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.
