Osprey cameras in Estonia 2013

 
Text: Urmas Sellis,
ESTLAT Eagles project coordinator in Estonia
Transmission courtesy of  Televõrgu AS, Kernel and EENet
Translation: Liis

Kalakotkas  - Estonian osprey camera:

 
 Stream for mobile devices: iPhone, iPadAndroid, VLC
 
Kalakotkas 2– second osprey camera:
 
Stream for mobile devices: iPhone, iPadAndroid, VLC
 
Within the ESTLAT Eagles Cross Borders, a joint Estonian and Latvian activity, we installed osprey cameras in three locations this year – two in Estonia (Kalakotkas and Kalakotkas2) and one in Latvia (zivju-erglis). About the Latvian camera we will write separately. In Estonia we had the cameras in the forest working on April 16th and 5th respectively. Kalakotkas was in the same place last year, and we managed to trim it in two days. The image from this camera reaches the EENet server by way of the Televõrgud cable and devices. Kalakotkas2, however, needed more work.
 
Both Estonian osprey nest cameras were installed at artificial nests built within the  ESTLAT Eagles project framework. Both nests are in comparatively new nesting territories, we have known of them only for two years.
 
The Võru county Kalakotkas, already familiar from last year, is an artificial nest which we built in the winter of 2012 about 200 meters away from the earlier, broken down nest. Last year this osprey pair had three young. The camera installation works were completed on April 16th this year, and no osprey was to be seen in the area at that time. Last year the female in this nest (called Piret) was provided with a GPS transmitter, and we could follow her migration and wintering. Unfortunately Piret’s transmitter has not sent any signals after April 5th. It will be clear shortly whether the transmitter does not work, or whether something happened to the osprey in Egypt at the outskirts of the Nile delta during a migration stopover. The most recent news about the nest can be read in the Looduskalender forum. The nest is located close to training grounds for the Estonian Defence forces, so shooting may be heard occasionally.
 
The Tartu county Kalakotkas2 natural nest was located on the remaining stump of a decaying, broken spruce and had largely collapsed. We built a new and secure nest instead in the top of a strong pine, and installed a camera there too. We pulled down the old spruce stump for safety, so that unpleasant surprises would not occur later – such as finding a collapsed nest and perished chicks this summer. The Kalakotkas2 image moves from the nest in Tartu county to the EENet server by way of the  Kernel network, and the permanent transmission from the nest will begin on April 20th. This camera setup is on loan from the Kotkaklubi (Eagle club). Special thanks to Martti Savi from Kernel for his assistance!
 
Through the ESTLAT Eagles project we were able to finance the purchase of one camera set; the second camera is borrowed from the Kotkaklubi (Eagle Club) in order to have a better chance for  viewers to see ospreys nesting (on installation of the cameras we do not know whether the particular nest will be inhabited this year or not).
 
Transmission from the Võru county osprey camera works thanks to the helpful assistance of  Televõrgud; also thanks to the Estonian electricity system operator  Elering, who generously allowed us to attach our transmission equipment to their substation mast. From the Elering tower the signal moves into the Televõrgud cable. Through the cable the video reaches the o EENet server room where decoding and splitting for viewers takes place. Public access to the camera and management of the international forum is within the Looduskalender.ee environment and the  Estonian Ornithological Society web.
 
Photo: Olev Lüütsep
 
The osprey cameras are operated within the  ESTLAT Eagles Cross Borders project.
 

Your connection to the camera server  can be tested here

ESTLAT programm  Eagles Cross Borders


 

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