Also this year we will continue to watch live broadcasts from two lesser spotted eagle nests in Zemgale. They are among the eight live bird broadcasts provided by the Latvian Fund for Nature, which delight people in Latvia and around the world.
One of the live nests has been known since July 2017, when one young bird was found there. It is built in a birch at a height of about 20 metres. Judging by the material of the nest, it is at least five years old (the lower parts are already partially split). The online camera system was deployed at this location in the spring of 2018. Later, during the nesting season, a pair of lesser spotted eagles stayed in the nest, but the nesting did not start. In 2019, nesting was started, the female laid one egg, but it did not hatch. An experiment to move a baby eagle to this nest was performed, when ornithologists placed a second nestling from another nest of the lesser spotted eagle in this nest to save it from the carnage characteristic of this species. The experiment was not successful and the nestling died.
The other nest is located on the western side of Zemgale. It was found in 2018. The nest is built in a spruce at a height of 17 metres, on a stable three-pronged branch. In terms of location, it can be assessed as a typical lesser spotted eagle's nest – about half of all lesser spotted eagle's nests in Latvia are located in spruce, and a large part of them is built in such places, where the branches have formed several new treetops at the trunk fracture. Judging by the size of the nest and the condition of the material, the nest is at least five years old. In 2019, the nest delighted spectators with harmonious nesting – a couple of eagles Anna and Andris raised one nestling, which grew up calmly, in conditions of abundance of food and flew out successfully.
Live broadcasts can be viewed on the LDF YouTube channel, as well as www.dabasdati.lv and www.ldf.lv/tiesraides.
