Looduskalender

Spot is sitting tired, heavily breathing.

Me too saw the last flying execise of Spot. Poor Eha
Oliv, no, no, Spot was not attacking. The nest is just too little for Spot.

The main actor Spot was resting at 20:44



At 21:00 Spot got an idea:

Renandeli, it was just the moment I was scared aboute.
You must be a person whit a great humour. You show us always pic of funny things. Thanks for that!

oliv wrote:Renandeli, it was just the moment I was scared aboute.
You must be a person whit a great humour. You show us always pic of funny things. Thanks for that!

You are welcome, oliv. Spot and Eha are fascinating. I checked one more time the pictures in my folder. It seems that poor Spot regretted for flying towards her mom. Spot even flied backwards!

I think in one picture Eha seems a bit surprised for her chick's fast development.

oliv wrote:Renandeli, it was just the moment I was scared aboute.
You must be a person whit a great humour. You show us always pic of funny things. Thanks for that!

You are welcome, oliv. Spot and Eha are fascinating. I checked one more time the pictures in my folder. It seems that poor Spot regretted for flying towards her mom. Spot even flied backwards!

I think in one picture Eha seems a bit surprised for her chick's fast development.

- Is that there my child!

Both are tired at 21:06, but Eha is not so tired that she could not preen Spot, care her/him.. Spotti's head is all down..



21:07



21:10

Preening. Eha propably 'injoys' of caring Spot..

21:13



21:15



21:17

Poor Eha..

Oh, no, it's not time to sleep yet..for Eha



- Dear, you must be very tired. Let mom looks here a little

Eha doesn't seem to spend nearly as much time on her own preening. (But back in the days before Spot she did do a lot of preening.)

Some pics I forgot to submit earlier:

- Mom, look..



- it is nice to sit on the tail and..

17:44



17:48




- Spotti, dear, listen to mom. Please, mom has to teach you not to flap adults against face. It is not so nice. But you will learn it. Don't mind, dear. Just take a little snap now, Spotti.

At 22:45

thank you renandeli for all these pictures and the story!
Spot doing flying exercises already! i missed all that, been so busy ,but now i got the idea whats going on

23.44. I am very surprised every time I tryed to look at the cam at the evening.It is ALL BLACK. Here it sun shining at that time.
What I am wondering is what the (lovely) bandingman is telling us aboute the insects. I am surprised if it is only ordinary flys. Eha and Spot have been very
embarassed of tem, and ordinary flyes is not dangeus.

Renandeli, your pictures are marvellous Thank you.
I am sure Joosep(the quote;' lovely birdringer man.'.) will love your pics as he never
got a chance to take such detailed ones. Especially of the feather patterns.

July 15

4:30, Eha and Spot are awake. Spot is stretching her wings.
4:38, Eha flew away! Spot alone!

7:12
Spot and Eha are sharing food. Looks like it is something rather large. I think Eha is holding it down and that Spot is doing some of her own ripping and tearing. Also looks like the food is all gone before the minute is over. They were eating when I first opened the cam so I do not know when they started.

7:34

Spot looks very serious. Parent is on branch to the left.

Eha went off for a while and returned at 08:01 with some prey (a mole?). Also, Eha has some loose feathers on her head. She waited for Spot to feed herself, but when that did not happen, she fed herself and Spot. Spot was a greedy guts and tried to swallow a huge piece of it, whole ,,, but had some trouble ;/

08:15 Eha "purrs" loudly and Koit arrives - Spot swallows the prey

Koit alert!


Koit's beak and prey can be seen in upper left corner (what is that?)


parents make sure Baby is fed

Ringing Spot:
Here is a fairly complete translated transcript from Joosep’s comments in Estonian when he was ringing Spot, Looduskalender's video [url=mms://video.eenet.ee/2009/kk2009-07-12.asf]link here[/url] and main page article here. (in a few places sound in the video transmission was not quite clear). It is split up in 5-minute sequences, video running time, to make it a little bit easier to follow. If I have missed or misunderstood anything, please do correct! JT=Joosep Tuvi

0-5 mins
JT:Hello, kid [actually Joosep says “Hello, boy”! ]

JT: Let's get this over you ... [covers Spot with old jacket] ... more peaceful for you this way

JT: Rings: On the right leg goes an Estonian common ring, from Matsalu, and for Spot it is number A7503. - So on right leg is aluminium ring 7503
[Matsalu: bird ringing centre and National park, a wonderful wetland bird habitat in western Estonia].

5-10 mins
JT: There is an adult bird calling … it is observing us. Probably the female

JT: Left leg - since 3 years back we also put white plastic rings on spotted eagles, the lettering is easier to read on photos from a distance, and so the individual bird can be easier identified
For Spot I have chosen the letters JS (“jot spot”); the J goes next to the foot, ring is read from bottom upwards. [J - Joosep ] - Now then, Spot has rings on both legs.

JT: Earlier a lot of measurements and other characteristics were noted, to determine if the bird was pure lesser spotted eagle or a hybrid with greater spotted eagle. Today it is done genetically by DNA. So I will only take a few measurements, wing length … Spot’s wing length at the moment is 310 mm … 310 mm. Good size.
JT: Telling from the external characteristics if the bird is male or female is much more difficult for juvenile spotted eagles than for WTEs. We will have to wait for the genetic test results, then we will know for sure if Spot is male or female.
Then tail length … 150 mm

JT: Some photos then, I will photograph the wings and back of neck, today this is instead of long written descriptions …There are rather few of the white dot markings on the wing

JT: Then a photo of the back of the neck. The back of the neck is characteristic for lesser spotted eagles, the young birds have light brown feathers … The feathers at the back of Spot’s head are pale brown .

10-15 mins
JT: Photos of the wing undersides too. [Holding out wing ] The contrast is there, typically lesser spotted eagle

JT: Earlier a great number of details were noted, from those it was decided if the individual was a pure lesser spotted eagle or a hybrid between greater and lesser spotted eagle …
OK, better get it down in the notebook

JT: Then finally Spot must be weighed too … That is a little bit trickier …
I will hold the bag [red cloth shopping bag] this way then … so there … no webcam advertisement for any companies …
JT: These spotted eagles – you have to have a grip on their legs … they are much more aggressive than for instance ospreys or WTEs; that way they are more like golden eagles … of course golden eagles are much bigger

JT: OK, 1 kilo 350 grams … 1 350 grams then

15-20 mins
JT: Before I leave, I will collect some adult bird feathers, this too is for genetic tests. Adult bird feathers are collected from all eagle nests in Estonia . [looking in the nest, lifting some twigs and green sprigs]
JT: There is no fresh prey here , a lot of green twigs have been brought in … Spot seems to have eaten it all … Adult bird feathers then … And then we will take some feathers from Spot too
The feathers are collected from the back … a small head feather here . 3 feathers – I’ll put them into a plastic bag. - In autumn tests will be made on the feathers, the results will go into the [eagle] database …
JT: If I let Spot loose now, he will start quarrelling with me, now he is much braver than before …
20+ mins.
JT: OK, some more photos then. … A photo with the rings visible too…

JT: Just now there are machine (trimmer?) sounds, people have called about it, that trees are being felled; but the sounds seem to come from half a kilometre away or so

JT: Right - we will see when your mum dares come back to the nest …
So, grow up well!