White-tailed eagle camera closes for this year
Text: Urmas Sellis
Photos: Renno Nellis
Photos: Renno Nellis
Translation: Liis
The nest camera of white-tailed eagles Linda and Sulev has been in use for four nesting seasons. We have seen two successful nestings in the nest, and two seasons when others have used it – in 2011 a mallard tried to hatch her chicks there and in 2012 the nest was inhabited by buzzards.
The site has been complicated for the working of the web camera from a technical point of view; watchers have had to be patient from time to time until something got repaired or replaced.
When we checked Linda and Sulev’s new nest in the course of the white-tailed eagle monitoring in the ESTLAT project, we decided together with Renno to move the camera to the new nest site in autumn.
From the new nesting site the sea can be seen and understandably it is more to the liking of the white-tailed eagles than the old nest site.
Last year’s nesting outcome is not known but this year Linda and Sulev (if indeed the male is Sulev, as before? see photos below) had two chicks in the nest.

Under the nest was a third, dead chick – the new nest is not very big and the third chick had fallen down about ten days earlier.
During the nest inspection the adults of course took issue with us and Renno caught both in photos:
This year we kept the white-tailed eagle nest camera running within the ESTLAT project – Eagles cross borders.
Our thanks to the patient watchers and the forum members, and I would particularly like to emphasize forum member Ame’s contribution in recording the events at the WTE camera and Maertha who has compiled an excellent collection of data on white-tailed eagles in published sources!
Until meeting again at the new nest!