Ideas from the Front Page

[Liis]

New webcam? See http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/19246 on front page.

Red deer were reintroduced in Estonia at the end of the 19th century, after having been absent since the end of the 10th century.

[Liis]

New webcam? See http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/19246 on front page.

Red deer were reintroduced in Estonia at the end of the 19th century, after having been absent since the end of the 10th century.

PS. The webcam is open, see links from LK front page http://www.looduskalender.ee/node/19248 or go to http://pontu.eenet.ee/player/hirv.html

[Katinka]

Referring to the latest LK mainpage article - translated into EN/D: on March 10 there was another evening in the Tallinn National Library, and now the stream from (Tiit) ITRotid:
http://www.looduseomnibuss.ee/content/j ... -%C3%B5htu

SORRY, doesn't work so early now after the event...but later...

[Liis]

Bird-watching day in Estonian cities

Quick translation, sorry about any mistakes.
But it is such a fun idea. Watch out for the results!
And what would the species list be like if Estonians living outside Estonia would take part? The Exile League ...

EDIT: preliminary results HERE

Alternative name for dunnock, illustrating the results report: hedge accentor* (no, not a Google Translate idea)

*Name corrected, (won't repeat & spread the mistaken spelling ). Has nothing to do with accents, but with Latin "cantor", singer, from their sweet song ...
Well, the little sweet-singing bird is a "järnsparv", iron sparrow, in Swedish.

[Liis]

The Overall.ee nature quiz on front page
is in Estonian. Still, it is quite simple - each query shows a species and you have 3 alternatives for the name. The last queries are videos/audios but on same basis.

Enjoyable Easter language-and-nature brainstorming!

2 tips:
For Estonian to Latin plant names http://www.ut.ee/taimenimed/
For Estonian to Latin and English bird names http://www.eoy.ee/en/node/273

[Liis]

The title of the front page story about crow family life
Vares vaga linnukene really means "Crow, meek little bird ..."
Not very precise description of a crow's character?
But it is the first line of an Estonian folk song
Presented by a folk music ensemble HERE, a 1930 sextet and orchestra version HERE, and finally, text HERE

[Liis]

Countries, plants, names

Kristel Vilbaste has written about growing cranberries in your own garden, the real European cranberries. I would love to try, a large pot with a dense cranberry clump with berries must be really beautiful.
Curiously enough, two of the many common names for the Guelder rose are highbush cranberry and European cranberry bush. Whereas cranberries are very acid-tasting, very low-growing with creeping vines, and considered very beneficial for your health to eat, the berries of the Guelder rose are insipid at best, looked on with some suspicion of being toxic, growing in clusters on a proper shrub, and in places where you would never see a real cranberry plant.

So why the name? Not even the red colours of the berries are the same. A mystery.
More about the cranberry http://www.luontoportti.com/suomi/en/ku ... /cranberry

Finnish Luontoportti / Naturegate is a wonderful source for information about the plants and some fauna in Finland. Excellent and fun too for comparative linguistic studies - entries are almost always in Finnish - English - German, often French, Swedish, Spanish in addition.
With very expert-level botanical information as well as tales and lore about the plants.

[Liis]

LK Main page / front page articles:
Badger's castle - the Estonian title hints at a well-known text about a badger whose house was taken over by raccoon dogs, text in Estonian HERE, song HERE


Migrating butterflies and the admirable red admiral - or amiral?
Looduskalender wrote about the spelling of the title of the chief of fleets, admiral or amiral? – HERE. According to some etymological sources,”amiral” – as written for instance in Estonian - is actually closer to the word’s Arabic origins amîr al-mâ, amîr al-bahr than ”admiral”; the latter has been influenced by admire, admirable, with Latin roots and quite different meaning.

[Liis]

Family feuds and wars not only in Game of thrones ...

Read about the nice, furry, kindly bumblebees fighting for genetic power and prevalence.
But how do they recognize the 25, 50, 75% degrees of genetic kinship?

