Latvian WtE nest webcamera Juras-erglis: Discussions

White-tailed eagles in Latvia

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Re: Latvian WtE nest webcamera Juras-erglis: Discussions

Post by ame »

The strange eagles, their identification and participation in the events

1. A ringed Latvian eagle visited with another eagle, first in the evening on March 28, and then in the next morning March 29.

2. Mr X on March 29 - April 2 (and probably till Apr 5).

3. Mr Z on April 5. Mr Z had a tail with a lot of black.
A big fight in the evening of April 5. After the fight Mr Z was not seen again and probably not Mr X either. It is also possible that the unknown fighter was not Mr X but the next stranger who came on the next day:

4. On April 6 in the morning a stranger whose tail didn't seem to match with the tails of Mr X or Mr Z visited Milda twice. He started his calls with a few chip-chip's but continued with normal voice. In the late afternoon a silent stranger visited and rolled the eggs while Milda was out (Anonymous stranger or "Egg-Roller"). He left without showing his tail. He was probably the unknown fighter in the previous evening. It remains unclear who this eagle was, but it is probable that he was the eagle who got the next 'name':
Mr W on Apr 7 - April 8.

5. Mr C or Chips was heard calling in the evening of Apr 7.
Apr 8 a big fight in the morning. In the afternoon Mr W visited the last time.
In the evening Chips came in for the first time after the fight.
He stayed and became a surrogate father for the two chicks who hatched.

6. An unidentified stranger (probably Mr L) caused an alarm at the nest and the nest life was derailed off its delicate balance on Apr 25. Chips stole the crow which he had brought on the previous day.

Apr 26 in the morning Milda left the nest and the chicks died. Chips stayed overnight incubating the last egg, but Milda abandoned the nest. She had done an unbelievably heroic effort in managing to incubate two of the three eggs to hatchlings almost alone, with some help from the unexpected surrogate father. Taking care of chicks in such restless circumstances proved too difficult. It seemed as if she had come to the conclusion that it's impossible to go on any further.

Apr 27 Mr L made his first visit on the nest in the evening. All evening and all night three eagles called, Milda, Chips and a male with normal voice.
Apr 28 Chips visited twice, Milda was absent.
Apr 29 in the morning Mr L and Chips visited the nest in turns. During the day all tree eagles, Milda, Chips and Mr L called a lot outside our view in the forest. Both made short visits at the nest. Milda visited once.
Apr 30 Chips visited the nest in the morning of and flew away at 7:35. He looked tired and 'mentally' beaten but seemingly not physically injured. We never saw or heard him again.
Mr L stayed on the nest longer and later. in the evening Milda called in the forest with a male with normal voice.
May 1 onward only Mr L stayed in the territory with Milda.
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Post by ame »

Some of these males were clearly certain individuals but some questions still remain.
The clear cases are the Latvian eagle, Mr Z and Chips. The Latvian was the only stranger with a ring. Mr Z had most black on his tail and thus it differed clearly from the tails of the other males. Chips had quite a unique voice which helped to identify him even when he was invisible. His strange chip-chip-voice was perhaps due to the injury or disease which had deformed his beak. He also had a black spot inside his mouth on the left side of the lower mandible. This spot was not often visible but even when his beak was closed one could identify him because his jaws were twisted, giving him a strange look.

Unclear cases are the following:
- Can Mr X be any of the other eagles who came later, (excluding Mr Z and Chips)? His tail patterns were not clearly different from those of Mr Z, and the "Egg-Roller" didn't show his tail so the tails don't give an answer to this question. Here's a picture of the right wing of Mr X. Compared to the right wings of the other eagles (pictures below) the feather pattern seems to be much more 'multicoloured' than theirs and the lengths of the feathers don't seem to match with the lengths of feathers of other eagles. Therefore i think it's fairly safe to say that Mr X didn't return after he left.
Image

- Who was the eagle who fought with Mr Z on Apr 5th? Mr X was seen at the nest for the last time certainly on Apr 2. After that he probably (but not certainly) visited also on Apr 3, 4, and 5. Mr Z arrived on Apr 5 and he was seen clearly only then. In the evening of the same day there was the big fight under the nest tree. Mr Z was one of the fighters (in the beginning he was on the nest), but it remained unclear who the other fighter was. Perhaps it was still Mr X, or perhaps already Mr W ("Egg-Roller").

