This is a blog that features the movements of eagles reared in Scotland and fitted with satellite-received transmitters. This effort to better understand eagle dispersal is being undertaken by Natural Research and its partners: the Highland Foundation for Wildlife, the RSPB, SNH and the Scottish Raptor Study Groups. Eagles have been tracked since fledging and data from them will form part of a Natural Research funded PhD by Ewan Weston at Aberdeen University.

IF YOU CLICK ON THE MAPS THEY WILL OPEN IN ANOTHER WINDOW AND WILL BE MUCH CLEARER.

Monday 8 April 2013

119986, 119987, 119988, 120196 and 57109 during late March - early April 2013

Last summer we fitted 5 golden eagle chicks with satellite transmitters, one which unfortunately did not survive to fledging. We'll try to post maps of the movements of all these birds.

119986

119986: 24 March - 6 April 2013.
We have been following this bird in the blog for a few months now. You can look at the archived posts to view its history. The movements shown in the map above are similar to those made before.

119987

11987:24 March - 6 April 2013

Was a single chick fitted with a satellite transmitter at a site on Kintyre in June. The weather was awful with extreme humidity and clouds of midges, but a break in the rain gave us an opportunity to climb into the nest and fit the transmitter to the chick. We suspect that the chick is a male; it was in good condition. This bird made two exploratory trips prior to dispersing; since dispersing on the 1 March it has moved off into North Argyll. Much of the time period shown on the above map was spent by this bird in North Argyll with the location near Inverness being a likely transmitter error. For much of the period 1 - 3 April it was on the Cowal Peninsula, and ranged as far east as a location just northeast of Dumbarton.
119987 after tagging

119988

119988: 23 March - 2 April 2013

119988 was a single chick fitted with a satellite transmitter on the Island on Mull. This is the first golden eagle to be fitted with a transmitter on Mull. As the island is famed for its populations of raptors (especially golden and white-tailed eagles) it will be very interesting to follow its progress. This was another male bird and the nest contained had prey items including deer calves and both long and short-eared owls. This bird was the first of the tagged birds to fledge and was the most adventurous prior to deciding to permanently leave the natal site. After dispersing on the 15 Feb this bird has left Mull very briefly, moving as far as Fort William before returning to Mull where it has been exploring the island. Paul, keep your eyes peeled.


119988 after tagging

120196

120196 was a single chick fitted with a satellite transmitter near Loch Lomond. He was thinner and lighter than any of the other birds to which we fitted transmitters, but was in good fighting spirit. Signs of recent hard times (but previous good conditions) were that he had recently eaten his twin, which was presumably also experiencing hardship late on in the nestling period! Despite this poor start to life this male chick has managed to overcome this and ranged widely in the natal area prior to dispersal. After dispersing on the 9 March this bird has moved between Loch Fyne and Loch Katrine. The period covered by the map above has this bird moving between areas east of Loch Katrine and south of Loch Tay. There was a location at 10:00 on 3 April about 150 km east of Newcastle, but I guess that was an error.
120196 during tagging

57109

We have been making blog posts for this bird for some time now. Look at the archived blog posts to see its history. These areas visited in the map above have all been visited by this bird before... more or less.