Summary of the 2022 season - timeline
Feb 08: The webcam transmits first pictures of the nest. First subadult WTE visitor.
Feb 27: A ringed Estonian female WTE,
E 321, arrives on the nest.
She was ringed by Renno Nellis in 2015, about 40 km north of Matsalu. Urmas adds info on right leg number on March 01: M1201.
March 03: First mating at nest site.
The nest becomes a site of keen interest for many WTEs: Subadults frequently try out how bonded the ringed female, E 321, is with one or another male.
March 4 ff.: Several matings.
Juveniles discover the nest, too, but are mostly tolerated by current nest owners.
March 09: The current pair 'shares' a piece of fish.
March 13 ff.: WTE males begin to fight for nest and mate supremacy.
March 14: The fights become harder.
March 15: The female E321 has to experience a mate change.
March 16: The new male is light-eyed, the former male still had amber eyes.
An unringed new female on the nest, too.
March 17: Very often, there are (at least) three WTEs on and around the nest site.
March 18: The day of bloody feet.
See Kotkaklubi's YT-video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFljweHDzJc&t=23s
March 20 ff.: It doesn't seem to be clear which male WTE claims ownership of nest and mate, there are still some very interested males around, and the female is continuously challenged. And so is her current mate, 'Light eyes-angry eyebrows'.
March 24: Heavy fighting between the males. 'Light-eyes-angry eyebrows' receives a bloody beak injury.
March 25: 'Scarface-light eyes-angry eyebrows' disappears in the course of the day. A new male on the nest.
Following the disappearance (and likely defeat of the former male): Several subadult male WTEs try their luck with the female, a peak is March 27.
March 28: Forum members discuss whether the male is the same that has been seen on the nest on March 05 ff.
March 30: Apparently two pairs of WTEs are fighting for the nest today. Bloody feet and bloody beaks.
First appearance of E 340! (M1215 on the right leg). He was ringed by Dr Madis Leivits in 2015 and plays an important part in Dr Leivits' study: Distinctive mitogenomic lineages within populations of White-tailed Eagles
https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukab081
March 31: E 340 brings some nesting material and does what we have so often seen in the months following: settles down in the nest, tests the bedding and enjoys some comfy moments. He is what I would call: a very courteous mate to any female.
April 01: Again fighting .
April 12: An
osprey visits the tree and perches on the poop-branch.
April 18: A
ringed Estonian WTE female appears on the nest, together with E340.
April 20: WTE on the nest with prey. She is identified as
E 321 (previously on the nest from Feb 27 - March 18).
April 23: Heavy fighting on the nest between E 340 and another male WTE, identified as
E 019. (According to Urmas, ringed in 2012)
April 26: E 321 seems to have been involved in a fight, too. She carries some wounds on her talons.
May 05: An unringed female WTE with wounds on her talons appears at the nest site. And she has an injury on the right side of her beak.
Grieta enlightens us: It is the same female that was on the nest until April 18 - her tail marks are well recognizable: they look like a 'Smiley' - and henceforth, we call her "Smiley".
__________________________________________
The prominent female WTEs claiming ownership
twice:
E 321 Feb 27- March 18 and again: April 18 -May 05;
'Smiley', March 18 -April 18, May 05 until the day the cam stopped transmitting in 2022.
The male E 340 was mate of: 'Smiley' - E 321 - 'Smiley'
<to be continued ...>