- In the morning of Apr 6 a stranger visited. His tail didn't seem to match with the tail of Mr Z but was he Mr X? Or was he the eagle who returned later in the afternoon and rolled the eggs silently, the "Egg-Roller"? He didn't show his tail well enough.

- Was the eagle who rolled the eggs silently on Apr 6 ("Egg-Roller") the same eagle who was at the nest on the following days, namely Mr W? The "Egg-Roller" didn't show his tail nor the left wing so we have to try to compare the right wings.
Image

It is very probable that these are one and same eagle, but not certain. Mr W 'liked' to roll the eggs, too. - Chips banished Mr W in the big fight in the morning of Apr 8.

This first week of April remains unclear. The smallest group of eagles with which it's possible to describe the events is three: Mr X, Mr Z and Mr W. It seems that none of them returned after they had once flown away.
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Post by ame »

One more question:
- Can Mr L be anyone of the earlier eagles? Mr X and Mr Z and obviously Chips are out of the question, but is it possible that Mr L is the same as Mr W or "Egg-Roller"?

I made pictures to compare the right wings of these eagles.
Image

Image

- As usually pictures of eagles in as similar postures as possible were chosen for the comparisons, and the sizes of the eagles have been adjusted so that they are approximately the same apparent size.

I'm not good in "reading" the feather patterns in the plumage (except in the tails) so I cannot say absolutely sure that Mr L is or is not Mr W/"Egg-Roller". Looking at the above pictures it seems to me more likely that Mr L is neither of them.

Also the long time gap between Mr W/"Egg-Roller" and Mr L, due to the presence of Chips, makes it improbable the Mr L was here earlier than Apr 27. Mr W/"Egg-Roller" was replaced by Chips and Chips was later replaced by Mr L. It doesn't seem likely that Chips would loose a fight against an eagle whom he first won.
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Post by ame »

Analysis (or discussion of the findings)


The breeding cycle of birds is controlled by hormones. In birds living in higher latitudes like WTE the breeding cycle is probably triggered by the change in the length of the daylight. Also the average temperature must play a strong role: in lower latitudes WTE begin their breeding earlier than in the north.

Successive events during the breeding trigger appropriate activities in birds, also those who prepare to breed for the first time. They "know by instinct" what to do. The readiness for action is caused by hormonal changes and different actions are triggered specific key stimuli. In much simplified words for example the appearance of eggs triggers incubation, chick's cheeping triggers feeding etc.

The sexual maturation takes several years for the WTE and it is very probable that all eagles except the youngest (1 - 3 winters old) are influenced by the hormonal changes. It seems that also maturing subadults become "intoxicated" by the sex hormones almost in the same way as mature adults, but in their case this does not lead to actual breeding yet. However, the rise in the sex hormone levels makes young single eagles more active and they begin to look for a partner and a territory. The increased levels of sex hormones also seem to make them susceptible for other breeding-oriented behaviour, for example males try to mate with females who, however, on their part refuse it (Ansis with Egle in 2016, Raimis with several females in 2017).

Sometimes during a stranger's visit Milda flew out of the nest and the stranger could land on the nest. The strangers were very interested in the eggs and almost all rolled them but didn't harm them. Some of the strangers also arranged the nest materials which visiting eagles very often do, including the youngest. Even egg and chick care activities are possible as Chips showed in our case.

