News
19 • 09 • 2022
The Lesser Spotted Eagle Otto has Gone to the Warm Lands
The second half of September is the time when the most common eagles in Latvia – lesser spotted eagles – start their approximately 11000-kilometre-long journey to their wintering grounds in Africa. The young eagle Otto, whose life anyone interested could follow in the on-line camera of JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) at the nest on the Great Island (Lielā sala), near the village of Barkava, has also started its journey.
The young eaglet was last heard in the vicinity of the nest on 9 September.
Adult eagles arrived in the area of the Great Island from their wintering grounds on 13 April, two eggs were laid in the nest – on 28 April and 2 May. The first eaglet hatched on 7 June, the second on 11 June. As is typical of young eagles, the younger eaglet usually dies within days as the older eaglet continuously attacks it and prevents it from receiving food. Only the strongest, oldest baby survived in the nest of the Great Island, which reached the ability to fly on 5 August.
Along with the departure of the eagles, the monitoring of lesser spotted eagles, which is organized by JSC “Latvia's State Forests” and carried out in cooperation with other species experts in six research plots, has also come to an end. Overall, this was a good year for lesser spotted eagles. The collected information shows that nesting success in two research plots corresponded to the average values of these plots; in three plots it exceeded the average values and only in one plot the success can be characterized as poor.
More detailed information on the monitoring results can be found in the company's environmental report. Information about the 2021 results can be found at: Environmental Report 2021.pdf (lvm.lv)
