Estonian White-tailed Sea Eagle Nest Camera 2021

[Liz01]

Rodenticides in the environment pose threats to birds of prey- Link also by Susanne

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases ... 032321.php

[Triin]

A picture of Golden eagle pellet, but the white-tailed eagle pellets are of similar size. (Picture from the internet)

Thank you Triin. So pellet was meant. I don't know Estonian and so I am unable to translate correctly. I rely on what I read here.
I couldn't tell if they fed right or wrong. To me it looked like normal feedings. But I was astonished to read that EE1's mouth was full of a huge pellet. and I saw it yesterday.

BTW: a question on the occasion. Is there an age in chicks where they do not vomit pellets. I read it here somewhere.
I saw that, Eve was already feeding small fish bones. in my observations, i never paid attention to how old the chicks are when they first spit pellets

EE1 might have been too weak to regurgitate the pellet by that time, but let's not speculate about the cause of death.

Sorry, I don't know about the age. I think that, the chicks would be fed bones from an early age, because for me it seems impossible for the parents to debone fish with claws and beak. I have fingers and pliers, but still end up with fishbone in my bites.

[Liz01]

Triin, thanks once again.
It seems logical that they cannot separate the fish bones, scales and small bones. I only wrote once that the eaglet spits a pellet, and the answer was that I observed it wrongly because the chicks are too small. So that's clear for now

Video by Kotkaklubi. Thank you!
Merikotkas - Taking the dead chicks and prey for analysis 2021-05-14

[ame]

i don't remember seeing chicks this small regurgitating pellets yet. i think they have been already mostly with brown feathers on the first times.
on the other hand, i haven't probably seen the first times (but on the first hand again, i seem notice every single poopshot )

i remember seeing many times how little chicks have gacked fish bones away from their beaks if there has been even a small fish bone in the piece of fish which the Mother Eagle has served. the mothers serve almost incredibly small pieces of fish. i have always admired how delicately they can use the huge beaks they have in cutting food.

now i think there has been enough discussion about what exactly was perhaps in the chick's mouth. this began to resemble the poison discussion which was dominant a few days ago both here and in the YT chat. it leads nowhere. we need to wait for the results of the examination.

[Owlie]

In the Danish WTE nest there was lately, too, an incident with a pellet and a chick, here is a picture of the sizes - of both the chick and the pellet (also a video of casting the pellet)
https://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/vie ... 19#p799819

If I count correct this chick was 26 days old and had difficulties to cast the pellet but succeeded at last.

[malabares]

Exactly that was my comment in the YT chat, (Lince Madrid) when Mr. Gunnar removed the chicks from the nest. ;))

I thought exactly the same when I saw Gunnar taking the chicks with his hands... the chicks looked bigger to me than I thought!

[madlaa]

Is it possible that the reason why the bellies were so large, is that the chicks had been dead for a day already and EE2 even 2 days. They were exposed to sun and warmth, and they are already decomposing, creating gas inside their bodies, making it expand.
I hope that makes sense, it's just a theory...

[Sonja]

Is it possible that the reason why the bellies were so large, is that the chicks had been dead for a day already and EE2 even 2 days. They were exposed to sun and warmth, and they are already decomposing, creating gas inside their bodies, making it expand.
I hope that makes sense, it's just a theory...

Hi, only EE1 had zwollen stomak/ bellies

[madlaa]

Hi, only EE1 had zwollen stomak.

Oh, ok. I wasn't trying to make any presumptions, just expressing my opinion i could be totally wrong. It's fine

[Trine]

Hi, only EE1 had zwollen stomak/ bellies

The belly was commented on in case of the younger chick, that is, EE2.
The fact that Gunnar said nothing about the belly of EE1 does not necessarily mean that it was not swollen or otherwise abnormal. We just don't know; it was not visible either. Gunnar was not there to give a comprehensive description or diagnosis.

The best strategy, in my opinion, is to wait for the results of the examination. There's always a possibility that the results turn out to be inconclusive, though.

