119987 photographed

On 25 and 26 November a camera set up by David Anderson of the Forestry Commission on a carcass on the Cowal Peninsula photographed a golden eagle fitted with a satellite transmitter.  See the antenna?  Almost certainly this is 119987.  See the pictures below.

Movements of 119987 during 17-29 November 2013 on the Cowal Peninsula.

119986, 119987, 119988, 120196, and 57109 during November 2013

119986

On 4 November 119986 was located near Tomintoul, on the 19th it made a move toward the SW and by 21 November it had moved to near Crainlarach.

Movements of 119986 during 4-21 November 2013.

119987

On 7 November 119987 was located near Ford at the south end of Loch Awe.  On the 14th it had moved to the Cowal Peninsula, west of Dunoon, where it remained until the end of the transmission period on 21 November.

Movements of 119987 during 7-21 November 2013.

119988

During the whole transmission period, 13-22 November, 119988 was located west of Brora and Helmsdale.

Movements of 119988 during 13-22 November 2013.

120196

120196 was located on 4 November north of Pitlochry. It moved SW and on 11 November was in the vicinity of Killin, it then moved east and by 21 November was located near Dunkeld.

Movements of 120196 during 4-21 November 2013.

57109

During the whole period (8-25 November), 57109 was located in the upland SE of Newtonmore and W of Braemar. This is an area frequented by a number of the eagles reported on in this blog. See earlier posts.

Movements of 57109 during 8-25 November 2013.

119986, 119987, 119988, 120196, and 57109 during late August 2013

119986

On 23 August 119986 was located about 2 km NNE of Inchgrundle, and moved in the uplands north of Auchronie until 29 August.  It then moved north to areas with a lot of muirburn about 2 km N of Gairnshiel Lodge, where it was located on 1 September..

Movements of 119986 during late August 2013.

119987

On 23 August 119987 was located south of Largiebaan on the Mull of Kintyre.  Early on 28 August it moved north, and by 1 September it was located about 2 km WNW of Lochgilphead.

Movements of 119987 during late August 2013.

119988

119988 was located on 23 August between Lairg and Clashban. On 25 August it moved north across the A839 into and area about 2.5 km north of Rhaoine.  On 26 August it moved South to an area about 4-6 km east of Bonar Bridge, where it has stayed until early September.

119988's movements during late August 2013.

120196

On 23 August 120196 was located north of Dalfad.  On 27 August it moved west to upland areas north of Inver and Bridge of Dee. During 30-31 August it again moved west to Ben Macdui, then south about 9 km to an area about 9 km WSW of Mar Lodge.

120196's movements during late August 2013.

57109

57109 moved in a very limited area of < 50 sq km, concentrating most of its time in one glen north of Calvine.  If you look back at earlier postings you will see that this is familiar ground to 57109.

Movements of 57109 during late August 2013.

119986,119987, 119988, 120196 and 57109 during early July 2013

119986

On 2 July 119986 was located about 4 km E of Fernybank.  By the 3rd it was located north of Fernybank where it lingered until the 7th, after which it moved a bit farther west (~5 km) and has been settled in upland areas NW of Tarfside.

Movements by 11986 during 2-11 July 2013.

119987

During early July 2013, 119987 was located mostly in northern Kintyre.  At the beginning of that period 118897 was located NW of Ellary.  On 5 Jly it moved ~7 km to the NE where it lingered until the 7th.  On that date it made a brief foray south then returned and headed north on the 8th.  By the 9th it was located south of Eredine in land between Loch Awe and Loch Aray.  By 11 July it had moved to a location SE of Kilmelford.

Movements of 119987 during 2-11 July 2013.

119988

Between 1 and 11 July, 119988 moved mostly within a relatively restricted area north and east of Bonar Bridge.  On 5 July it did make a circuit to the south and west covering about 60 km in 6 hrs.

Movements of 119988 during 1-11 July 2013.

120196

120196's movements during early July were not very different from those of 57109 (below).  120196 started out in early July southeast of Loch Ericht.  By 5 July it was moving east across the southern Cairngorms.  On the 9thti was located north of Enochdhu from whence it moved farther east to the uplands west of Clova on the 11th.

Movements of 120196 during 2-11 July 2013.

57109

57109 started out July moving around the Monadhliaths, then moving east and south to  locations south of Newtonmore in the southern Cairngorms.  This area between the Monadliaths and the southern Cairngorms seems to be particularly important to the eagles we have tagged.  Look back at earlier blogs to see for yourself.

Movements of 57109 during 29 June - 11 July 2013

11986, 11987, 11988, 120196 and 57109 during early June 2013

The ranging behaviour of the eagles was a bit mixed during early June.  Some moved within relatively restricted areas, while others traveled from central Scotland right up to the north coast.

11986

11986  (below) was located on 5 June in the Monadhliaths.  On 6 June it made a move, was located near Aviemore and kept going east spending 6-17 June in the uplands east of Ben Avon and NE of Braemar.

11986: 5 -17 June 2013

11987

11987 spent the whole period in north Kintyre.  On 4 June it was located NE of Ormsary and on 6 June it moved a short distance (about 3 km) to open ground W of Ellary. On 17 June in moved NE about 7 km toward Lochgilphead.

11987: 4-17 June 2013

11988

11988 was very mobile during the first half of June.  On 4 June it was located east of Kinlochleven near the Blackwater Reservoir, but later in that day it moved north to a location just west of Invergarry.  On 6 June it moved farther north to within about 3 km of Struy, but kept going to upland area east of Loch Broom.  On 7 June it was located west of Altnaharra, and by 9 June it was near the north coast of Scotland near Tongue.  From there it wandered east a bit until the 14th, then moved SE.  By the 17th it was in upland west of Kildonan Lodge.

11988: 4 -17 June 2013

120196

120196 moved within a fairly restricted area north of Blair Atholl.  Locations at the beginning and end of the period were only about 2 km apart.  During 5-8 June it did make a quick jaunt around the Cairngorms.

120196: 4-17 June 2013

57109

57109 was located between Loch Rannoch and Loch Ericht on 1 June.  On 3 June it moved to a location east of Dromocter, then on the 4th moved into the Cairngorms. On 7 June it moved to the Monadhliaths, and by 17 June it was located about 15 km SE of Dromnadrochit.

57109: 1-17 June 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.

 

57109: 02 - 18 March 2013

At the beginning of this time period 57109 wandered for 1-2 days around the south side of Loch Tay,  It then returned to concentrate its movement in the area it has spent most of the winter, making some forays to the north and southeast.

119986: 9 - 15 March 2013

Unfortunately, the transmitter fitted to 119986 is not transmitting as expected.  This could be due to feathers covering the solar panels, poor light conditions or a malfunction of the transmitter. It could also be due to a combination of factors.  In any case, during the narrow window of time shown on the map, 119986 confined its movements into an area about 7 km in diameter, SE of Pitlochry. 

57109: 01 - 13 February 2013

57109 started the period about 2 km north of the A9 and north of Calvine.  It spent the period wondering over areas where it has spent much of its time over the past months (see past posts).  By 13 February it was located only about 170 meters away from where it started the period.

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.