First time in Estonia passed blood transfusion, passed from one bird to another, saved the life of White-tailed Eagle

In January 11 a sick White-tailed Eagle was taken to the hospital of Estonian Land University and to save its life, blood from a donor eagle was used. Today the sick bird is recovering and is taking solid food already. While the most critical period is over, odds are that this White-tailed Eagle will once go back to wild again.

 Photo: Eesti Maaülikool. Source: delfi.ee

Madis Leivits, a vet from the Land University told, that the bird was found somewhere in the surrounds of Kuusalu. “The arriving bird was in a really lousy condition, head was turned onto the back, it could hardly stand and the preliminary checkup revealed, that the bird was exceptionally light and practically without any musculature.” Blood samples showed very critical picture, something, that even the vets hadn’t seen before. The exact medical history is not known this very moment, but it can be expected that the bird was exposed to some kind of poison, contamination, contagious disease or the reason was victual. All earlier experiences from Estonia and worldwide suggested, that a sick bird in such a bad condition should be put down. However, Estonian vets tried something unconventional. “We decided to try out blood transfusion from another bird, as another bird was just available for this quick procedure and so we gave the blood of one bird to another,” said Leivits.

The eagle has left the intensive care by now and the post-transfusion period has been going fine. “Our goal is to let the bird back to the wild again, where it can carry on its activities,” told the vet.

Watch the video of the eagle under the treatment...

Birds of prey monitoring in Estonia, 2014

The working group for birds of prey, part of the Estonian Ornithological Society, continued the monitoring of breeding and reproductive success of birds of prey during 2014. The project aims to monitor the condition of three orders: Accipitriformes, Falconiformes and Strigiformes hence inluding all birds of prey and owls. The project has followed roughy the same format since 1988 and has been part of the Estonian National Environmental Monitoring Programme since 1994. The raptors were monitored in 15 plots all over Estonia with two of the most threatened species - Goshawk and Eagle Owl - also monitored outside these areas. In all 526 breeding territories were recorded, belonging to 18 species including 11 species of Accipitriformes, 2 species of Falconiformes and 5 species of Strigiformes.

The abundance of Honey Buzzard and Hobby, both of which depend on insects to a large extent, was lower than in the previous year due to the cold and rainy beginning of the summer, but still exceeded the average. The abundance of Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Montagu’s Harrier and Marsh Harrier, which feed on small rodents, was also lower than last year, but did not fall below the long-term average. The abundance of Lesser Spotted Eagle, Sparrowhawk and Eurasian Pygmy Owl remain around average but the abundance of Hen Harrier continues at very low levels.

 Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium passerinum) / Valeri Štšerbatõh

 Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina) / Mati Kose

In contrast, the previous warm and snowless winter was truly favourable to Tawny Owl and Ural Owl, occurring here year-round, as both species’ abundance and reproductive success are increasing. Finding three clutches of Great Grey Owl after last winter's high levels of immigration was really noteworthy.

 Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula) / Luke Massey

14 breeding territories of Goshawk, unknown up to now and 31 new nests were discovered. Although the number of successful breeders was lower, the number of nestlings per clutch was higher than average.

Suitable areas in nature reserves were checked for Eagle Owls with 15 potentially suitable areas discovered.  in all, 18 breeding areas of this rare owl were found, but only 3 breeding attempts were recorded - fortunately all were successful.

A PRELIMINARY overview of monitoring for Raptors in Estonia. Read here ...

Greater Spotted Eagle will be better protected in Estonia

The Minister confirmed the Greater Spotted Eagle protection Action Plan, which aims to stop the worldwide decline in numbers of this endangered species and maintain the number at 5-10 breeding pairs as the minimum.

To protect the species more effectively it is important to learn more about the species' way of life and provide them with suitable conditions.

The biggest threat to the survival of Greater Spotted Eagle here is hybridisation with Lesser Spotted Eagles, which is 10 times more abundant. It is difficult to prevent such pairs forming but imporving the habitat for Greater Spotted Eagle may help.

