Estonian White-tailed Sea Eagle Nest Camera 2023

[Susanne]

15:07:Faint eagle call?
15:58/59 ff.: Close Corvid calls - there is a raven (?) somewhere in the nest tree.

16:04: Yeah! E 340 in the nest, 'Smiley' on a right branch.



He is instantly rearranging the nest, making bed, working on the branches.

16:30: E 340 jumps onto the p-branch.
16:31: Quite a big PS! - Then busy with preening.
16:36: Black woodpecker calling?
16:43: 'Smiley' on the p-branch and then into the nest. Now it's her turn to settle in the nest bowl and have a comfy session.



16:51: E 340 flies away to the woods (more material?).

[Liz01]

Just an idea, triggered by something Yana re wrote in the YT-chat (can't quote it directly, because for me the chat history is gone due to system restart ). She thought: what if this male was one we had already seen last year participating in the ownership issues on this nest? So I reviewed the 2022-thread, and here's what I've found.

March 03, 2022: male that was one of the mates of famous E 321, tailmarks:

Susanne, the tail marks from today. that looks the same.

[Susanne]

17:26:40: E 340 comes back and perches on the p-branch. 'Smiley' gets up and sings.
17:28: E 340 joins her song - a mighty duet! They are watching the sky closely, a raven croaks, but E 340 (who came with empty talons) seems quite relaxed.



17:47: E 340 does a PS and then flies down to the meadow . More stuff for the nest!
17:51: Back with a nice bunch of hay/straw. Quickly working. 'Smiley' takes a look at the material, then jumps onto the p-branch - which in an instant will become the M-branch.



17:52: E 340 begins to sing - mating!



Fait accompli - he's back on the nest and lies down in the bowl.

18:04: Both leave - E 340 first, 'Smiley' follows, they are heading over the meadow straight to the woods (position: 12 o'clock)

[Susanne]

Susanne, the tail marks from today. that looks the same.

Thank you Liz for sharing this point of view! That would really be great - to know that at least this one did not perish in the fights, and he really looks superbe, I think. - I'm so glad that the nest owners were not in the area today when he was on the nest, and they vocally and physically, u-hum, displayed their ownership in the evening. (Which might not hold him back from revisiting the site, but who knows? Well,the eagles do ...)

[Susanne]

Oops, major cam problems from 18:30 (approx.) on - the whole recording is gone ...

[IceAge]

March 16.

Good morning,

07:21
the stream is back.

10:46
no E 340, no Smiley

[Susanne]

IceAge - not yet

11:13:35 ff.: A dark bird flies over the meadow at lower level. Yes-yes, I know: " a dark bird" - I think it was neither a raven nor a black woodpecker. The wings looked quite "acute-angled" (I don't know the corrrect term) to me.



11:38: Some kind of grouse calling? And before: faint eagle calls or again a black woodpecker?
11:41/42: Some more interesting bird voices.
11:44: A raven flies over the meadow from right to left, calling.
11:46: A Great Tit on the nest.

[Susanne]

13:07: Eagle calls. (while a raven is talking and talking)
13:23 f.: Again faint eagle calls (while a raven is talking and talking).

[Susanne]

14:12: One of the Corvids enters the tree . Coming from down at the left, he perches on the p-branch, then hops onto the top middle branch. Raven or crow? The bird is very shiny



14:21: Faint eagle calls? (Or does the black woodpecker trick me again?)
15:00 ff.: So much Corvid-ish today!
15:36: Black woodpecker calls. - And again at 15:39.
16:30 f.: And again.
16:57 ff.: And again. - At least one bird in full swing.

[Susanne]

17:19 f.: Blue tits on the nest.

[Susanne]

18:18 ff.: Audible: The first birds returning from their winter quarters. Geese?

[Susanne]

Thank you YT-chat for time stamps!
18:47: Both come home to the tree - as usual: E 340 on the p-branch, 'Smiley' on a branch at the right.
E 340 hops into the nest and lies down in the nest bowl.

18:54: 'Smiley' hops onto the p-branch, which in an instant will become - guess what - the M-branch. E 340 joins her, sings and they mate.


After mating:


18:59: E 340 leaves and flies down to the right.

- At 19:25 'Smiley' is still on the p-branch. Night is falling, she will probably spend the night here.

[IceAge]

March 17.

Good morning,

05:51
Smiley spent the night on the branch.


06:23
She has discovered something at the edge of the forest and flies away.

[IceAge]

08:21
E 340 comes with nesting material.


and Smiley comes

[Susanne]

Good morning Matsalu, good morning eagles and everyone watching!

Big thank you IceAge!

Aren't they sweet? Exchanging really tender eagle kisses. Look at her face!



08:35: Both leave. 'Smiley' flies off first from the p-branch, E 340 follows.
- They even brought something green, looks like fern.

09:48 ff.: The black woodpecker again .

10:01 ff.: Eagle calls? No, drumming sound follows. Black woodpecker!

[Susanne]

13:56: A visitor - a juvenile. Hard to see, but I think his beak is not as dark as those of previous youngsters.
13:56:49: Landing on the p-branch.




14:12:55: The juvenile leaves and flies down to the right.
14:13:5 f.: Eagle calls - sounded female to me. .- I had the impression that one of the adults maybe had made a patrol flight, Check! A juvenile, not worth wasting too much energy. (And a juvenile may be a nuisance, but certainly not a serious threat at this stage.)

around 14:50 ff.: A strange barking sound. At first I thought: a roe deer. But then it sounded as if this sound was also produced in flight A raven? Now there is some croak-croak.
14:58 ff.: One croaks, another answers in a 'laughing-echo'-style.

[Susanne]

15:05/06: Agitated eagle calls, not very far. Two voices (male+ female).
17:25: Cam drops out (screen in fact IS green) - mike on.
18:42 (approx.): Cam is back.

[Susanne]

Mar 18

Good day Matsalu!

The cam was off from 10:03 - approx. 12:20.
I don't think any of the eagles was on the nest yet. It is very windy today. (And utterly frustrating to see no continuation of nest building activity *sigh*.)

[Susanne]

15:46:09: An adult WTE lands in the top middle branches (out of sight, you see only a bouncing branch) and then heads off down over the meadow, reaches the wood, flies really low and circles at low level around the trees to the right.

16:08: A spotty juvenile jumps into the nest bowl from one of the top branches.





He works in the nest:



Perches on the p-branch
16:11: and leaves.

- Looks like the juvenile (2 CY) that was here on Feb 27/28 - he had spent the night in the tree.

[Susanne]

17:27: On a branch at the right: One WTE came, one WtE left? I have to review that.
Hmmh, I don't quite understand what happened/what I saw.



This adult WTE (blank white tail, I had no chance to detect any tailmarks) came from the area where the adult fly-over-WTE from 15:46 vanished between the trees. This WTE landed on the branch at the right, was there some rumble/pushing another one off (I did not see another one fly away)? He immediately turned and circled over the meadow to the left. - There must have been something, I cannot imagine that a WTE noisily lands ("touch down")and immediately turns just like that.

18:54:41 ff.: I think I heard plumage ruffling! Could be that there still is one WTE in the tree. So they changed places at 17:27? (Today it is, due to the wind gusts, really hard to tell if you hear cracking branches or a big bird landing.)