Text and photos  Marko Mägi, marko.magi@ut.ee

Translation Liis

Great tit eggs  

Most tits have already finished their egg-laying. The females sit in the nests, adjust the eggs every now and then and wait for the chicks to hatch. There is not long time left until the first tit chicks appear. On observing the incubation in the nest camera it is possible to see how active a process it is – it is not just sitting in one place but an active ”trampling” procedure which the egg shells bravely have to withstand..

Text  Margus Ots, coordinator of Great Tit Year

Translation Liis

Looking at an incubating great tit in the webcam the question might come up – how can it incubate the eggs through the fluffy plumage? Feathers have a very poor heat transmission capacity after all. To make the body heat reach to the eggs the feathers of the female great tit on the abdomen drop off, and a skin area without plumage is created – the brood patch.  So during the brooding period the eggs come into contact with the skin of the abdomen  that is rich in blood vessels and the heat  needed for the development of the chicks reaches the eggs.

Text  Margus Ots, coordinator of Great Tit Year

Translation Liis

In all three nests with cameras the great tits have finally started laying eggs. In nest box no 1 there were at least 8 eggs already on Sunday, in nest box 2 five eggs and in nest box nr 3 the first egg had been laid:

Video and trail camera records Ahto Täpsi

Translation Liis

Brown bear   Pruunkaru       Ursus arctos

At Alutaguse some of the installations have to be replaced but within short we will probably have the camera in working order. The interesting periods of bear life begin in May, but more details about that when the webcam has started working.

Photos Arne Ader

Translation Liis

Maple flowering

Maple; Norway maple    Harilik vaher        Acer platanoides

The flowering start of maples marks the beginning of proper phenological spring.

A maple in full flower – it is a real sight. On warm and sunny spring days we hear the buzz of bees and other insects from the trees who, oblivious of themselves, gather nectar as well as the greenish pollen necessary for the activities of the organism.