Estonian Eagle Owl Nest 2022, 2023, 2024

[Askja]

The afternoon is spent mostly dozing, even though the forest is very noisy with other birds; crows seem to be particularly quarrelsome today.

16:28 she works long and hard on something at the bottom of the nest


18:27 the male has not been seen so far.
18:29 the male is hooting, she answers from the nest.
18:56 he calls again...
18:58 ...and she gets up and leaves the nest. Both can be heard.
19:00 she returns to nest while he is still hooting outside
19:52 the female gets up and flies away; the male can be heard outside.
20:03 she's back; I hope she has had a nice dinner.

[Askja]

20:16 camera switches to night mode
21:39 the male approaches, hooting
21:40 she gets up and leaves the nest. Both can be heard outside.
21:41 shooting again! The owls stop "talking".
21:55 the female is back and settles down on her eggs again.

20:16 the female looks directly into the lens - I wonder if the cam makes a sound when it switches to night mode

[Askja]

29.03.2023

00:12 brief uh-hoo, but no reaction from Mrs. B.
01:10 she gets up and flies out for a meeting with the male. They both can be heard.
01.19 the female returns to the nest.
03:28 again the female gets up and flies out. I do not hear any owl sounds. The two eggs are visible.
03:38 now the male calls briefly.
03:42 the female returns to the nest and settles on the eggs.

[Liz01]

good Morning all

Askja, thank you very much for reporting sleep well!

yesterday! crows are near and harassing her. Look at her eyes!


a crow flew past near the nest

[Liz01]

5:49 she stands up
5:50 she flew away .. he is hooting, she is hooting too. Still two eggs


5:53 it sounds like a mating song by the male...
5:54 she is chirping

5:56:19 she came back to the nest

6:00 camera went offline

[Liz01]

6:03 camera is back .. there are a few breaks
6:20 she is preening herself
6:31 is rolling her eggs

6:39 she is looking around

[Liz01]

6:54 crows are calling nearby
7:12 preening time..
7:16 she is rolling the eggs

7:43
and the pesky crows are back
7:44 she is watching them
Breeding is a tiring and boring business. So she has entertainment, even if the neighbors are not nice

8:00


8:03 she starts preening herself
swans are singing and flying past


8:05 egg rolling

[Liz01]

8:08 she takes a nap


8:12 egg rolling

9:03 another egg rolling

[Liz01]

9:41 Male starts hooting
9:42:52 a kind of woodpecker is calling (middle spotted? )
9:43:40 is calling again.. I'm not sure about a woodpecker. these are strange calls

it is the middle spotted woodpecker
https://xeno-canto.org/785536

9:44 still hooting
9:46 she is rolling her eggs

[Liz01]

11:19:40 male is hooting
11:20:20 now he sounds close tho the nest. Female looks to the branches on the right. He is making other noises too.
11:22 now he sounds far away

BTW: I keep hearing these noises.. maybe it means he has food. Somewhere stashed for the female? this is absolute speculation. I'm going to listen to voices in Xeno Canto Owl. maybe I can find an explanation.

12:26 the middle spotted woodpecker is calling. He sounds near..
Raven are calling and flew past. Female is watching him /her

12:59 female is resting- sleeping

[Liz01]

13:00:38 Female starts hooting.. back to sleep
13:08 a blackbird is nearby. Female is preening herself



13:09 The blackbirds are scolding and flying around.
13:10 One of them was on the right
13:11 one is on the right again.. She very upset .. Eagle Owl female is

[Liz01]

Blackbirds are mobbing the female






Mobbing calls are signals made by the mobbing species while harassing a predator. These differ from alarm calls, which allow con-specifics to escape from the predator.
Mobbing (animal behavior)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobbing_(animal_behavior)

13:39 the middle spotted woodpecker is calling every now ant then .

[Liz01]

13:44 they are talking to each other .. she doesn't talk as much as he does
13:45 crows are calling nearby

14:02 the stream stopped

[Askja]

Liz, I'm glad you are back , hope you had a safe journey!
About their communication noises: do you mean the low chok-chok-chock-chock, generally after the male hooting? Imho this comes from the female. I cannot hear anything else, but then, my earphones are broken, and I cannot turn up the speakers' volume too much, lest the neighbors think we have eagle owls around here .

[Liz01]

....About their communication noises: do you mean the low chok-chok-chock-chock, generally after the male hooting? Imho this comes from the female. ...

yes, i mean that noise. of course it can be that it comes from the female.

and I cannot turn up the speakers' volume too much, lest the neighbors think we have eagle owls around here ...

BTW: thanks, the journey was as expected.
Except for the fact that I'm not used to getting up in the middle of the night. As a result, I got my index finger caught in the bedroom door. It was bleeding profusely. Lucky! If it doesn't bleed, it hurts for hours. so the pain was brief but intense

[Liz01]

16:19 the stream is still buffering

[Askja]

"...About their communication noises:... "
Here at 13:44:30ff, between his first uh-hoo and her reply: one can hear and see her making the sounds. At other occasions, one can barely hear the "chock-ing" but you can see her tail or body twitching in the same rhythm.

Oh... I can empathize with you, hope it gets better soon, though it takes a long time to heal completely! It happened to me in Romania in a fully packed old bus, when somebody banged the door shut, with my thumb still in the door frame. I got it ointed (with a historical mixture) and bandaged in a still older monastery nearby.

[Liz01]

20:33 the stream is back. It's already dark

20:37 male is on the nest tree he has brought a prey for his Lady




20:37 she flew behind the nest


Askja, you're right! she is making this "noise"

[Liz01]

I did a video
Prey for the female


20:42 she is rolling the eggs

20:44 stunning eyes

[Askja]

All!

30.03.2023

I was going to write " it has been an uneventful night so far..." BUT, where does the 3rd egg come from - or rather, when has it been laid? I have gone backward and foreward through the video, but have not found a likely moment. Nor has anyone else mentioned having seen it, e.g. in YT. Now, if I haven't missed it myself (which of course would have been possible), it could have been laid during one of the stream outages; the longest was yesterday from 14:02 to 20:34.

01:40 the male can be heard hooting in the distance.
01:41 the female gets up and flies away, both are heard nearby.

- This leaves us with a good view of the nest and 3 Eggs! -


01:45 the female returns to the nest
02:01 a male tawny owl is hooting