Black Stork Nest 3 (Kergu) 2023

[Francesca_V]

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16:26 "should i stay or should I go?"



He continues calling from a place in the lower left of the camera.
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[Francesca_V]

If Kergu doesn’t end up attracting a mate this year, does that mean he’s likely to abandon this nest, or will he still probably stay in Estonia for the duration until migration time?

Jshallri, that's an interesting question.

From what we know of Nurme who did not have a mate last year, he stayed in Estonia and migrated with the other black storks.
Thus I would think Kergu would do the same ... taking care for the nest - HIS nest - and will migrate in autumn.

[Francesca_V]

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16:36 Kergu arrives from the other side, shakes his plumage, stays a few minutes and disappears.


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[Francesca_V]

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He can be heart from a little distance. A little later a black stork flying in the background can be seen. Maybe it is even Kergu who has flown a loop.




Night vision

[Francesca_V]

May 23

9:55 Kergu arrvives!
He greets, sings, checks the twigs of the edge of the nest, rests, preens himself, scratches himself, sings again, rests ...





... and ist now, at 13:30 still there. It is very windy.

[Francesca_V]

14:31 Kergu leaves

16.09 He is back ... With the lady!!!
He sings exitedly, and she sits in "her" privat place left of the camera.
He shows how comfy the nest is

16:15 she makes an attempt to go into the nest!
But she is back on her branch.
He sits down an Watchers her intensively

Again a nice courtship song ... And Kergu is sitting down.

She leaves, Kergu too.




She stretches her wings. "Hey guy, move a little to the side for me"

[Francesca_V]

My WiFi crashed.
back.

SHE arrived a little later than Kergu, so it looks as if he has brought her from "somewhere". She sat down on a branch - HER branch, and she has been relaxing there for a while and preening, but as soon as Kergu moved, she startled and practically wince.

However, she stayed there and watched Kergu out of the corner of her eye.

HE demonstrated all his storkish skills: he showed how well he kept the nest in good shape by poking around in the moss and the large twigs in the edge of the nest, showed his beautiful white feathers, he sang and advertised ... but unfortunately he wanted too much too soon - by approaching her she may have felt chased - like Karl in Kaia's first year when Karl wanted to mate with her which she thought was VERY stupid.

That seems to me to be the case here too. She is probably still a very young female and is slowly moving towards Kergu and being a "woman".

(oh dear ....)


If she will come more often we could give her a nice estonian female name ... maybe "Kerti" .


PS --- maybe my thought have to be rethought. later ...

1. Kergu presenting himself or showing that he is the owner of the nest



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[brofasa]

Kergu lunged at her at 16:31:31.

I wonder why.
It was clearly a female, since he did all the courtship moves a male stork does while trying to woo a lady. He sang, he sat down, he stood in the regular courtship/singing posture. He was not defending. She did not sing. In fact, he invited her to the nest. So, definitely a female.
Yet, once he saw no response from her, he lunged at her.
And at the end, he flew at her with beak clattering, clearly chasing her off.

I wonder... Do male black storks chase off females that show no interest in them? To make room for another potential female later?

After all, the presence of a female (even if not interested) around a territory would probably scare off potentially interested females, right?
I have seen courting male aggression towards a female only once so far when Skierka visited Tytan's nest in Poland last year. Although she did land in the nest and greeted him, she just watched him as he sang on and courted her, with no response from her. She clearly wasn't interested in him. In the end, Tytan pecked at her to chase her from the nest.

A very interesting behavior indeed but a logical one.

If she is not interested, then she is a stranger that needs to be chased off to not deplete food sources meant for his mate and chicks as well.

[Francesca_V]

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2. The strange BS trying to visit Kergu's nest





I'm sorry, Brofasa, that I couldn't respond to your post until now.

From the photos it seems to me that the young lady is quite interested in getting into the nest, but her foot gets caught on one of the branches of the nest, she gets frightened and therefore quickly flies away again.
I'm just wondering about Kergu. Shouldn't he/shouldn't he have stood up and given her some space? Hm. I guess I still don't understand enough "storkish".
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[Francesca_V]

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3. Kergu chasing after the strange BS




Kergu is always busy with his courtship chanting, including here just before chasing the young lady. In my opinion, it looks quite interesting. Still, I don't really understand what his intention is.
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[Francesca_V]

May 24

The nest has a wonderful shadow. Kergu's Morning:

Scratching


Resting


Pooping

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[Francesca_V]

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Poking


Preening


Leaving

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[Francesca_V]

Kergu's afternoon:

Greeting


Resting


Singing - anybody there?


Leaving

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[Francesca_V]

May 25

So far only the beautiful nest in the great treetop environment can be seen, but there is no trace of Kergu.


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[Francesca_V]

15:59 Kergu is there!
He greets and rests. It's windy, thunder can be heard.


Kergu preens himself


and rests a little.


17:25 byebye! Kergu leaves.

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[brofasa]

-snip-
I'm sorry, Brofasa, that I couldn't respond to your post until now.

From the photos it seems to me that the young lady is quite interested in getting into the nest, but her foot gets caught on one of the branches of the nest, she gets frightened and therefore quickly flies away again.
I'm just wondering about Kergu. Shouldn't he/shouldn't he have stood up and given her some space? Hm. I guess I still don't understand enough "storkish".

There was enough spot for her. She just kept landing on the very edge, which was not as stable. It gave way under her weight. If she tried just a step more inside, she would have been able to stand on a solid edge.
And although she tried to land on the nest, she did not try hard enough. How long was she at the nest? 40 minutes? Only 2 tries. Which Kergu probably understood as her not being interested in him. Hence why he chased her off in the end.

[Francesca_V]

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The empty nest in the evening sun.



22:42 Night vision

[Francesca_V]

May 26


10:51 Kergu is there!
After resting he does some housework. And rests again.
It is very windy today.




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[Francesca_V]

singing - anybody there?


shaking


13:22 byebye!

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[Francesca_V]

Kergu's afternoon visit




the glowing beak!

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