An eagle's nest is visible from far so it is easy for eagles to find it. Strange eagles visit the nest occasionally all along the year but in the spring the frequency of visits clearly increases. In springs 2016 and 2017 our nest had no permanent inhabitants and was thus more attractive than normally. 36 of the 60 observed visitors in these two springs (60 %) were sporadic or random visitors (came only once or twice and alone) and the rest (40 %) of the visitors were single subadults or adults who were interested in the opposite sex ('dating eagles'). 16 eagles out of the total of 60 (27 %) were of ages 1 - 3 winters. All of them were sporadic visitors. The rest, i.e. 44 eagles (73% of all) were old enough to be presumably under the influence of increased sex hormone levels at least to some extent. All dating eagles were 5 CY or older (24 eagles) and can be considered to come with motivation induced by their hormonal status. The age class 5 CY (4 winters old) was the largest (23 eagles of total 60 visitors, 38 %).

This spring Milda had 6 visitors who were interested in the nest activities and can thus be classified as dating eagles (or 7 visitors if "Egg-Roller" was not the same eagle as Mr W). Besides them a very young eagle (probably 3 CY ) visited her on Apr 2 for about 3 min. This was a typical sporadic visitor who didn't stay longer to see what was going on at the nest. One eagle of a total of 7 eagles is 14 % which is only about half of the proportion of visitors than of the corresponding age group in springs 2016 and 2017. The reduction is probably due to the continuous presence of an older eagle at the nest. The youngest eagles may have been too shy to visit when a senior was there. - It is also quite possible that this one young eagle visited Milda only by "accident". It's very possible that all other and/or older sporadic visitors avoided coming to the nest because they saw that Milda was sitting on there. Only those who had serious intentions of conquering the nest were bold (impudent) enough to fly in.

Mr Z had most dark in his tail. He was probably 5 CY old. The rest were probably 6 CY old, or MR L is perhaps one year older than the others. That would make him about the same age as Milda and Raimis were when they stayed here in 2017.

The high population density of eagles in Kurzemē and the hormonal activity explain why in the spring there have been so many eagles flying around and ready to visit our nest in the spring times. This year the nest was occupied and thus it should have been less attractive for visitors. The surprise was that the first stranger arrived only about 24 hours after Raimis flew away for the last time. This may indicate that single eagles in the surroundings keep a constant eye on the occupied territories and nests and are ready to react when a vacancy appears.
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Post by ame »

Milda waited for Raimis to return and defended the nest against intruders. She kept sitting on her eggs for a week without a break until on the 7th day she made a few short outings, probably for to seek Raimis. On the 8th day she flew out for a short time once more and then left for feeding. She stayed away for nearly 6 hours and returned with a full crop. In the following days she flew out when the forest was quiet and there seemed to be no other eagles around. She was away for shorter times and came back without a really big crop. Sometimes while she was away an eagle was seen flying by over the meadow or in the forest. It's probable that Milda was flying around and looking for Raimis. With time she began to understand that Raimis would not return.

It is possible that the first visitor, a Latvian ringed eagle had something to do with the disappearance of Raimis. It's equally possible that this eagle had nothing to do with the disappearance. The Latvian wasn't alone: he had a companion who didn't come near to the nest. In the next morning, however, the Latvian was replaced by another, unringed eagle, whom we began to call Mr X ('X' as a stranger). After him followed another stranger, and another, and another. More letters were needed to denote the strange variables in this game. The changes from one stranger to another were results of confrontations between these strangers. It seemed that no stranger left voluntarily, without being pushed away. Usually the eagles first "measured" their strengths vocally for a long time even in the darkest night time. If the order of strengths didn't become clear by shouting the eagles solved the question in a fight which usually didn't last long.

For some reason all the strange eagles who came to visit lonely Milda were males. Two of them had a companion who was seen flying by. These were probably females who never came closer to challenge Milda. It is amazing how eagles seem to know the sex of other eagles over large distances, probably as soon as they see them. We humans had to study long and hard to learn to see which eagle is a female and which is a male and we still sometimes go wrong. I have begun to suspect that there must be some prominent separating signal that eagles see but we don't. This signal must be visible from far like the "dirty" tails and dark or spotty plumages of the youngest eagles which signal their age. It's possible that it's beneficial for other eagles to see that these youngest eagles are not only sexually immature but also children who may behave unpredictably and may be even dangerous to other eagles.
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Post by ame »

The strange males flew to the nest tree and to the nest with a lot of screaming which made their approach look like an attack. When they landed on the nest they took great care not to touch Milda. Milda reacted to their approaches with similar screaming and shouting. She clearly wanted them to go away, but she didn't actually touch them except very rarely and then also she took care not to harm the intruders. Milda's reaction is quite understandable because she saw the strangers as intruders and defended her nest. During the fights between two strangers they aimed their attacks on each other. Milda stayed aside as well as it was possible in the limited space of the nest. Milda's participation in the attacks was merely defending the nest and the eggs against both strangers who didn't seem to pay any attention to her, only to the other male.

