ABC OF ESTONIAN EAGLES, (2005)

(screen format Beta SP)
GAVIAFILM 2005

„Estonian Eagles”, 51 min

This film takes a trip to the hidden world of eagles. The viewer gets a unique chance to become intimate friends with the eagles breeding in Estonia and see these royal birds in their natural habitat. The film features all eagle species nesting in Estonia, including the Golden Eagle, the White-tailed Eagle, the Spotted Eagle, the Lesser Spotted Eagle, the Osprey and the Short-toed Eagle. According to the European Conservation Law, all eagles are under strict protection and their nesting sites are hidden from the public. The viewer gets a rare opportunity to peek into the lifestyle of these birds.

„Eagle monitoring in Estonia”, 30 min
The documentary gives a historical survey of the research and protection of Eagles in Estonia. In the 1960s, a couple of naturalists started to study the nesting proficiency of eagles. Gradually, this activity developed into a voluntary society called the Eagle Club, which today covers all of Estonia. This club unites both professional and amateur bird-watchers who consider it their calling to stand up for the well-being of eagles in Estonia.

 DVD includes:

Booklet „ABC of Estonian Eagles” in Estonian and English.

„Eagle Guide” DVD-ROM
The program can only be opened in a PC, and contains illustrated information about eagles and black stork in Estonia (in Estonian and English):
1. Description and field identification
2. Distribution
3. Breeding
4. Foraging and prey
5. Migration
6. The current (2005) numbers and trends in Estonia

Estonian eagles - latin names

• Ospreys are not numerous in Estonia. About fifty pairs have been counted, the majority in southern and northeastern Estonia. Approximately forty nests are under the surveillance of ornithologists. Osprey is the smallest among our eagles with the body mass of 1.5 kilograms. The wingspan of its long and sharply angular wings is approximately 160 cm. Ospreys are bright white underneath. White is also their occipital plumage. Their black crooked beak, light eyes and dark brown upper-wing make them easy to recognise, both when flying and sitting in a tree.
• White-tailed Eagle is the biggest eagle in Estonia. The wingspan spreads to almost 2.5 metres and the body mass is about 7 kilograms. The size gives the White-tailed Eagle dignity – its movements, especially in the air, are slow and easy. The White-tailed Eagle, known in Estonia as ‘the sea eagle’, lives by the sea or some bigger inland water body. Main part of its diet consists of fish and waterfowl.
• Among all our eagles, the Golden Eagle leads the most hermitic life. It nests in old virgin forests among marshes and bogs that man has difficulties to access to. The surrounding bogs, marshes and wetland are its hunting lands. Its prey consists also of bigger animals, anyone less strong, such as rabbits (Leporidae), smaller beasts of prey (Mustelidae), and the gallinaceous (Tetraonidae), but also as big a bird as the crane (Grus grus). Although the Golden Eagle succumbs to the White-tailed Eagle in size, it beats the latter in skills.