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.

Position of the Estonian Ornithological Society
Photo by Arne Ader
Estonian text posted in Looduskalender 08.01.2019

Grey geese

At the end of the year, the Ministry of the Environment announced that it would support hunting of migratory geese to prevent damage to farmers. The Estonian Ornithological Society's Bird Protection Commission continues to believe that hunting geese on their spring migration is unethical and does not solve the problem more effectively than using non-lethal deterrence methods.