Estonian Eagle Owl Nest 2022, 2023, 2024

[Liz01]

17:43 nice wingercises by #3
warm up & stretch




and then

[Liz01]

17:45 Owlet (#3?) is trying to swallow a whole bird (headless)
17:47 Owlet is still busy with the crow chick? Crows are calling


17:50 camera is buffering ans stops ..no the same game as often- on -off-on-off

18:23 one of the owlets is eating. I think it is #1

I will take a break now.. till tomorrow

[Askja]

Good evening All! Liz, Braien, thank you!

18:30 two owlets are sleeping and #1 is nibbling the last meat off a carcass.

18:36 What a beautiful lush green forest! #1 seems to appreciate it ;)


19:17 all three owlets are now flat - sleeping.

19:25 the owlets are waking up. Here #2 stretching his wings.


20:21 That horrible hoarse growling can be heard again in the forest. Yes, it could be a raccoon-dog (thanks, Liz), fighting with another. I've heard it a few years ago on the badger cam.
20:50 Quiet evening mood in the nest. The owlets are sitting together doing nothing in particular.

[Askja]

21:22 Little #3 lying on his belly stretches out his legs in a dream - that looks too funny!


22:20 "Isn't the food service a bit late today?" #1 is hissing.

[Askja]

22:29 Hanna arrives with a small prey - #2 is in the right place at the right time!
22:30 Hanna flies away.

22:29


22:29 Hungry #3 is hissing and begging at Hanna. #1 standing behind is hungry. too...

[Askja]

22:39 In search of food #1 walks into the pantry and, oh surprise! finds a hidden treasure. He hauls out a large prey - a bird with white belly and dark upper side - and drags it to the center of the nest. Is that the prey "Hanna" put into the pantry last night?


22:49 #1 nearly tumbled over when he tried to put one foot on the prey to find a beginning. Then he had to eat a bunch of feathers first which he wasn't happy with. He moved his beak to another place and finally got started.


22:53 night view comes on.

23:21 Happy #1 has just swallowed the last bite of his dinner, the prey lies still before him. Obviously the other two are not as happy. I think it is #3 still hissing occasionally.

[Askja]

30.05.2023

01:10 since about midnight the owlets have been mainly sleeping. #1 and #2 have not tried to feed on the newly found prey. No parent has been in (this all with the caveat of stream breaks).

01:11 Hugo arrives with a prey! #1 gets it and wanders to the back with it. #2 clacks his beak and #3 hisses. The prey has furry or feathery legs but also seems to have wings - an owl perhaps?

01:11 The prey looks very feathery, or it has long fur... (inset from another image). Also, Hugo slipped again badly on the wooden board of the nest box. The surface is too narrow fr his claws to take hold immediately. Probably more so because he can not see well below himself with the prey dangling in his beak.


01:11 #1 in the foreground has the prey. #2 wants a prey from Hugo, too, #3 stands behind and has had no chance of getting near a prey at all.


01:50


02:51 #1 is pulling and eating on something lying in the foreground; not sure if that is the new prey Hugo brought or something old.
03:00 The two younger owlets are trying to pick some meat off the older prey in the foreground.
03:01 Hanna arrives with a smaller black prey, perhaps a young corvid. I think it was #2 who took it, but he laid it down immediately and started begging. Then Hanna grabs the older prey in the foreground. It is huge and heavy; must have been a waterfowl? from earlier. She takes it to the back panel and starts tearing at it. I see nobody eating, either she plucks just feathers or she opens the body up for the owlets.
03:02 now she is feeding #3
03:07 feeding is finished. She has left some pieces lying about, #2 is eating from them. #1 is eating his earlier prey. All are happy

Good night!
03:10

[Liz01]

good Morning everyone Askja, thanks

Askja, the big prey is still the mallard. brought by Hugo? the night before. you've documented it, but you could not see the prey .

Ūpēni un vecie ūpji zemes ligzdā -I & II/ Parents and owlets in a burrow on the ground
LOB / BirdLife Latvija -





the owlets had a very good day of feedings and an equally good night.

5:20 the camera switches into daylight


6:55 crows are calling all time, since I opened the cam.

[Liz01]

6:56 Hanna comes home. what a way to defend yourself. I loved it already on Bo and Bubo's nest. They get huge when they spread their wings. loud beak clacking by the owlet.

[Liz01]

7:01 Hanna took a half eaten bird and is eating
#3 went next to Hanna and is fed




7:04 crows are still near and are calling.
7:06 #3 is hissing and eating. #1 & #2 are not hungry

[Liz01]

7:07


7:11 feeding is over. Crows are still calling . No wonder, considering how dangerous the eagle owl is to them
7:12 feeding continues Still only #3 is hungry

7:16 Feeding is over, Hanna put the leftover in her pantry
a older one is self feeding, that was a bunch feathers

[Liz01]

7:17 Hanna sees someone on the right. she suddenly flew away. Maybe she saw Hugo with prey?







7:24 a golden oriole is singing
7:32 crows are still around.
7:51 two are active, one is sleeping

7:55 the stream is buffering
8:25 stream is still off

[Liz01]

8:31 stream is back.. crows are still there. Crows are on the nest tree


8:37 a crow pooped from above
8:37:53 again

8:42


8:47


8:51 crows are gone

[Liz01]

8:52 owlets are preening themselves

9:15 owlet is big as an adult




9:43 now crows are around. all is quiet.

[Liz01]

11:11 big wings by #1




and growing tail feathers

[Liz01]

Amber eyes


12:32

[Liz01]

15:15 There are military exercises. This has been going on for quite a while. otherwise not much happens.

[Askja]

Good evening All! Liz, thank you again for pics and videos!

Parents and owlets in a burrow on the ground [youtube][/youtube]

Thank you for these videos! Where is it? It's very interesting to see how differently they live there. And the female did not mind at all that the male was there!

It will not be long now until we see our owlets branching, and I am already worried. One reads so often about owlets falling down, thereby getting injured or die. They can't get back up from below. If they survive unscathed, the parents will have to provide food on the ground. And what about the raccoon-dogs and such?

Our owlets are 35, 34 and 30 days old today. So, in a week's time, we might see our oldest walking on the big branches. I read that *fledging time* is related to the location of the nest - perhaps this would be true for *branching time* as well? The citation below concerns nests at cliffs but I think it might be similar for high trees:

"... if the young are able to leave the nest when 40 – 45 days old but still unable to fly, ‘fledging’ seems to be directly correlated with nest site morphology: the more the nest is on high and vertical cliffs (where fledging needs to be the first real flight), the later fledging takes place. [V. Penteriani et al. 2005]"

[Askja]

... that was a bunch feathers

Yes, they have learned to eat feathers against all disliking! Hanna has taught them this lesson again and again: "You. Have to. Eat. Feathers! They help protecting your inner stomach walls against spikey bones and also are the wrapping stuff to make little packages of the bones to spit out later, humans call them pellets."

[Askja]

16:52ff Hanna arrives on the upper big branch. She comes into the nest and immediately #3 is begging her for food. She finds a prey somewhere in the nest. Little cutie takes a place between Hanna's legs - not very comfortable for her to stand with legs wide apart - and little is being fed. ... (When the stream resumes #2 is being fed as well.)
16:57


17:07? Meanwhile, #1 occupies himself with a prey somewhat too large for him to swallow in one piece


17:09 feeding is finished; why does #2 clack his beak now? Ah, I see, because #3 didn't let him steal his last big bite.