June surveys (by Irina Utekhina)
Since
the snow cover in the Magadan area was really below average, we were eager to
check the eagle nests as early as possible. The spring flood was short and
lasted in 2 weeks of May. By beginning of June the water level has subsided. Irina was accompanied by Andrey Gnezdilov, an amateur photographer
from Magadan.
Most of
the nests had incubating birds in them. Andrey climbed to 3 nests on Kava and 1
nest on Chelomdja and took pictures by a small camera attached to a pole,
similar to the method used by Elsie in 2011.
One nest at the Khuren-Chelomdja confluence had 3 chicks, whose age was
estimated as 12-18 days (meaning hatching in May!). [In August we found only 2
chicks in the nest]. At the chum spawning grounds (the last nest on the
Chelomja surveys) had one chick whose age was estimated as 1 month. Later in
August surveys we saw a large flying chick near the nest.
Thanks to Andrey’s photo, Irina
spotted a male with the wingtag E4 (see August section). This nest was
successful for the first time in 3 years.
Under a new nest a dead chick was
found. The female was observed incubating. In August the nest was found to have
no chicks.
