119986: 6 - 14 February 2013

So, just as we no longer get transmissions from 32867 (See last post), another boldly ventures outside of its natal territory. 119986 is a female chick from a brood of two (above), tagged near Ballater in late June 2012. Both chicks were in excellent condition at around 4.5kg and 4.4kg. The slightly larger chick was tagged, although there wasn't really much difference between them. Since then 119986 has been roaming around within the natal territory but in January made the move to independence and has been exploring parts of Angus and Deeside.The map below shows its more recent movements, which are now some way away from its natal territory.  On 6 February this bird was located east of the Spittal of Glenshee, and by 14 February it had moved west and was located just north of Blair Atholl, not far from the location of 57109 (see post above)

57109: 17 January - 4 Feb 2013

57109 continued to move around the upland areas est of the A9 and west of Braemar.  On 30 January it was on the western slopes of Ben Macdui.

32867: 11 - 20 January 2013

32867 has a battery powered transmitter that uploads GPS data every 10 days.  The last upload was on 20 January, 17 days ago, and at that time data sent by the transmitter indicated the battery was drained.  So, it seems unlikely that we will get any more transmissions from this bird.  32867 was fitted with its tag when it was a nestling on 4 July 2010, and so has given us about 30 months of movement data.  For that whole period 32867 stayed almost entirely within about 20 km of its natal site, and these last days of transmissions were not different.  The last location on 20 January 2013 was on the coast east of Tarbert.

57109 - 29 December 2012 - 14 January 2013

57109 started out the period in the hills SE of Newtonmore, where it has been over much of the past months (See earlier blogs).  1 January found the bird south of Aberfeldy in an area where we have tracked other golden eagles from previous years and near to where white-tailed eagles from the eastern reintroduction effort have been observed.  On 9 January it headed north again up into the Cairngorm massif, where it stayed (barring a little jaunt on 14 January to a block of forestry  west of Tomintoul) until 14 January.

32867: 1 - 10 January 2013

The new year found 32867 near the coast close to Na-Buirgh, SW of Tarbert.  Between 7 and 8 January it moved NE of Tarbert, and by the 10th it was located about 2 km east of Eisgean.

57109: 23 November - 10 December 2012

At the beginning of the period 57109 was located just up the road from Pitlochry.  It then flew a circular route to the south of Kenmore, then west and finally north into the Cairngorm National Park.  It then looped around and ended the period only abour12 km from where it started on 23 November.

32867: 30 November - 9 December 2012

32867 spent the period in familiar areas.  On 30 November it was located just east of Loch Langaghat, and by the end of the period it was on the coast east of Eisgean.