Greater Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga) / Source: Wikipedia

Greater Spotted Eagle is the rarest eagle species occurring in Estonia, and numbers are declining worldwide placing it in the group of the rarest bird species in the highest need of protection. In recent years preservation of Greater Spotted Eagles' nest sites has improved a lot, as many previously unknown nesting sites have been identified and protected. For the same reason the risk of disturbing birds during the breeding season has also decreased.

The first protection plan for the Greater Spotted Eagle was drawn up in 1999, the second in 2005, and the newly approved plan is a further improvement on previous ones.

Spring tracking

Last week we were out to "do the pathfinder" ... we were walking on a forest ride and made a small detour, say 25 km, with the car. Raili took along her camera, albeit slightly tired one, and shot some frames. There was happening this and that during the three hours and we have proof. We reckon the afternoon was really awesome.
 

The Lynx likes to cilmb up onto heaps and stacks. 

It has been here about 4-5 days ago

 

Spraying mark, left at about the same time

We didn't see any Black Grouse, but a beautiful pair of the White-taled Eagles astounded us - they were sitting about 150 metres away in a hayfield... Adults - while starting away they showed clearly white quills on their tails. Sorry for  unconvenience, but the camera did not allow to get better results :)

 

Two Hazel Grouse were flying across the road. It was exactly the same place where we saw one sitting on a tree couple of months ago. 

But nothing compared to Elk footprints - there were so many of them, just to your heart's content. The young ones together with adults. It looks like there are really many elks in the neighbourhood. Soon the sap is flowing and the young shoots must be really sweet. Recent clearcuts are for sure the best places for a quick snack. Up to a dozen animals at a time can be a common sight here.

Some turmoil as been here ... the glade and the forest 

are covered with footprints and droppings

Someone has been mad on the juniper bush here - 

maybe the antlers were iching?

A little bit later we saw the youngster itself. A tad too far, but recognizable on the picture. It didn't dare to come closer and we were impatient too.

For a while a fox was nurturing our eye, but it was too far away. We were watching with binoculars how it was digging in the snow to find mice. Every now and then we could see only its bottom and the tip of the tail :)

Beautiful birch grove in the dim evening light

Here you can see, if you strain your eyes, another elk pretty close in the shrub - it was dusky already. Both met elks were juveniles.

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Last Sunday Raili was taking pictures in the same locations.

Very fresh footprints of a Lynx

Elks right at the roadside

These two elks have captured somewhere else. One birder had seen couple of weeks ago even 18 elks at a time on these clear-cuts!!!

Yesterday when feeding the birds I heard famiiar drumming. I brought quickly my binoculars and there it was - the White-Backed Woodpecker was eating again in the corner of my garden! In the birdfeeder there was usual hubhub - Redpolls, Bullfinches, Greenfinches, Jays, House Sparrows, Bluetits, Great Tits, Marsh Tits, Nuthatches, for a while also Bramblings. These days I do not see much of Great Spotted Woodpecker any more. Starlings haven't been here yet, but the spring is almost here.

Migration Map News – Summary of Autumn Migration

It is always fascinating to see what the birds we are following on Migration Map are doing and we started the autumn following 23 birds 7 of which were juveniles. The largest proportion of juveniles was amongst Common Cranes but we know well that due to natural selection a large proportion of juveniles do not reach their wintering grounds and only two cranes, Ahja2 and Juula2 have made it. Both of them are wintering in Tunisia, though Ahja2 spent last winter in Turkey. Changes of wintering grounds have also been recorded amongst Finnish Cranes.

One of five Ospreys, Ilze form Latvia, perished in Calabria, southern Italy. She was probably shot and injured and did not recover. Unfortunately the transmitter was not found, though twice our Italian colleagues tried to locate it. A second Latvian Osprey, Eriks, was lost in Gabon in October. We hope he is out of network area and will be visible again when he starts his spring migration. Estonian Ospreys winter in Africa, Ilmar in SW Angola, Piret and Erika in Sudan. Piret was also out of network area for 40 days until she went 200km northwards to winter. Piret made an interesting about turn on her migration when she reached the Sahara and turned suddenly turned back travelling 1200km. At the moment there is no data about what the weather was like at that point there, but something induced such a long extra trip. Her journey back to the Nile Delta seemed to be a struggle against dominant northerly winds.

