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White-tailed eagle ringed in Jõgevamaa

On December 17 the ring numbers of a white-tailed eagle ringed in Jõgevamaa were read. Eagleman Joosep ringed the eaglets in the two-bird nest on June 15 2007. The bird seen on the feeding site in Northwest Estonia is sitting in the foreground. It was hatched 170 km away from the feeding grounds, but despite the short (in eagle terms) distance, eagles ringed in east Estonia are not often observe in west Estonia.

The nesting site in Jõgevamaa where the bird grew up is quite old. White-tailed eagles built the first known nest there already in 1944. During the 15 years until today, the couple have built four more nests and raised 20 young! For white-tailed eagles with their known low reproduction rate, this is very good (average is 0,9 young per couple and year).

The mother of the birds in the photo above is the oldest known white-tailed eagle in Estonia - by now 24 years old, ringed in 1985 in Emajõe-Suursoo!  Urmas wrote about this eagle, affectionately known as ”Old Hag”, "Vanamutt", in Looduskalender this summer. The male bird, her mate, has no coloured foot rings.