What´s new this season? Steller´s Eiders, owls and a Lynx

Steller´s Eiders usually arrive at their wintering grounds off Saaremaa Island between late November and last week of December. This winter the first flock seen in Estonia were 43 birds flying along the North-Estonia coast on 8th December, while a small group of 15 birds were located at the main wintering area already following day.  Over the coming weeks numbers should grow to 300-500 birds.

Steller's Eider / Photo: Mati Martinson

We are delighted to say that our popular Steller’s Eider trip is proving more popular than ever this year with two trips already full!!  More people are showing an interest, so for the first time, we have decided to put on a third tour.  As well as seeing Steller’s Eider there are other great birds on offer at this time of year including Ural and Pygmy Owl and with a bit of luck perhaps even Hawk Owl plus Nutcracker and several woodpecker species. Tour dates are 19th- 22nd February and you can book flights from London Gatwick with Easyjet, or from other airports with Finnair, SAS, Ryanair or Air Baltic.

If you prefer to book through a UK agent so everything is included there are still places left with Wise Birding Holidays  from 26th Feb – 2nd March 2016 while Sunbird, Birdfinders and Naturetrek are also offering trips to see Steller’s Eider, owls and other forest bird species such as grouse. For the first time, Spainbirds will be visiting Estonia with a trip in March, their tour is already fully booked! With private groups booking too it seems that Estonia and Estonian Nature Tours are very popular in winter 2016!!

The situation with Owls seems to be great this winter, especially  our most common forest owls. Although Ural Owls are mainly nocturnal, in some winters they tend to show themselves also at daytime and we have been enjoying lots of such sighting this December. We think that January and February are likely to be the best months to observe hunting Ural Owls in Estonia. Some of the more unusual owl species have been reported during the last month too with at least four Hawk Owls found so far this winter and even a Great Grey Owl in the north-east.

Pygmy Owl / Photo: Remo Savisaar

Winter time is not only a good time for owls, but also for several raptors and, due to the rather mild winter conditions, Rough-legged Buzzards and Hen Harriers have been surprisingly numerous this winter.

We are also continuing to work on developing our exciting Eurasian Lynx trip. The very first Lynx tour, which we ran with Wise Birding Holidays in early March 2015, was incredibly successful.  Such a species is never going to be guaranteed on any trip but we are working to develop this trip to increase the chances to an even higher level... we have some ideas, so definitely stay on the line. Wise Birding still have a few places on their 2016 trip, take a look and click here to make a booking...

Wise Birding tour report 2015: Pygmy Owl and Mr Lynx were seen in first 2.5 hours! Read more...

Fantastic Great Grey Owl story

Written by Kaarel Võhandu

Early spring, Thursday night in Estonia. We have just arrived from Saaremaa Island with a group of visiting birders, where we watched Steller's Eiders. The tour has been excellent with lots of interesting species. In addition to Steller's Eiders we have seen Hawfinch, 10 Rough-legged Buzzards, two Pygmy Owls, Cranes, several Black Woodpeckers, two Grey-headed Woodpeckers and a White-backed Woodpecker. We are one more observation short of another ideal birding day - we need to find a Ural Owl. At sunset we head into the forest. The first hour of searching doesn't produce any results. Hope is fading. We are driving along a forest track, scanning trees when I suddenly spot a silhouette of an owl on a low pine branch. "Got one", I exclaim, hitting the brakes. It is twilight,so few minutes of instructing where to look are needed, before everyone has found it. Luckily the owl cooperates and does not fly away. Finally everyone has found it and I have time to have a look myself. I raise my binoculars just as the owl looks at us. White half-crescent eye-brows, light eyes. "This is not an Ural Owl" I shout. I grab my bird guide from the bag to make sure. The face that looks at me through my bins is exactly the same as in the guide, under headline - Great Grey Owl.

Great Grey Owl video filmed by Ian Moig

The Great Grey Owl sat there for another few minutes, then took off, unfolding its massive wings, showing its true size. We got out of the vans and looked for it with no result. I decided to resume the Ural Owl operation and took out my Ipod and speaker to play its call. But first I played a series of Great Grey Owl calls. From the other edge of the clearing a deep voice answered: "bvoo-bvoo-bvoo". "Its responding", I whispered excitedly to others. Then an Ural Owl voices its opinion about breaking the quiet of the forest. Its "Uhwo wo-ho" sounding almost girly compared to the deep bass of the Great Grey Owl. Now it was a good time to see if I can lure the Ural Owl closer so we can have a look. I play its call. Instead, the Great Grey Owl flies in and lands in the tree just above us. Now he gives a wholehearted "Bvoo-bvoo-bvoo" making the forest ring. Ural Owl does the smart thing and shuts up. We listen to the deep calls for a few more minutes and then depart quietly, leaving the majestic bird to rule the forest.

Great Grey Owl is very rare in Estonia. In recent years there has been only one sighting per year. This one was a 3rd total observation in Läänemaa (western county of Estonia) and the first singing bird for Läänemaa.

Thank You, Kaarel for a great job!

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 ...

Birdwatching in Estonia – even better than Poland!

„I was encouraged to go to Estonia after winning a free bearwatching excursion in an ‘Estonian Nature Tours’ competition, but also because I’d always wondered why every birder who’s been to this country raves about it. In fact it exceeded our expectations. On the face of it, Estonia might seem very similar to Poland, with a similar list of species minus aquatic warblers, collared flycatchers and some others. But, having been to both countries, I think Estonia is better. It’s just chock full of birds!

Estonia is surely one of the most relaxing foreign excursions a UK birder could take. English is universally spoken (fluently!), everyone is helpful, it’s very safe and crime-free, the roads are almost empty  and there is a general cleanness and efficiency about the place.

At the bear hide, we were the only visitors, since the bears were reported to have left the area and not been seen for a week (they returned a couple of days after our visit). The forest was deathly silent as we waited; a Red Fox paced the boundary, then vanished. Then at 10pm to our amazement a Great Grey Owl appeared and began hunting right in front of the hide! This Estonian rarity was presumably hunting rats attracted by the  carcasses left out for the bears, and after watching it for nearly an hour, it pounced on something and flew off. Two Raccoon Dogs also came to feed in front of the hide, and the owl reappeared for a time in the early hours of the morning. So, no bears, but a very good night’s work!“ P.C. / UK, May-June 2012

Photo: Robin Dryden

Photo: Robin Dryden

Photo: Robin Dryden

Photo: Robin Dryden

Photo: Robin Dryden

Photo: Robin Dryden

Photo: Robin Dryden

 Great Grey Owl / Paul Cropper

In total, 174 species of birds seen during a trip. The mentioned observation of Great Grey Owl has been submitted for an approval to Estonian Rarities Committee. On average, five times a year Great Grey Owl has been seen in recent years.