Estonian impressions - part 3

The main time of my visit I stayed at the headquarters of Karula Nationalpark in Võru County. All the pics below are from this small nationalpark that actually only covers about 12 squarekilometers. It is a hilly area and consists of pineforest, several bogs, lots of ponds, beaver-dams and a few lakes.

Male White-backed Woodpecker, 16/6. Photo by Nichols Bell. New species for me!

Chick of Hazel Grouse, 16/6-11. Video above is by Nicholas Bell. Another new species for me only half an our after the woodpecker.

Bog with loads of different insects e.g....

Annex IV dragonfly - Epitheca bimaculata.

Happy camper Casper Katborg with the Epitheca bimaculata.

Nutcracker

Annex IV water beetle - Dytiscus latissimus.

Flooded area due to a Beaver-dam. Estonia has a population of about 40.000 Beavers.

Bufo viridens/esculenta

Osprey and White-tailed Sea-eagle in infight, 17/6.

Local estonian woman working in her vegetable garden.

Laus Gro-Nielsen in an observation-tower raised 40 meters above the ground.

Red-breasted Flycatcher 3cy+ male, 16/6-11. This species seemed rather common in all types of forest.

Nicholas Bell while spraying insect-repellent on himself. Estonia has lots of mosquitos.

Golden Oriole

Limenitis populi

Sauna

Cirsium helenioides

Capercaille-shit

Estonian impressions - part 2

The first brief stop of our trip (11/6-11) at a minor river in Lahemaa NP resulted in a Blyth´s Reed Warbler, two Corncrakes, a Spotted Crake, a Red-backed Shrike, a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a Lesser Spotted Eagle, a River Warbler, Common Rosefinches and Clouded Apollos (Parnassius mnemosyne). A good start!

Common Rosefinch is very common in Estonia...

Temporary (!), karstic lake near Lahemaa NP, 11/6-11.

The karstic lakes had good populations of Spade-toed Frog but no tadpoles could be found which was not suprising the size of the lake taken into consideration.

On 12/6 a boat-trip was in the vast Emajögi swamp was arranged. The swamp covers almost 1000 km2 and lies on the estonian bank of the gigantic Lake Pepsi. See more pics from Estonia on Mads Fjeldsøs picasa album.

 A few Black Terns were seen in a small colony on one the river-arms.

 Leucorrhinia pectoralis, Emajögi, 12/6-11.

Wood Warbler, Emajögi, 12/6-11. This species is one of the commonest birds in Estonia. On a 5 km walk through the forest depicted below approximately 50 birds were heard singing.

 Typical estonian forest with, Emajögi, 12/6-11.

Iris spuria, Emajögi, 12/6-11.

 White Storks are ubiquitous in Estonia with a seemingly ever-increasing population.

 

On our way back to Tallinn (17/6-11) we made a stop for lunch near some gravel-pits where Little Ringed Plovers and Wrynecks were seen.

Lesset Spotted Eagle, Otepa, 13/6-11. About 500 pairs of Lesser Spotted Eagles is found in Estonia. I saw only about 5-10 birds during my visit. Greater Spotted Eagle breeds with approximately 5 pairs and is together with Willow Ptarmigan the most likely birds to go extinct in Estonia in near future.

Black Storks, Haania, 16/6-11. Four Black Storks were seen on the trip. The species breeds with 70-80 pairs in Estonia which is considerably less than previously assumed. Furthermore the population is declining.

Estonian impressions - part 1

From 10th to 17th of June I was in Estonia on a workshop about habitats for the two Annex IV-species Spade-toed Frog and the dragonfly Leucorrhinia pectoralis. The program also offered good opportunities for birding. This post will focus on the species that are most often active in night.

Spade-toed Frog

Great Reed Warbler