It is somewhat odd that the males behaved in such an aggressive manner towards Milda when they arrived alone at the nest. In springs 2016 and 2017 the dating eagles didn't express aggressive behaviour towards eagles of opposite sex. Their reactions ranged from indifference to positive interest. Robert, the old nest owner who waited for his spouse Durbe in vain was visited by a few young females who were clearly interested in him as a possible mate. Robert didn't "lift a finger" against them in order to banish them. He only turned away from them (and perhaps looked a little embarrassed). Raimis, on the other hand, when visited by a few young females, got so excited that he tried to mount every young lady almost as soon as they landed on the nest. He was pushed away, however, by each one of them. The same happened in 2016: the male Ansis tried to mate with his girlfriend Egle who refused. Based on this one would expect that these single males meeting a lonely female at the nest would behave in a more temperate way than the males this spring did. Only Chips started to behave in a more peaceful manner after his first visits. He stayed quietly on the top branch on his next visits after the first ones. This made Milda calm down, too, and she didn't shout at Chips any more. Probably also the long time which had passed since the disappearance of Raimis had probably made her less rejecting towards a stranger.
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Post by ame »

Chips was different from the other new males not only in his looks and voice but also in his behaviour. He was mentally the most mature of the males and he assumed a substitute father's role with all the duties. He rolled the eggs but this was not special yet, so did the other males, too, when they had the chance. In addition to this Chips started bringing nest materials like parents, especially males, do in the early part of the breeding till long after chicks hatch. Milda let him take incubation turns while she flew out for feeding and Chips never flew away before he saw that Milda was returning. Chips even stayed on the eggs over night many times without hesitation. - It is, however, difficult to say if Chips was more eager to do stay overnight than the other males whom we have observed, or was Milda, in her new situation, more inclined to leave and let him stay in the evening than when she had the true father of the eggs with her. In earlier years Raimis often seemed very ready and willing to stay on the eggs in the evening but Milda pushed him away in a very determined manner. Sometimes Raimis (and Sartas once at Lake Lubāns nest in 2014) stayed all night so it is not totally exceptional.

The first chick hatched in the night of Apr 21, two weeks after Chips had come. In the evening Chips made two food deliveries. The first was a piece of something which he had mostly eaten himself. After that he brought a small fish. In the next morning he made two more food deliveries. Chips also tried to feed the chicks with some success when Milda left him alone with them.

The arrival of the next stranger, Mr L, derailed fatally the balance at the nest. Chips became so upset about the situation that he forgot his duties as a "father" to protect the chicks and the nest. He wasn't, after all, strongly enough bonded to his adopted family with which he had lived for only two weeks. Instead he retarded to the young single eagle's behaviour and secured the available food for himself. (At the similar phase of the new relationship with Milda the young immature Raimis used to fly away with his food when he saw that Milda was coming). The end result of this turn of the events was not a surprise. The big surprise was that Chips adopted the father's role in the first place and managed his job as well as he did and as long as this.
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Post by ame »

Another puzzle is what made Mr L to try and win this territory for himself although it must have looked like being occupied by a fairly normal eagle family. We have never so far seen a stranger attacking our breeding families before. Was Mr L's endeavour for conquest a result of saturation (or perhaps even overpopulation) of eagles in Kurzemē? Eagles do fight for territories even to death when the population density is high enough compared to the number of available territories. Or was there something that didn't make Milda's and Chips' blended family look like a plausible and strong family, something that made Mr L see that it might be profitable to try his luck? It isn't likely that Mr L had been watching them for a long time without Milda or Chips (and thus us, too) noticing him. He probably started his effort as soon as he arrived to the territory.

