In the 15th season of live bird broadcasts by the Latvian Nature Fund (LNP), 14 nests can be observed, reported LETA by the fund's representative Liāne Brizga-Kalniņa.
With the launch this week of the broadcast from the swift nest, the Latvian Nature Fund (LNP) has started live streams from all bird nests of this season. In most nests being monitored live, active nesting is already underway — eggs are being incubated and chicks are being raised. The broadcasts are available on the LNP channels on YouTube.
The most popular pair in the broadcasts are the sea eagles Milda and Zorro, who are currently raising two chicks that hatched on April 18 and 20.
Chicks have also appeared in the nests of the owls Austra and Oskars. The broadcast from the owl nest is conducted in collaboration with Rīgas meži LLC and allows viewers to observe the life of this family in an artificial nest set up by ornithologists. A night vision mode is available for this nest, as owls are primarily active during the dark hours, noted Brizga-Kalniņa.
Viewers can also continue to follow the life of white storks in Tukums, where there are currently three eggs in the nest. This nest broadcast, located on the power grid infrastructure, has been provided by the LNP in collaboration with Sadales tīkls JSC for the sixth year, allowing close observation of the life of this seemingly well-known bird while also highlighting issues of electrical safety and coexistence between the power grid and nature. In collaboration with Sadales tīkls, a new species of bird has joined the broadcasts this year — the kestrel, whose nesting box is installed on the low-voltage network poles. Eggs are also being incubated in this nest.
The broadcasts from the nests of the lesser spotted eagles continue; however, in one of them, a new species — a buzzard — has settled in instead of the previous inhabitants, and it is also already incubating eggs. Eggs are being incubated by the black grouse in Zemgale, the kestrel in the vicinity of Skrīveri, and the osprey in Kurzeme. Recently, viewers were surprised by black storks in a nest in the Ogre region — despite the rather late arrival of the birds and the formation of a pair, an egg was still laid in the nest.
The second black stork nest, located in the forests of Riga, will likely remain unoccupied this year, and a pair has also not formed in the nest of the lesser spotted eagle on the birch. There will be no nesting this season in the nests of the buzzard located on the territory of the Children's Clinical University Hospital.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S0oEvktgur4?si=m8E8BmSak7ZvCP-k" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>The chairman of the board of the LNP and the project leader of the live broadcasts, Jānis Kuze, noted that over 15 seasons, a new generation of people has grown up in Latvia for whom observing the lives of birds up close has become a norm. He expressed hope that along with the broadcasts, understanding of natural processes and respect for biodiversity has also grown.
The operation of the live stream cameras is supported by the community — donations from viewers.
