This nest is located on the western edge of Zemgale. It was found in 2018 when eagles nested successfully and one young bird left the nest. However, as the researchers discovered, it did not experience its first flight to the wintering sites - early 2019, the remains of an adult young bird were found on the ground about 100 meters from the nest. The nest is built in a spruce at a height of 17 meters, in a stable fork of three branches. It is a typical small Lesser Spotted Eagle nest - about half of all LSE nests in Latvia are built in the spruce trees, and a large part of them are built in such places where branches have formed a fork. Judging by the size of the nest and the condition of the material, the nest is at least five years old.
Jānis Ķuze and Jānis Rudzītis placed the camera system at this nest. Thanks for the support of Janis Kažotnieks and Renate Kviese!
The live camera operation at the LSE nest is provided by the Latvian Fund for Nature within the framework of the project "Providing Lesser Spotted Eagle Protection in Latvia" (LIFE AQPOM), which is financially supported by the European Commission LIFE + program and co-financed by the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund Administration.
(translated with the help of Google Translator from Lativian language)
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Cainism in lesser spotted eagles:
Author: Bernd-Ulrich Meyburg
The following factors are responsible for Cainism (fatal Cain-and-Abel struggle) in the Lesser Spotted Eagle: 1. The time lapse of several days between the hatching of the two chicks, giving the first-born (Cain or C1) a more or less considerable developmental advantage. 2. Cain's greater weight at the time of hatching. It usually also hatches from the larger egg. 3. The aggressiveness of the chicks towards each other. 4. The acceptance of intimidation by the inferior chick, even when there is virtually no difference in weight (e. g. in translocation experiments), to the extent that this chick hardly ventures to take part in feedings. 5. The scant attention paid by the female to the second chick. given its smaller size and, above all, its greater clumsiness in taking food due to its retarded development, shows that it holds a waning power of attraction. The food supply plays no part in this. At this time lhe nest contains an ample supply of prey. Up to now there has been much disagreement over the meaning of second-egg laying, leading as a rule to the fledging of only one young, and over the significance of Cainism within the framework of evolution in this and other eagle species. None of the attempts to explain it so far published is really convincing. One possible explanation for the phenomenon of Cainism may well be that the species is at an evolutionarily intermediate stage of transition from two-egg to one-egg clutches. For unknown reasons, and in contrast to earlier times, the raising of one young per breeding season is today sufficient to maintain the species. At a later stage in the course of its evolution this species, which at present lays a second egg clearly smaller than the first – one could regard this as vestigial – may well confine itself to laying no more than one egg per clutch. https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... a_pomarina
Time of incubation After 38-41 days' incubation the chicks hatch in the first half of June .The hatching process takes 24-28 hours (Hoffmann 1938, Meyburg 1970).
Oology
The egg and everything
How chicks learn for life before they hatch and some birds don't color their eggs until after Easter. by Thomas Krumenacker: viewtopic.php?p=900480#p900480
Migration Juvenile LSE
Orientation of native versus translocated juvenile lesser spotted eagles (Clanga pomarina) on the first autumn migration
Bernd-U. Meyburg,1,* Ugis Bergmanis,2 Torsten Langgemach,3 Kai Graszynski,4 Arno Hinz,5 Ingo Börner,6 Christiane Meyburg,7 and Wouter M. G. Vansteelant8,9
The ontogeny of migration routines used by wild birds remains unresolved. Here we investigated the migratory orientation of juvenile lesser spotted eagles (LSE; Clanga pomarina) based on translocation and satellite tracking. Between 2004 and 2016, 85 second-hatched juveniles (Abels) were reared in captivity for release into the declining German population, including 50 birds that were translocated 940 km from Latvia. In 2009, we tracked 12 translocated juveniles, as well as eight native juveniles and nine native adults, to determine how inexperienced birds come to use strategic migration routes.Native juveniles departed around the same time as the adults and six of eight used the eastern flyway around the Mediterranean, which was used by all adults. In contrast, translocated juveniles departed on average 6 days before native LSEs, and five travelled southward and died in the central Mediterranean region. Consequently, fewer translocated juveniles (4/12) than native juveniles (7/8) reached Africa. We conclude that juvenile LSEs have a much better chance of learning the strategic southeastern flyway if they leave at an appropriate time to connect with experienced elders upon departure. It is not clear why translocated juveniles departed so early. Regardless, by the end of the year, most juveniles had perished, whether they were translocated (10/12) or not (6/8). The small number of surviving translocated juveniles thus still represents a significant increase in the annual productivity of the German LSE population in 2009.
Juvenile lesser spotted eagle cannot find migration route to Africa without aid of older birds
Juvenile eagles need older, experienced birds to travel successfully to Africa. This is the conclusion of a German research team in a study on lesser spotted eagles. University of Amsterdam (UvA) researcher Wouter Vansteelant analysed the data of juvenile eagles with satellite tags. Their findings were published on Wednesday, 2 August in the Journal of Experimental Biology.