Mr L had quite a different strategy in his conquest attempt than the other males before him. He didn't charge straightforward at the nest like the others had done. Instead he stayed at a distance from the nest and Milda and Chips met him in the forest. We barely saw that there was a new eagle on Apr 25 at 13:05. The next time we saw Mr L was on Apr 27 at 20:35 when he flew in and ate the egg. He had no bond with the egg so it was only a piece of food for him. Mr L was virtually invisible during the time when Milda and Chips quarrelled about the crow and the chicks (and the egg) were destroyed when Milda abandoned the nest.

The struggle between Mr L and Chips went on in the forest night and day for three days till Apr 30 when Chips made his last visit on the nest. During the struggle we heard a lot of calls but saw nothing. All three eagles called in the forest. Chips and Mr L made separate visits on the nest but never at the same time in the daylight. On his last visit Chips seemed to be injured and tired, and he also seemed to be mentally beaten. After this visit he seemed to leave for good, not even his voice was heard any more.

It's impossible to say whether the different strategy assumed by Mr L made him win the struggle with Chips. Perhaps Mr L was simply stronger. In 2017 Raimis fought with his competitors at the nest in the "normal" way. Milda fought with her predecessor in the forest. During their struggle both females visited the nest in turns but the actual battle took place somewhere in the forest.
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Post by ame »

On Apr 30 when Chips left in the morning a female and a male called a lot on many occasions in the forest. The eagles were probably Milda and Mr L. In the following it will be assumed that the female voice belonged to Milda and the male voice belonged to Mr L. Mr L visited the nest for a few times alone, also in the evening.

On May 1 in the next night Mr L and Milda both visited the nest in the dark. Later in the morning Mr L visited alone and after that both called in the forest. The whole day was quiet but in the evening Milda and Mr L were heard calling in the forest. In the evening in darkness Mr L arrived to the nest.

On May 2 Mr L left at dawn. Apparently he flew to Milda since soon after his departure they sang many times in the forest. Later on that day Mr L visited the nest in the morning and in the evening.

On May 3 Mr L visited the nest early in the morning and later in the morning he came with a fish which he ate. In the evening Mr L came first, and was soon followed by Milda. After a stay of almost an hour they flew away together. It seemed that Mr L was firmly on the way to regularise his status as Milda's new companion. At the time of writing this (Dec 28) Mr L has confirmed his status even further. We have good prospects of seeing him as the next true spouse of Milda (if nothing unexpected will happen!)
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Post by ame »

Summary


The increased sex hormone levels trigger the breeding cycle of mature adult WTE. At the same time the hormone levels increase also in immature WTE who don't have partners or territories yet, enhancing their activity in breeding oriented behaviour. They look for partners and territories more actively than in other times of the year.

In an area with high population density of WTE a vacancy in a territory will be quickly noticed by even several single eagles. They will compete to occupy the vacancy, possibly in more than one consecutive fights in which the winner banishes the looser who will not return to try again. Males fight with other males and females fight with females.

The case observed here showed that when an opportunity is available an immature eagle may display parental behaviour towards a clutch with which he has no genetic bonds. A single male stepped in as a substitute father when the true father of the clutch disappeared in the middle of the incubation of the eggs. The stepfather assumed the normal father's duties: he brought nest materials, incubated the eggs, brought food to the chicks and fed them. The readiness for such behaviour was most likely been made possible by his increased levels of sex hormones.

The stepfather's bond with the chicks wasn't, however, strong enough to withstand a conquest attempt by another single male and unfortunately the clutch was destroyed. It would have been highly interesting to see how the events would have unfolded without the interference of the next male. The newcomer banished the stepfather and then settled in the territory as the new partner of the female.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
the story begins here:
https://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/vie ... 19#p836019
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Post by ame »

Hubby told me that he would have liked to read more about the time when Chips was with Milda. i think he was right: i should have written more about Chips. his role here was really unique and perhaps the most surprising and interesting.
maybe later. :wave:
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Post by Ajeta »

ame wrote: December 30th, 2021, 2:57 pm ...is it possible that Mr L is the same as Mr W ... ?
If I understood correctly, you named Mr W the eagle who was around and on the nest on April 7th & 8th.

