't like at all, she 'whines', complains.
18:21:45: Young female has enough and leaves.
18:23: E 340 back in the nest.
18:24:28 ff.: E 340 off, circling around the area.
18:25:45: 'Smiley' jumps down to the p-branch, relaxing, preening at
18:33.
- These two guests were quite special. Hard to say if they were a newly bonded couple . There were no greeting calls - maybe just two that met by chance? And they were almost frozen when the resident couple was present. So that was an easy and rather quiet defense this evening.

18.48: 'Smiley' lies down in the nest bowl, digging and arranging material.



18:50:11. A WTE leaves the branch at the right and circles down at lower level to the left. (Should be E 340, since 'Smiley' was completely relaxed. Alas, I didn't notice when he perched on that side!)
18:53: E 340 is back with a big bunch of hay. Making bed at 18:54.
18:55: 'Smiley' ->p-branch, very small PS. Both leave at 18:56, 'Smiley' first, E 340 follows -> straight to the woods (position: 1 o' clock)

[Susanne]

18:53 pic.:

[IceAge]

17:24:
The tail is a little 'dusty' at the tips.

Susanne, wasn't he here last year too?

I found this photo by Liz01:

[Susanne]

Mar 22

Good morning Matsalu, tere hommikust kotkas!

Around 07:35, a WTE is on or above the cam branch (when did the WTE arrive? Has someone got a timestamp?)

07:40: E 340 arrives. He is not bothered at all about the someone in the upper branches, so this is 'Smiley'.



He digs in the nest bowl, lies down.
07:42: Someone jumps onto cam branch.07:42:50 ff.: 'Smiley' is cutting a branch.
07:43: Jumps into the nest with her branch.
Both are diligently digging, areating the bowl.



07:46: E 340 looks for more material and leaves down to the left.
07:51: E 340 is back with hay.
07:52: E 340 leaves.
This is what a "working-mom-to-be" looks like:



07:53: 'Smiley' leaves.

- Now this looks really promising!

[Susanne]

IceAge! Thank you for looking up the male's identity. He has been here before on March 15, 2023. Yana re, YT-chat, had the impression that this male had been on the nest in 2022. So I looked it up and Liz confirmed it. He then was mate to famous E 321.

<I will be away till noon, I guess. So please stay tuned!>

[sigge]

03:20 Tawny Owl playing
03:58 Ural Owl male playing for half an hour, 04:15 got company by the Tawny Owl.
No wind and no disturbing dogs, really nice
04:30 dogs..

[Susanne]

04:30 dogs..

Thank you Sigge for your observations! - Can we do anything to reconcile you with canis lupus domesticus?

13:45: The Black Woodpecker in action:calling and not really drumming, but working on something.

[Susanne]

YES!!!

13:53: 'Smiley' waits on the right branch, E 340 comes with fish , she begs, jumps into the nest - and he let's her take the fish just like that.
He will try to get a bite or two, but she seems to have the main portion.



I was really waiting for that - the sharing of food. How would they do it?
14:01: 'Smiley' has eaten up every bit, cleans her beak at a stem, while E 340 lies in the nest bowl.
She then perches on the p-branch which will be used as M-branch:
14:04: Mating.