[macdoum]

Family feuds and wars not only in Game of thrones ...

Read about the nice, furry, kindly bumblebees fighting for genetic power and prevalence.
But how do they recognize the 25, 50, 75% degrees of genetic kinship?

Liis

But how do they recognize the 25, 50, 75% degrees of genetic kinship?

thats another point for study.!
What an interesting article and I always thought that the insect world was an example for us humans. What an eyeopener.

[Liis]

The Latvian WTEs - there is a promise to install a camera at an Estonian nest next year again, and hopefully at a nest used by the eagles.

The trifid bur-marigold - anyone who has read The day of the triffids or seen the film/s?
Wikipedia: "a post-apocalyptic novel about a plague of blindness which befalls the entire world"; "Triffid tall, venomous carnivorous plants capable of locomotion and communication"

[Bea]

Thank you for the articles with stories about Alam-Pedja Nature Reserve, I am enjoying them very much and looking forward to the next ones.

Was in the happy position to visit it for the first time this summer - and it was not the last visit, for sure. It is an extraordinary landscape.

[Felis silvestris]

Bea, you spoke what I feel. If I close my eyes, I still can "hear" the wood on the Selli-Sillaotsa hiking trail and have to laugh about the nosy wagtail at the bird watching tower.

[Liis]

See and hear about what and whom you watch in the Wild Boar / Forest webcam

Direct transmission from the feeding ground presented by Looduskalender's Gennadi Skromnov at the Animal of the Year announcement on Monday Dec 15th

Seals, music and more at the Nature Night in the Estonian National Library, beginning 18.00 (Tallinn time)
Webcam at the National Library http://www.looduseomnibuss.ee/otse
Looduskalender article http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/21893 (English)

EDIT: there will probably be a video too at Looduse Omnibuss after the event,

[Fleur]

I hope I am on time after work, cooking and dinner....

[Bea]

Many thanks to Helgi Velja and Pille Tammur for this interesting interview, giving us insight about actual and past life at Jõesaare farm at Alam-Pedja.

Happy New Year for you both!

[Felis silvestris]

See and hear about what and whom you watch in the Wild Boar / Forest webcam

Direct transmission from the feeding ground presented by Looduskalender's Gennadi Skromnov at the Animal of the Year announcement on Monday Dec 15th

Seals, music and more at the Nature Night in the Estonian National Library, beginning 18.00 (Tallinn time)
Webcam at the National Library http://www.looduseomnibuss.ee/otse
Looduskalender article http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/21893 (English)

EDIT: there will probably be a video too at Looduse Omnibuss after the event,

The video can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9HJJQmy9VE

[Liis]

10 minutes about buzzards in Estonian TV's Osoon, first sent on Monday May 4th:
GPS buzzard Villu who is back from his winter in Munich and brief glimpses from Looduskalender's webcam nests.
The sequence about Villu shows how a path camera is placed in a tree overlooking his nest.

http://etv.err.ee/v/elusaated/osoon/saa ... df6ccce95d

[Liis]

http://uudised.err.ee/v/eesti/2d812a32- ... 8ab3e9771d on May 13th.
About the buzzard cameras, in ETV's news report. Mari & Mihkel's cam has been watched 290 000 times since the start.
Urmas Sellis makes brief appearance, says that a honey buzzard camera has been set up too and is waiting for the honey buzzards to arrive back home.

[Liis]

The admirable admiral butterfly and its name has been discussed earlier, more precisely, the spelling: admiral or amiral?
Admiral in English, of course. But it turns out that this title, very naval and sea-going, has in fact originated from Arabian "amîr al-mâ", "amîr al-bahr" - commander of the sea. So the languages who spell it amiral, minus the "d", are in fact closer to the origins.

The butterfly and its name? A LONG and detailed discussion, in French,
HERE
Evidently first named Le Vulcain, as it is called in French, in 1762.