January 2019

Photos Arne Ader

English translation Liis

Estonian text posted 24.01.2019

Goshawk at capercaillie carcass

Goshawk; Northern goshawk     Kanakull       Accipiter gentilis

Urban people meet goshawks increasingly often. In winter migrants from the east and north add to the birds that have nested here and so they are even more easily seen.

Why then in the city where they have also started to  nest? Simply in order to catch prey more easily. In winter there is no lack of domestic pigeons or jackdaws and other corvids in cities.

Estonian Ornithological Society announces
Photo Reet Sau
English translation Liis

Estonian text posted 02.01.2019

Nightjar      Öösorr       Caprimulgus europaeus

Estonian Ornithological Society invites you to participate

Estonian text posted 23.01.2019

On the last weekend of January, January 25th – 27th, all who are  interested can join the winter garden bird survey.

At the weekend you have to find an hour, go to your home garden or a park and note all the bird species that you meet there. Please enter the observations on the corresponding form. Read how to take part in the bird count.

The data collected in the winter bird survey will be used to monitor changes in the number of winter birds which, if necessary,  allows us to take action to improve the welfare of the birds  Moreover it is a nice way to learn to know the winter garden birds.

Photos  Ahto Täpsi
English translation Liis

Estonian text posted 18.01.2019

The winter dens of our bears may look very different

Brown bear       Pruunkaru or  karu        Ursus arctos

In the Estonian forests brown bears started to give birth already before Christmas and it lasts until the end of the month. Of our bear population of nearly seven hundred individuals this year sixty bear mothers should give birth to cubs or have already done so.

Screencap from webcam IceAge, LK forum
English translation Liis

Estonian text posted 16.01.2019

Great tits, greenfinches, tree sparrows…

Those who feed birds know that the first arrivals are the great tits, already in the morning dusk – the winter bird webcam watchers notice it too.

The earliest is of course some older great tit that knows the neighbourhood thoroughly and has spent the night nearby. Together with the blue tits they cooperate peacefully and nicely in  order  – the older, larger birds are given priority. Marsh tits are the last arrivals among the tits. The first three-quarters of the hour belongs to the tits.

Screencap from webcam by  IceAge LK forum
English translation Liis

Estonian text posted 10.01.2019

On the female fish in the foreground we can see marks of the spawning, a furrow on the body above the anal fin

River trout; Brown trout  Jõeforell or hõrnas  Salmo trutta morpha fario

Text and illustrations  Tiit Hunt, www.rmk.ee
English translation Liis

                     
Estonian text posted 11.01.2019

Happy beaver year, nice nightjar year, a splendid shaggy ink cap year, a joyous Wulf’s peat moss year, colourful ghost orchid year and of course a spicy eutric histosol year and … Without coordination with any organisation I would like to add – a great catfish year to you all!

The animal of the year, as all the others crowned with the same title, will be in a constant year-long limelight of words and images and surely by this we will be much wiser already at Christmas in theriology, ornithology, mycology, botany, pedology-edaphology,  or even dendrology and other areas.

Video recorded by  Urmas Lett, www.eenet.ee
English translation Liis

Estonian text posted 10.01.2019

The prudent behaviour of a jackal at the bait

Jackal; Golden jackal     Šaakal or  harilik šaakal      Canis aureus

We promised  to present the impact of the jackals in Estonia on the surrounding biodiversity.

Screencap from webcam  IceAge, LK forum
English translation Liis

Estonian text posted 09.01.2019

Red deer         Punahirv        Cervus elaphus

Large red deer bulls, or stags, weigh up to a couple of hundred kilos and the body length can reach a couple of metres, shoulder height up to one and a quarter of a metre.

We have not yet seen the females on the feeding ground this season; they have no antlers and their weight reaches only a hundred kilos – so the sexual dimorphism is visually noticeable.