Science news from the Year of the Great Tit are edited by Marko Mägi, researcher at the University of Tartu bird ecology department

Photo Uku Paal

Estonian text published 27.09.2016

A part of birds fly for winter to remote southern countries while others don’t take the trouble to go on a long journey and when winter arrives remain in place or stray to a smaller extent towards south or north. Such migrating birds which also include the tits that breed here are called roving migrants and they are seen in the literal sense of the word roving around, searching for the best wintering places. True, there are tits that go towards southern areas but in that case too not very far. The reason may be that compared to long-distance migrants the length of the wings of tits, considering body size, became relatively short during evolution since short distances can be travelled also with short wings.

Transmission courtesy of  Elisa and EENet

Video recorded by  Fleur, LK forum
Translation Liis

Red deer      Punahirv         Cervus elaphus

Red deer gather in bachelor flocks for the winter – the mating period ended about a month ago, the aggressivity of the stags has calmed down and even the neck muscles are not as thick and ready for fight as before.

Winter is spent peacefully but the hierarchy ladder is recognized throughout the year, see the video.

Video recorded by  Aita, LK forum
Translation Liis

Brown trout   Jõeforell or hõrnas   Salmo trutta trutta morpha fario 

Usually it is sufficient for a spawning milt fish, i e a male, to look his competitor squarely in the eye or to push it with his nose, and the smaller curious explorer disappears quickly (this we often see at the spawning ground). In the video the obstreperous individual is punished by a painful tug at the fin.