Black Stork Nest In Karula 2023.

[Swenja]

13:51 Karl II is at home. The chicks are sleeping.
Greeting and Kaia flies away.



13:57 feeding
Karl II brought small fish with him and a few bigger fish.

[Swenja]

The chicks don't manage all to eat.
They are full!



#4 ate nice little fish.

[Swenja]

The chicks are no longer lying in a heap. They are now nicely stretched out in the nest.
Karl II is preening.

[Swenja]

15:36 feeding
Each chick eats something.
#4 doesn't have a good position at first.



But the smallest pushes through and also gets something.

[Swenja]

16:27 Kaia is back. They greeting each other and Karl II flies away.
The chicks are sleeping.





Kaia touches a chick. But they all are tired.

[Swenja]

Kaia covers them all.

[Swenja]

17:08 feeding
Kaia gave a little snack.





salamander?

[Swenja]

Herons have probably emptied a fish basket.



Urmas had to move this fish basket to a new place yesterday evening. He brought it more near the nest.
The basket was filled with about 50 fish of different sizes.

Kaia found this basket this morning.



Message from Urmas:
"This morning Kaia found the basket with fish and ate well, after that flew to the nest (9:07).
Before finding of new basket she checked also place of basket 2."



Thank you @Urmas

[Swenja]

17:50 feeding
#4 was probably in the way or too close to where Kaia wanted to put the fish.
She gently pushed #4 and the chick rolled back into the nest.



Kaia put the food in this place.



#4 ate excellently

[Swenja]

Kaia also had a big frog with her. She took him back.



One of the older chicks wasn't hungry.

[Swenja]

18:29 Karl II is back. Greeting and Kaia flies away.
The chicks are sleeping.

[Swenja]

18:58 feeding
It looks like lampreys and fish. #4 was there quickly for dinner.

[Swenja]

One of the older ones is struggling with the big meal.



Karl II also brought frog with him. He take it back.



The Lamprey didn't quite fit. Karl II pulls it out of the chick's beak.

[Swenja]

19:34 feeding again
All the chicks are eating.

[Swenja]

But the frog didn't fit.



Karl II and the chick tried to hide the frog leg in the beak.
But that just didn't fit.



Karl II pulled the frog out of the chick at the end.

[Hulbi Lorm]

That was a struggle. Luckily, Karl II was able to pull the frog out again.

[Anne7]

Hello everyone

Swenja, many thanks for your great work!

Thank you, Urmas, for the fish basket information and pictures!

I'll prepare the OrniTrack information.


OrniTrack Information
KAIA

EDIT:
Sorry, I can't make a tracker map for Kaia today. Something went wrong with the data transfer.
All I can see is that Kaia was on the nest last night (we saw that also via the camera), and that at 19:46 UTC+3 she was near a brook close to the nest (just over 1 km from the nest). (= data sent with last GSM session)

[Swenja]

The chicks are overnumberd.




21:01/02 Karl II gives the frog again.
A chick eats the frog and it fits in.

[Illi]

18:58 feeding
It looks like lampreys and fish. #4 was there quickly for dinner.

I dont think those are lampreys, little bit too big for them. Last year Karl brought several times Misgurnus fossilis. Estonian name Vingerjas.

[Swenja]

Thank you @Illi.
The feed today was very mixed. What else did you recognize?