[Sonja]

Oh, ok. I wasn't trying to make any presumptions, just expressing my opinion i could be totally wrong. It's fine

I said this only in the sense that they had different symptoms, which perhaps makes diagnosis more difficult.

[Liz01]

12:17:56 Eve started calling
12:08:07 she is calling again and Eerik too
12:19 it sounds like Eve or both

I do a video


12:29:05 A pigeon was under the nest .. that's why she/he sounded so loud
she/he walked along the branch and flew away to the right

[bonehead]

2021
- Golden Eagle Helju & Kalju: parents ate the egg
- WTE Milda (& Raimis, Chip, Mr L): parents ate 2 chicks and one egg
- WTE Eve & Erik: parents stopped feeding & warming the chicks, both died
- WTE Silva & Sliters: visited and built the nest continually with mating etc. no succes

Was this only coincidence that happens in nature all the time or is there something happening we dont know/understand, for example bad food conditions or something similar.

[ame]

bonehead, one cannot draw any conclusions based on 4 cases (including 2 different species). this is merely a random coincidence. sometimes there are good years, sometimes bad.

a few days ago i made little statistics here:
viewtopic.php?p=799847#p799847
even there the number of breeding pairs is only 11. the success rate was 2 fledglings per 3 eggs. we were spoilt in the first years by good luck. now the reality is slowly becoming 'visible'.

[bonehead]

I agree like I tryed to indicate in the beginning

[Sonchik]

...
(did i forget some breeding?)
...

Yes, 2020 Milda and Raimis.

[hernameta]

i don't remember seeing chicks this small regurgitating pellets yet. i think they have been already mostly with brown feathers on the first times.

They usually begin to cast a pellet at the age of four weeks. https://raptorresource.blogspot.com/201 ... -four.html

[ame]

Yes, 2020 Milda and Raimis.

thank you Sonchik!
i knew that i had something wrong with the numbers and i counted them back and forth, but i didn't look at the years.
the result didn't change however because also in 2020 since also then 2 eaglets flew out from 3 eggs.

thanks hernameta for the "pellet age".

[Gunnar]

Dear all,

some remarks from me also. 
As I had yesterday in Matsalu region other works to do, we decided together with Renno that I could check the nest. Please forgive me for speaking only in Estonian language and for such short comments! I'm not a shy guy at all:) I even thought about to comment more on the nest for a second, but when you are so deeply inside in the real eagles world, you concentrate on the issues and almost forget the surrounding. So it happens for me also:) I'm so thankful to the people who translated my text! There is almost nothing to fix:) Maybe only this stomach subject.... EE1 stomach looks normal and I didn't mention this at all, differently EE2 stomach was kind of distended and looks unnormal. But the pellet between the EE1 beak was the biggest surprise for me! I saw such a picture at the first time. Also I don't wanna speculate on the reasons and let's wait the lab results.  I gave all the material in the middle of the night to the lab expert, so next week(s) hopefully bring us some news. By the way, lab expert suggested even to collect from the ground parts of adult excrement. 

Ame - for you I have a special surprise. Gathering all the critical skills that I have,  I could say that I'm kind of slim like the others but definitely not as tall as Urmas or Renno:) Now you know at least one member of Eagle Club short guys faction also! But your pictures were great!

One thing more for the forum members who have not several years observing experience. As the connection between the adults and nest has reduced due to the failure of breeding it is normal that adults spend most of their time outside of the nest. And it doesn't mean that they have abandoned the nestsite. The 2021 breeding season is over for them and now it's time to look around and just take it easy.

Gunnar
NB! Liz - could you fix the term of the EE1 pellet here: summary  of the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH9eU0Wn9iA I said that a pellet was stuck in EE1 throat. Thank you!

[IceAge]

Hello Gunnar,
thank you for your detailed report.
I always find the performance of the eagle men very impressive.
They all do a wonderful job and have nothing to apologise for.
I would forget to breathe up there .
Now we can only wait for the result of the examination.
Have a good time.