In June Irina Utekhina
accompanied by the drone pilot Alexander Siverich of Sevastopol, have made a
trip along the Kava and Chelomdja rivers. The chicks have already hatched in
some nests, whereas some pairs were still busy incubating the eggs. The trip
revealed a huge age differences between different pairs: one nest at the Khuren
spawning grounds had chicks with well developed feathers, whereas in other
nests the chicks were much younger and in some there were hatchlings and/or egg.
This was the first ever drone surveys of the eagle nests in June. In total the
trip resulted in 2 chicks from 2 nests along the Kava river, 4 occupied nests
along the Tauy river (one egg and one chick, two females sat on clutches of
unknown size, 2 chicks in one nest), and 9 active nests along the Chelomdja
river (one nest with 3 large chicks, 2 nest with one chick and one egg, one
nest with at least one chick, 3 nest with one chick, 3 nest with two
chicks). This was a very promising start
of the breeding season!
Other findings in June included clutch of 3 eggs of an
Osprey photographed by chance when the bird stood up to shuffle the eggs. It was the first clutch of the Osprey for a long time. It used to breed in the area in good numbers in early 1990s.
