Great Tit Year science news conveyed by  Marko Mägi,  marko.magi@ut.ee

Photo Arne Ader

Translation Liis

Blue tit

Hawk-eyed, eagle eyed –the expressions are tied to the keen eyesight of birds.

Birds whose eyesight is noticeably better than that of humans are also able to see light invisible to the human eye – radiation in the UV part of the spectrum. The visual capacity of birds does however not stop there. Since many birds catch their prey in the air, they must distinguish a great number of details in movements in order to be successful. While a human viewer sees what happens on a film screen as a uniform smooth movement when in fact looking at images that change at a rate of 24 frames per second, then birds are able to see many more frames per second individually.

Text: Urmas Sellis and Jānis Ķuze

Transmission courtesy of  Tele2 ja EENet

Translation Liis

Two cameras are installed at black stork nests, one in South Estonia and the other in South Latvia

The black stork nest in Estonia is new to the viewers as well as to us:

The black stork nest in Estonia is not new for the storks breeding there. The nest is quite bulky and apparently quite old as well. The Estonian Fund for Nature (Eestimaa Looduse Fond, ELF) proclaimed this year as the Black Stork Year, and the new black stork nest camera is the Eagle Club’s contribution to this year. Pictures from the installation of the camera and its prehistory can be seen on the ELF voluntary work site. The camera started sending images from the nest on March 29, on April 4 we had the stream in working order. By that time the male black stork had arrived and had done tidying and arranging of the nest. On April 5 the female also arrived and nest life could start.

Ending story  Tiit Hunt, www.rmk.ee

Translation Liis

Uno recently found one of the  antlers that Hubert shed in February last year.

The red deer camera ends this season.

We will be able to observe the doings of the red deer again in the beginning of September when the powerful mating roars from the male deer again resound from the fields and forests, and the antler-rattling of rivals is heard.

Hubert, the largest of the twenty-member deer flock that visited the feeding ground, shed his antlers already in mid-February and by mid-May the old antlers had fallen from even the youngest members of the flock.

Text and photos  Aare Lindt, www.loodusmuuseum.ee

Translation Liis

 

 

Scarce conformist moth; Softly's sholuder-knot moth    Harilik tüveöölane         Lithophane consocia

 

The scarce conformist or Softly’s shoulderknot moth is common in Estonia and it can be encountered everywhere.

Video recorded by  Fleur, LK forum

Translation Liis

 

 

Goshawk; Northern goshawk     Kanakull     Accipiter gentilis

 

To start with, the goshawk pair nesting in Riga city had 4 greenish-white eggs in the nest already in the evening of Wednesday, April 13. With this the clutch was complete; incubation goes on and can last 35 to 42 days.