The Black Storks are wintering in their usual places, Raivo near the fish ponds in the Jordan Valley, Priidu in Sudan and Central African Republic and Pirsu in Chad and Cameroon.

The juvenile White-tailed Eagles, Sillu and Meelis, did not migrate much (we think), but the transmitters on them are not working very well, and we don’t know their most recent movements. The last positions we have from November are that Sillu was in the Kaliningrad region of Russia and Meelis was on the Russian coast of Pskov Lake. We hope to see the birds again when they return in spring.

Among Greater Spotted Eagles probably the most interesting is the juvenile Tore, who we believe to be the brother of Tõnn. We lost him in Switzerland, after he was observed for a long time near Lake Constance by local bird watchers. We suspect the problems with the transmitter maybe shortage of sun light for the solar charger. Tõnn and Iti are wintering in their usual sites. Sander is the first GSE we followed from Estonia and is wintering in Africa. The wintering site of the Osprey Piret is only some 200 km SE of Sander.

Lesser Spotted Eagles Karin and Magnus made typical migrations for their species and arrived in southern Africa. The wintering area is large, including several countries (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, South-African Republic). The hybrid Spotted Eagle Luule hit serious problems trying to cross the Ionian Sea from Greece to Sicily in December and sadly may have drowned. 

It is only a couple of weeks before some of these birds may start their spring migration...
Click here to see migration map...

Source:  Estonian Ornithological Society / The Eagle Club

Coming soon! Eagles and more – a taste of an Estonian Winter

Sun 3rd March – Thu 7th March
Thu 7th March- Mon 11th March
Mon 11th March- Fri 15th March

If you want to join Luke Massey photographing eagles in the snow as well as other Estonian wildlife next March, we will be announcing an exiting holiday very soon. Visit our website by choosing Wildlife Photography from the left menu or contact us to signup the Newsletter... 

Estonia is an up and coming destination for wildlife photography. Boasting fantastic species such as European lynx and wolves, white tailed eagles, wild boar and elk. All of which you may get the chance to photograph if you visit Estonia already this Winter.

The main focus of the trip will be photographing white tailed eagles and anything else that visits the fantastic feeding site, from golden eagles to wolves! Based in the south east of Estonia, a land of pine forests and wetlands and a hotspot for a wide range of mammals and birds.

See video that has been filmed in the Eagle hide...

Our small hide is specially designed for photographers having space for a maximum of 2 persons. The hide is well-insulated and has gas heating, so even if it is -30C outside, it will be warm and cosy inside. The hide has been designed by some of Estonia’s best wildlife photographers making it perfect for photography. Visitors will be able to take a wide range of images, from naturally perched eagle shots to eagles on the ground as well as being perfectly situated to have birds flying directly towards the hide.

In winter, the hide is usually visited by 2-4 eagles daily. Sometimes Golden Eagles and Buzzards are also in attendance, along with red foxes, raccoon dogs and even wolves. Photographing the eagles in winter allows for the opportunity to photograph them with snow on the ground and if you’re really lucky falling snow.

When not in the hide, you’ll have the opportunity to try and photograph the local birdlife, from black woodpeckers to crested tits and many more in between. Along with this opportunity a local guide will take you to a number of different habitats in search of a wide range of animals and birds.

This year, for the first time, eagle feeding started in mid-August. The result has been amazing! In September it was common for 5-7 individual birds to visit the feeding site, along with raccoon dogs, red foxes and wolves. The feeding site has not only allowed fantastic eagle photographs to be taken, but also valuable research has taken place, recording ringed birds, the amount of juveniles and behaviour. With 2012’s earlier feeding period this has now hopefully lengthened the season that the hide can be open. Follow the updates on the eagles on Twitter, Facebook and our blog.  

Estonian Eagles by Luke Massey...