Livestream from the white-tailed eagle nest:
https://www.youtube.com/Kotkaklubi.
Introduction
For the second year in a row, we can see the nest of white-tailed eagles in Matsalu National Park (
https://kaitsealad.ee/en/protected-area ... ional-park) on one of the oldest known white-tailed eagle breeding territories in Estonia (the first reports date back to 1870 (Sits, 1937)). The eagles built this nest in 1996 and it has been annually inhabited since. Between 1996 and 2021, a total of 30 eaglets have fledged from this nest. Thus, it is a very suitable nesting area for white-tailed eagles. There is also a second pair of eagles nesting less than a kilometre from this nest.
The nest in 2002. Documentary "Estonian eagles" (Gaviafilm, 2005)
24 nestlings out of 30 have been ringed here and as many as eleven of them have been seen later. An eaglet from 2012 was seen in front of the then white-tailed eagle webcam in Läänemaa in 2018 and an eaglet from 1995 visited the eagles winter feeding camera in 2012 and 2013, but that bird was found mortally injured only 10 km from the place of birth in 2019. The last eaglet in this nest was ringed in June 2020 and seen in north-western Estonia at the beginning of February this year.
Ringing the chick in 2020 (Photo Kaarel Kaisel)
White tailed eagles often start decorating the nest with fresh twigs during the winter. One to three eggs are laid in March, the nestlings hatch in the second half of April and usually fledge in early July. The young will stay near the nest until September. Of course, if all goes well.
2021
Eve and Eerik
1st egg - March 20; 2nd egg - March 24.
1st chick hatch - April 28; 2nd chick hatch - April 30.
Both chicks deceased on May 12-13. Cause of death was avian influenza H5N1. See here:
https://kotkas.ee/uudised/the-cause-of- ... uenza-h5n1
Eve and Eerik feeding the chicks a few days before the chicks deceased (WTE camera, May 9, 2021)
The breeding pair of 2021 was named
Eve and
Eerik. They started nesting relatively late, at the end of February. The broadcast then began even later, on March 7. The first egg was laid by the female Eve on March 20. Last year’s nest owners don’t have coloured leg rings, so we don’t know their history. In 2021, after a month of incubation, two nestlings hatched on April 28 and 30. However, we did not see them fledge – they died on May 12 and 13. The cause of death was identified as bird flu H5N1 at the Estonian University of Life Sciences (read more
https://kotkas.ee/uudised/the-cause-of- ... uenza-h5n1). Although several white-tailed eagles visited the nest afterwards, we did not see Eve or Eerik again. Hopefully the highly contagious bird flu did not become fatal for them as well! We also hope that in 2022 we will see a successful breeding season. Whether last year’s eagles or others are nesting, it will be clear by mid-March at the latest.
2022
Eve and Eerik have not been to the nest.
There is a new couple. Male has no rings. Female was ringed as a nestling in Western-Estonia by Renno Nellis in 2015. Her rings: right leg - blue-white M1201; left leg - black E321)