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White tailed Sea Eagles

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    #302
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    OpenYourEyes wrote: »
    That information won't be made public until close to the end of the year.
    The whole secrecy thing is a bit misguided IMO.
    Any nest disturbances that I have heard about have been either because anglers landed on the island without knowing about the eagles (big warning signs needed to advertise the eagles presence) or because the people directly involved in the project made mistakes.

    The biggest protection these eagles have is by being well known to the wider general public, which leads to them being a tourist attraction and an economic asset to the locals, and by being watched constantly through binoculars and telescopes.

    The two chicks that were reared in 2013 on Bushy Island just off Mountshannon harbour had speedboats going past all day, and even seaplane type airplanes taking off and landing beside the Island. Birds get used to all that noise in the area and it doesn't bother them at all. But they don't like intruders at the actual nest site.

    Also I don't think the weather bothers them; Lough Derg conditions would be fairly benign compared to the Scottish Islands or Norway.

    What has harmed them so far is people interfering with the actual nest, people shooting them, and people poisoning them.


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    #303
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,068 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    snowstreams wrote: »
    I did hear that there was a possible other nest near Portumna alright. Hopefully a chick has been reared there too.
    Though from the facebook portumna page it looks like they are posting the Mountshannon images, hard to be sure.

    To the best of my knowledge its the same guy running both of them (he seems to have 5 or 6 of those type pages overall), hence the overlap.


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    #304
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,068 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    recedite wrote: »
    The whole secrecy thing is a bit misguided IMO.
    Any nest disturbances that I have heard about have been either because anglers landed on the island without knowing about the eagles (big warning signs needed to advertise the eagles presence) or because the people directly involved in the project made mistakes.

    The biggest protection these eagles have is by being well known to the wider general public, which leads to them being a tourist attraction and an economic asset to the locals, and by being watched constantly through binoculars and telescopes.

    The two chicks that were reared in 2013 on Bushy Island just off Mountshannon harbour had speedboats going past all day, and even seaplane type airplanes taking off and landing beside the Island. Birds get used to all that noise in the area and it doesn't bother them at all. But they don't like intruders at the actual nest site.

    Also I don't think the weather bothers them; Lough Derg conditions would be fairly benign compared to the Scottish Islands or Norway.

    What has harmed them so far is people interfering with the actual nest, people shooting them, and people poisoning them.


    "the whole secrecy thing" is not misguided - this project is still at risk of failure because of persecution. You might disagree with certain specific nests not being disclosed, but a cautious approach is definitely the way to go - not every nest is in a position where there's a town of people to watch it, and places like facebook and boards can give us a false sense of how welcome eagles are in certain parts of the country. Engagement with stakeholder groups is a must, but this doesn't happen overnight.


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    #305
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,068 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    Mod Note: Just a reminder that no specific nest locations are to be given. I'm not even sure how comfortable I am with 'Portumna', but since there's two facebook pages about it now there's little point in worrying about!


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    #306
    Capercaillie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Capercaillie


    http://www.goldeneagletrust.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=899%3Awhite-tailed-eagle-chicks-hatch-successfully-across-four-counties&Itemid=132
    Successful breeding in Kerry, Cork, Galway and Clare.


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    #307
    cameramonkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭cameramonkey


    Some pictures of the WTE chick at Portumna from BI face book.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1044479772242376&set=o.359318831642&type=1&theater

    Mod Edit: Just for clarity, they're pictures posted to the BWI facebook page, and taken under license from a distance of 200-300m away.


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    #308
    cameramonkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭cameramonkey


    http://www.southernstar.ie/News/Cork-born-male-eagle-is-fitted-with-satellite-tag-19062015.htm


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    #309
    cameramonkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭cameramonkey


    Sad news about one of the WTE chicks.

    https://www.facebook.com/GlengarriffWoodsNatureReserve?fref=nf


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    #310
    Capercaillie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Capercaillie


    cameramonkey wrote: »
    Sad news about one of the WTE chicks.

    https://www.facebook.com/GlengarriffWoodsNatureReserve?fref=nf

    At least was not poisoned/shot, but still sad and a big loss to the local community. Adults preying on crows (young crows probably) so local farmers will be happy about that.