When that eagle left the nest at 20:27 on April 7th (s. pic beow), it spread his tail wonderfully wide and at the upper rim of the tail exhibited a rather unique pattern (for description I called it "chessboard pattern") which could be seen also on Mr L's tail (especially when spread wide), at least during spring.
(It has - partly? - disappeared with the moult since; in fact at one point during summer one of the feathers that presumably helped forming it - dark, with a white spot - could be seen lying on the nest.
Of course it is possible that other male eagles with two thin spots on the tail like Mr L also feature this particular pattern. However, I would rate the probability that two of them showed up here around the same time rather low.)

So that (among other things) is why my answer to the above question would be, yes, Mr W is Mr L.
That Mr L then was defeated by Chips, but returned to try again and succeeded, I would not deem unusual at all. Why should it not be possible that the difference in strength between Chips and Mr L was so little that the first round of fights was simply not decisive? After a bit of rest Mr L finally won the territory he desired.
(He may have needed that rest all the more, if he was around yet earlier, was e.g. the stranger of April 6th, late afternoon, and even possibly the one who fought Mr Z.)

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Post by ame »

yes, it's possible that Mr L is Mr W who returned after being away for 3 weeks.

we have had eagle visitors who have come more than once with longer intervals between the visits that a night or two. the record eagle was Latvian K055 who visited the nest 11 times (or 12? i may have got confused with the count) in 2015 - 2017.
he was a real yo-yo. :mrgreen:
https://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/vie ... 15#p433915
https://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/vie ... 62#p505562

the returning eagles have made their visits with no conflicts. if there has been a conflict or a fight, however, the defeated eagles haven't returned.

the eagles whom i have called Mr W and "Egg-Roller" were here for a short time only and didn't give us really clear pictures. Ajeta's picture of Mr W leaving in dusk and mist is a typical example. "Egg-Roller" didn't show his tail at all.
one detail is missing (perhaps) in the tail of Mr W: the dark spots in the tips of the outermost tail feathers. Mr W doesn't seem to have them and "Egg-Roller" doesn't seem to have those spots either. Mr L has those but, on the other hand, the spots on his tail are not always visible either.
their centre spots also look slightly different. Mr L's spots are thinner than the spots on Mr W, but it is very difficult to say for sure because we have too few good enough pictures of Mr W's tail.
the chequered pattern on Mr L's tail is very variable. sometimes it's there and sometimes not. actually the borderline between the dark and white on Mr L's tail is so variable that it's a bit of a nightmare. :laugh:

due to these two reasons (missing dark spots and non-returning defeated eagles) it seems to me more probable that Mr L is not the reincarnated Mr W.
- but who can say for sure... we don't have enough data. Image
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Post by Liz01 »

ame, thank you for this incredible job :bow:
I haven't read everything yet. But I did a little research.

The egg roller has amber eyes and a scar on his beak. The scar is similar to that of Silva. (Sliteres Nest) But of course it's not Silva. She has light eyes

Mr "egg-roller"
Image

his scar! You would still see the scare. Silva has had her scare since I've been watching her! So it can't be Mr L. Unless he has amber eyes and a scar on the left side of his beak
Image

BTW: Mr W has amber eyes too
I'm a bit confused. Mr Egg Roller is also Mr W?
There were too many eagles for me at the time. But I loved our Mr C. :innocent:
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Post by ame »

