April 2016

Video recorded by  Urmas Lett, www.eenet.ee

Image of newly arrived storks captured by  Olga, LK forum April 5th
Translation Liis

Black stork    Must-toonekurg       Ciconia nigra

The camera was installed on the Karula lands on April 4th. This nest was discovered only last year. Favourable southerly winds brought the black storks there the next day. Things have developed at lightning speed. The forum members made a quick round of name-giving: the female is called Kati and the male, Karl.

Images from webcam captured by Fleur, LK forum

Translation Liis

The seal beach has become empty, new inhabitants take over the space

Oystercatcher    Merisk   Haematopus ostralegus

The oystercatcher flocks have arrived. The birds, of both sexes, have a black-and-white plumage, with a long, straight and red beak. The eyes too are red, in addition ringed in orange and the legs pale red, as if bleached in the sea water.

Video recorded by  Urmas Lett, www.eenet.ee

Translation Liis

Black stork    Must-toonekurg        Ciconia nigra

A little before sunrise at the nest of the Latvian black storks. Total romance – first egg in the nest, birds singing all around, proud adults…

Text and images Aare Lindt, www.loodusmuuseum.ee

Translation Liis

Rannoch sprawler   Kedriköölane   Brachionycha nubeculosa

The Rannoch sprawler is a sturdy, hairy moth. Thanks to the heat-retaining fur coat it manages to fly on quite cool spring nights. When the temperature falls below 0⁰C, however, it looks for a sheltered spot and hunches in hiding. In an ordinary spring it makes its flights already before the end of April.

The Rannoch sprawler is common in all Estonia, inhabiting city parks and gardens.

Text and photos  Aare Lindt, www.loodusmuuseum.ee

Translation Liis

Yellow horned moth   Kevad-udeselg          Achlya flavicornis

The yellow horned moth is one of the commonest moths in April and they cam be encountered everywhere in Estonia.

By vibrating its wings in a cold spring night the moth boosts its body temperature and is able to fly even at 0 ⁰C.

Image from webcam captured by  Maggy, LK forum

Photo Veljo Runnel, https://runnel.smugmug.com/

Translation Liis

What little black pieces of rubbish are lying around on the nest bottom?

Tawny owl     Kodukakk        Strix aluco

Male Klaus brings Klaara 5-6 little rodents that he has caught during the evening and night. Klaara hears Klaus’ arrival from far away and the conversation of the tawny owl pair on passing the prey sounds quite loudly. What would the talk be about translated into human language – here we are all free to imagine ...

Image from web camera captured by  Lussi, LK forum

Translation Liis

Buzzard; Common buzzard     Hiireviu     Buteo buteo

On Saturday evening female Mari laid her second egg. Reminder: the first egg was laid three days ago, on April 6th.

Video recorded by  Urmas Lett, www.eenet.ee

Translation Liis

White-tailed eagle, Sea eagle       Merikotkas      Haliaeëtus albicilla

For recapitulation, WTE pair  Anna and Uku had their first egg on Women’s day, the second on March 11 and the third on March 14th. Incubation time for the large and powerful birds is calculated to be 38 days, thus we may see WTE chicks hatching already this week.

Video recorded by  Urmas Lett, www.eenet.ee

Photo Arne Ader

Translation Liis

Goshawk nest in Riga city

Goshawk, Northern goshawk    Kanakull     Accipiter gentilis

Goshawk numbers have declined significantly as compared to a couple of decades ago. This year nesters are less than half a thousand pairs. Reasons differ of course but goshawks do not tolerate intensive forest managing, their habitats have always been held to be the oldest and largest mixed forest areas. In recent years, a few individuals have been active in cities, even  Tallinn. Our “birds of prey men” have promised to write about this soon.

Photo Arne Ader

Translation Liis

White stork building nest

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It would be very interesting to know what the white storks do whose nests on the power lines have been demolished?

We often go by train in the  Rapla direction and it is always nice to see the stork nests along the railway but last week all nests on top of the electricity poles were gone (destroyed). How will the storks behave now: do they build a new nest in the same place or do they leave for another place altogether?

I think many of us are interested in the fate of the storks

Video recorded by Urmas Lett, www.eenet.ee

Webcam images captured by  Liz, LK forum
Translation Liis

Buzzard pair admiring the little miracle on the bottom of the nest

Common buzzard     Hiireviu      Buteo buteo

If the egg hadn’t been visible we wouldn’t have dared to say anything; even for female buzzard Mari it was quite time-consuming to ”fish” for it on the nest bottom.

Photo Arne Ader

Translation  Liis

Mew gulls before mating

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The mating of birds is an intricate process and it may quite often fail too.

The reasons can differ because birds must read each other’s wishes in the eyes or conclude them from behaviour. So a lack of understanding may occur between the sexes and in some cases a female who is irritated by the behaviour of her mate may even become aggressive. In some species the male tries to attain consent for the mating by bringing gifts but as we all have noticed, the birds don’t touch each other before the moments of actual copulation. This may in the opinion of scientists be the reason why birds must mate several times in order to fertilize one egg.

Text and photos Aare Lindt, www.loodusmuuseum.ee

Translation Liis

Pale brindled beauty     Lumevaksik      Phigalia pilosaria

The pale brindled moth – or beauty - is one of the first butterflies that will hatch at once after the snow thaws. It ends its flights already before the end of April.

The males are night active and willingly fly towards an artificial light.

Info from Estonian Environmental Research Centre, www.klab.ee

Photos Arne Ader

Translation Liis

Hazel catkins

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Flower pollen is an allergen that is present in ambient air and intrudes with breathed air into the bronchi, causing allergic problems for pollen-sensitive people, for instance asthma and hay fever. From spring to autumn, during the flowering period of trees and plants, the concentrations of different kinds of pollen are high in the atmosphere.

Pollen allergy most frequently shows as pollinosis, also called hay fever, the reactions of eyes, nose and bronchi to pollen. Symptoms of pollinosis are for instance reddening of eyes, itching and tear flow, runny nose and sneezing, a heavy whistling breathing and coughing characteristic of asthma. In Estonia about 10% of the population suffer from pollinosis.

Pl@ntnet  tested with own photos by  Kaido Einama from Arvutimaailm

Translation Liis

We have apps for music that on listening recognize the performer and story. We have also software  for organising photos that detect faces in photos and say who is in the photo.  We have not yet good  identifiers for nature sounds, fungi, animals and plants. Or have we? Actually we have. And it isn’t April 1 any longer. Pl@ntNet recognizes a plant from a photo, by its flower, leaf, stems or fruits.

This is a plant identifier created in France and it should know the flora of Western Europe. But it turns out that Estonian plants are no strangers to this artificial intelligence.