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    #311
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,068 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    The Golden Eagle Trust have posted a synopsis of how the breeding season went for White-tailed Eagles in 2015 - interesting reading:

    https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=991866620871251&id=144404808950774


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    #312
    cameramonkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭cameramonkey


    Looks like 4 sea eagle chick have hatched on the Shannon this year according to Mountshannon sea eagles facebook page.

    https://www.facebook.com/Mountshannoneagles/

    From the page there appears to be two chicks at Mountshannon and two at Portumna.

    It is early days yet but hopefully the four can make it to adulthood.


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    #313
    uck51js9zml2yt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,268 ✭✭✭✭uck51js9zml2yt


    cameramonkey wrote: »
    Looks like 4 sea eagle chick have hatched on the Shannon this year according to Mountshannon sea eagles facebook page.

    https://www.facebook.com/Mountshannoneagles/

    From the page there appears to be two chicks at Mountshannon and two at Portumna.

    It is early days yet but hopefully the four can make it to adulthood.
    Great news. Hopefully they won't fall foul to some little sh1t laying poison


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    #314
    whyulittle
    Registered Users Posts: 3,878 ✭✭✭whyulittle


    Can't find the source now but it was reported two other nests have already failed. At least foul play wasn't suspected, rather poor weather.


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    #315
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    cameramonkey wrote: »
    Looks like 4 sea eagle chick have hatched on the Shannon this year according to Mountshannon sea eagles facebook page.
    I'm seeing 2 chicks according to that linked page, but maybe it has been updated from 4 originally?


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    #316
    emo72
    Registered Users Posts: 6,241 ✭✭✭emo72


    Would that lake in mountshannon support multiple breeding pairs or would there be territorial issues? Do the parents make the adult chicks feck off every year and find their own lakes?


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    #317
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    emo72 wrote: »
    Would that lake in mountshannon support multiple breeding pairs or would there be territorial issues? Do the parents make the adult chicks feck off every year and find their own lakes?

    Young birds range widely until reaching breeding age at five or six. They can form communal roosts of non breeding birds at times. The breeding pair usually stay near their breeding territory. Whether a lake would have more than one nest depends on many factors, including the ability of the territory to support more than one pair, available nesting territories elsewhere, and the population of breeding birds requiring nesting territories.


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    #318
    emo72
    Registered Users Posts: 6,241 ✭✭✭emo72


    Great reply Sram, so I guess the obvious question is will Lough Derg support many pairs? Just looking at it on Google maps I didn't realise it was that big, so yeah it should support loads.


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    #319
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    emo72 wrote: »
    will Lough Derg support many pairs?
    Hopefully time will tell, but before we can find that out, first we will have to have a bit more success at keeping them alive.


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    #320
    cameramonkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭cameramonkey


    recedite wrote: »
    I'm seeing 2 chicks according to that linked page, but maybe it has been updated from 4 originally?

    The two mountshonnon chicks are mentioned at the top of the page . In the comments section for the 29 April posting they mention that as far as they know there are also two chicks at Portumna.


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    #321
    cameramonkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭cameramonkey


    This from the
    https://www.facebook.com/GlengarriffWoodsNatureReserve/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE&fref=nf

    Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve
    May 5 at 4:01pm ?

    "Sad news: the Glengarriff pair of white-tailed eagles had two chicks this year but both died at 7-10 days old last weekend. Dr Allan Mee, the white-tailed eagle project manager, obtained a licence from NPWS to climb the nest tree and retrieve any remains to see if cause of death could be established, but the nest was more-or-less empty, probably having been cleaned out by grey crows after the chicks had died. Two other eagle nests in the south west also failed around the same time so the issue was probably linked to weather rather than disturbance, poison or persecution. Both adults are alive & well and so should be back in action in 2018. In the meantime, we wish all the best to the other breeding eagle pairs around the country this year and hope they all successfully hatch and raise chicks."

    Looks like cold weather at the wrong time may have had an impact.


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