Liz01 wrote: January 1st, 2022, 7:11 pm ...
BTW: Mr W has amber eyes too
I'm a bit confused. Mr Egg Roller is also Mr W?
There were too many eagles for me at the time. But I loved our Mr C. :innocent:
i think that Mr W was Egg-Roller but i'm not able to prove or disprove it.
i didn't notice the scar! :slap:

there were too many eagles for anyone and everyone! :faint:
and i loved Chips and his mystical eyes and his osprey voice. :mrgreen:
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Post by Ajeta »

ame wrote: January 1st, 2022, 5:21 pm yes, it's possible that Mr L is Mr W who returned after being away for 3 weeks.
I would distinguish between eagles whom their wanderings more or less accidentally take past this nest repeatedly and those actively and earnestly looking for a territory they can take over.
The fact that no case has been observed here where an eagle returned even after being driven away does not exclude the possibility of it happening. Even more so - as you state - as many of the fights between eagles take place outside our vision. This also means we cannot really know who's tried before and who's a total newcomer. So long as evolutionary laws or the general behaviour of eagles give no reason to exclude it, it can be reckoned with.
Personally I find it rather plausible that eagles looking for a territory linger around (quite outside our vision), make their observations and calculations, even make probing attempts, rather than just rush into battle. And when there exists a chance that a rival could possibly be defeated at the next attempt, well, why leave before that?
On May 9th, you posted a picture of Mr L leaving the nest (at 10:31 ct). In my view, the resemblance to the picture of April 7th I posted above is striking:
https://up.picr.de/41153070ku.jpg
(Incidentally, the minute black spots at the tail feather ends are not visible in your picture either despite excellent light. Or just as barely as on the one of April 7th.)
As I said, it is not the tail only that makes it highly probable that we are talking of one and the same bird from at least April 6th to today. A detailed comparison of the plumage on the wing on the pics you posted would also show more similarities than differences, and the latter mostly due to different camera angle - if I find the time I'll make some pics with arrows and circles and all.
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Post by Sonchik »

I also wanted to analyze the situation with the eagles, but I was in no mood to do it. Nevertheless, I have one message hanging unsent for several months. Probably it's time to send it and return to this topic.

On April 1, the first fight took place near the nest, which could be heard and partially seen. I had already suspected that there was more than one eagle around the nest, but there was no proof. On April 1, even by Milda's behavior, it was clear that one eagle did not cause a reaction (she was used to it), the second eagle unnerved Milda.
In the morning, there was the usual eagle - "pedestrian crossing" (we call it a zebra) or "grand piano".

Image
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Sonchik
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Post by Sonchik »

ame wrote: December 30th, 2021, 2:57 pm One more question:
- Can Mr L be anyone of the earlier eagles? Mr X and Mr Z and obviously Chips are out of the question, but is it possible that Mr L is the same as Mr W or "Egg-Roller"?

I made pictures to compare the right wings of these eagles.
Image

Image

- As usually pictures of eagles in as similar postures as possible were chosen for the comparisons, and the sizes of the eagles have been adjusted so that they are approximately the same apparent size.

I'm not good in "reading" the feather patterns in the plumage (except in the tails) so I cannot say absolutely sure that Mr L is or is not Mr W/"Egg-Roller". Looking at the above pictures it seems to me more likely that Mr L is neither of them.

Also the long time gap between Mr W/"Egg-Roller" and Mr L, due to the presence of Chips, makes it improbable the Mr L was here earlier than Apr 27. Mr W/"Egg-Roller" was replaced by Chips and Chips was later replaced by Mr L. It doesn't seem likely that Chips would loose a fight against an eagle whom he first won.
Either over the past time I have forgotten how to understand eagles, or there is the same eagle in all the photos. This is ridiculous. :mrgreen:
Ajeta
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Post by Ajeta »

ame wrote: December 30th, 2021, 2:49 pm Nordri's passing was a great loss for us in the forum but i'm sure it was even more so for his loved ones. my thoughts have been with his family and 'real' friends many times during the weeks after we heard the news. my deepest condolences to them.
Saw this post by chance only now.
I don't understand it: There sure is no rivalry of sadness between here and Nordri's loved ones? I am convinced they would be comforted to know that he is much missed everywhere he used to be.
I feel sorry that there seems to be felt a need for - however indirect - criticism when users express sadness over the loss of a member.
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Liz01
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Post by Liz01 »

Ajeta wrote: January 4th, 2022, 1:27 pm..
There is a "social corner" for that!
https://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/viewforum.php?f=8
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