April 2018

Text: Urmas Sellis, EOÜ
Photos  Triin Leetmaa, Urmas Sellis
Transmission provided by  EENet

Estonian text posted 29.04. 2018

The greater spotted eagle is one of the most endangered eagles in Europe. In the EU countries fewer than 50 pairs nest and according to what is known, only in Poland and Estonia. The majority of Europe’s GSEs nest in Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine.

Webscrap IceAge, LK forum
Translation Liis

 

Estonian text posted 28.04. 2018

By ten thirty there were six eggs in the nest

Starling             Kuldnokk         Sturnus vulgaris

 

Video Jassi, LK forum

Translation Liis

 

Estonian text posted 26.04.2018

 

In the morning at 10 o’clock the female had laid an egg …

 

Starling        Kuldnokk        Sturnus vulgaris

 

The strength of passerines to lay eggs always feels amazing, how does the body of a small bird have this capacity?

When we crack open a hen’s egg in the course of cooking we notice a small white dot on the yolk – it is the germinal disc  from which the chick develops. The developing chick feeds on the yolk during the incubation.

Screencap IceAge, LK forum
Translation Liis

 

Estonian text posted 27.04.2018

By 10 o’clock in the morning the fifth egg was in the nest box

 

Starling      Kuldnokk       Sturnus vulgaris

 

By today there are five eggs in the nest box  and four of them the female laid each subsequent morning. In case of passerines it may be noted that the female uses about 60% of her daily energy need  for laying an egg.

Screencaps from webcam  IceAge, LK forum
Translation Liis

 

Estonian text posted 25.04.2018

The third egg the starling laid half past 10

 

Starling            Kuldnokk        Sturnus vulgaris

 

The first egg we spotted in the nest box in the evening of April 22, the second in the morning of April 24 and the third in the morning of April 25.

Screencap from webcam IceAge, LK forum

Video recorded by  Barry Ruck
Translation Liis

 

Estonian text posted 24.04.2018

The second egg this morning…

 

Starling          Kuldnokk      Sturnus vulgaris

 

At about half past nine it seemed that the starling female was laying an egg and a quarter of an hour later we could see a second egg in the nest box.

The first egg came into the nest box in the evening of April 22, the second in the morning of April 24. Let us wait and see,  most commonly the female lays five to six eggs.

 

Introduction  Tiit Hunt, rmk.ee
Transmission  provided by Teetormaja and EENet
Translation Liis

Estonian text posted 26.04.2018

Events in the badger camera can be watched once again from here in Saaremaa, from the same place where we finished in mid-November 2016 after the old fat beaver fell asleep snoring on the ground beside the burrow.

Video Ame, LK forum
Translation Liis

Estonian text posted 24.04.2018

 

When female eagle  Suvi rose for a moment from the nest in the morning a little before half past seven the eagle chick had hatched….

 

White-tailed eagle       Merikotkas      Haliaeëtus albicilla   

 

Thirtyseven days of incubation in the cold spring, sometimes even in a snowdrift.

The chick was hatched from the first egg laid on March 18. From the incubation period we can deduce that the egg that was crushed on April 5 was laid on March 21.

Screencap from webcam  IceAge, LK forum
Translation Liis

 

Estonian text posted 21.04.2018

 

Red deer       Punahirv     Cervus elaphus

 

The shedding of the antlers started in early March.  As we can see young animals still have their antlers, and the old bulls grow new antlers.

Tiit Hunt will surely make a final summary of the season in the near future.

Our thanks to our viewers and the Looduskalender forum members, thanks to whom interesting events were recorded in images as well as words.

Screencap from webcam  Sova, LK forum
Translation Liis

 

Estonian text posted 23.04.2018

The eagle chick has picked holes in the shell with its egg tooth and squeaks...

 

White-tailed eagle       Merikotkas        Haliaeëtus albicilla

Let us look back in time and make a brief recapitulation of events in female Suvi and male Sulev’s nest up to now.

Video record  Urmas Lett, www.eenet.ee
Translation Liis

 

Estonian text posted 22.04.2018

 

 

Capercaillie       Metsis or  mõtus      Tetrao urogallus

 

 

The sun in southern Estonia rises already at a quarter to six. A couple of hours before sunrise the cocks start to call, but in the trees where they spent the night.

When the hens arrive to the lek area the first cock lands on the ground and soon also the other participants in the lek.

Text: Urmas Sellis, Andres Kalamees, EOÜ
Photos: Jaanus Tanilsoo and Hagnat (LK forum)
Transmission provided by  EENet

Estonian text posted 22.04.2018

The capercaillie camera is installed at a capercaillie lek site in Võrumaa that has been known already for a long time. During monitoring up to five cocks have been counted there. With the aid of the camera we can confirm this or be more exact. The camera however is in one definite place, from where you cannot see far and the direction of the sound cannot be determined from the camera. So the camera does not really replace monitoring but hopefully will complement it

Screencap from webcam UteL, LK forum
Translation Liis

 

Estonian text posted 22.04.2018

Female Kati left the nest and Karl stayed to keep the eggs warm….

 

Black stork         Must-toonekurg         Ciconia nigra

 

 

Screencap from webcam  UteL, LK forum
Translation Liis

Estonian text posted 20.04.2018

Early morning in the stork nest.

We waited and hoped to see a third egg in the nest in the morning – and so it was.

Female Kati has regularly laid an egg every two days, on April 14, 18 and 20.

Transmission provided by Elisa and EENet
Introduction  Tiit Hunt, www.rmk.ee

Translation Liis

Estonian text posted 18.04.2018

To observe the spring migration of birds we have installed a camera on the Sassi Peninsula – in the same area where we in the autumn could observe the migration of mainly cranes and geese. At the springtime migration particularly many barnacle geese arrive here to the coastal meadows. The first barnacle geese have already been seen on the nearby fields and also flying over the observation point. Here on the coastal meadows they have nothing to do before some green to nibble at has grown. The shore vegetation will only begin to develop when the air temperature permanently holds at least 5 degrees of warmth throughout day and night. The cool spring and cold sea have not let the vegetation on the Sassi meadows sprout