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| White-tailed Eagle sub-adult and Buzzard dog-fight |
The Call of the Wild is known as a novel by Jack London that describes the life of a dog in the Yukon. The dog Buck suffers many cruel injustices at the hands of various owners but eventually returns to the wilderness and discovers natural freedom. At least Buck manages to savour the world without man's controlling influence but other creatures are less fortunate like the young White-tailed Eagle that was soaring over the Deeside moors today. This bird's chances of survival are hanging in the balance as it flies and every sunrise could be its last because of the illegal persecution that is still practised in a very few 'rogue' areas of Scotland and criminal investigations rarely result in a prosecution.
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| White-tailed Eagle sub-adult |
It flies overhead, its curiosity bringing it close enough to see the identifying wing tags and satellite transmitter aerial on its back and I wonder if it will ever hear the unburdened call of the wild and be free from the threat of persecution. The other birds in the area also deny that call by constantly harassing the eagle and I can see its open beaked frustration as a Common Buzzard pesters it. The attacker is not overly heroic in its actions but does manage to turn the giant bird away. The relative peace is fugitive when a gang of Ravens take turns to run the gauntlet against the eagle's powerful talons that are flipped up instantly and used like 'anti-aircraft' weapons. There is some white showing in the tail feathers so I will estimate the age to be a sub-adult three year old and next year a white tail will begin to be more evident and head feathers will turn greyer. That curiosity shown by this eagle may be one of the reasons for their downfall and ultimate extinction in Scotland because it makes them vulnerable to opportunistic shooting.
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| White-tailed Eagle sub-adult |
Many of you will be wondering why this bird has a satellite transmitter harnessed to its back. Well, some chosen eagles in a conservation organisation's reintroduction scheme were fitted with these radio transmitters to assess their peregrinations and, ulteriorly, to act as a deterrent against persecution. Unfortunately the latter reason has not been proven to be that deterrent in certain areas and recently the first fledged White-tailed Eagle in the scheme has disappeared off the radar in highland Scotland with police currently investigating the situation. In recent persecution deaths the radio transmitter has, alas, found the poisoned carcasses predominantly on shooting estates in the east of Scotland. Sadly, the call of the wild will be unheard by many raptors now and in the future I fear.
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| Note the opaque glass effect on the tail of this sub-adult |
The White-tailed Eagle is usually known as a scavenger of the coasts and estuaries eating washed up fish, robbing other's catches or Otter discards and, of-course, their own caught fish. Mysteriously, if the bird is inland and foraging over moorland with no fishing or loch shore scavenging activity evident, what does it eat? Well, shepherds will say lambs but in Norway, where most of these introduced birds come from, there is no evidence that these birds prey on live lambs at all, they will scavenge Raven attacked newborns or take still-born lambs but not living ones.
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| Note the satellite transmitter aerial and wing tag |
So it might seem that the White-tailed Eagle is taking on the characteristics of the Golden Eagle by occasionally hunting for Mountain Hare and this has been witnessed by a local game-keeper. The opinion exists that these large birds are not agile enough to catch any live prey, but just look at the aerial acrobatics performed by my eagle here, surely that is exhibiting adequate agility and I have seen these birds fly fast and low over moorland, in a similar way to the Golden Eagle before a surprise attack on its prey. A coastal nesting pair in Denmark bring in various prey items to the eyrie including water-birds, hare and fish. My conclusion is that these birds survive on, 'a lick o' a dry stane', meaning very little and as their gut is extra long and super efficient at absorbing nutrients they are very adaptable to the food supply available in most habitats.
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| White-tailed Eagle sub-adult with dark outer band on tail |
An interesting observation from a reputable game-keeper describes an attack by a pair of White-tailed Eagles on a young Red Deer. The pair would fly down to strike the deer's neck and I wonder if this is an example of intentional wounding to debilitate the deer hoping it would eventually succumb during winter-time, a very Wolf like behaviour witnessed here. Most deer that eagles eat are already dead and research suggests that deer shot with lead bullets can lead to the fragmentation of the lead tip into the flesh and consequently consumption of the lead shards by the scavenging bird results in its premature death. Certain enlightened countries have banned lead ammunition for sport shooting after research discovered that the Californian Condor neared extinction because of lead poisoning.
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| Flying with luggage - note the satellite transmitter aerial and wing tag - red/white P |
Many White-tailed Eagles have been illegally poisoned in Scotland with no prosecutions and we are not alone in this shameful fact. The Czech Republic has exactly the same problem but with many more arbitrary cases of Carbofuran poisoning, three White-tailed Eagles have been found dead this year alone, again with no prosecutions and fault is directed at individuals laying poisoned bait to kill foxes, martens and feral domestics. In August last year Litomerice district saw forty Marsh Harriers poisoned in one incident and similarly in Scotland this year we experienced the poisoning of fourteen red kites and six common Buzzards.
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| No peace...a Goshawk attack |
Notes;
All sketches and photos done on the day and are artist copyright.
Please be aware that it is illegal to disturb nesting eagles or other raptors and you may do so inadvertently in your journeys into the highlands. I do not recommend searching for any of the species mentioned in this blog because this may cause undue disturbance to them. With my knowledge of the areas described in this blog I can locate and observe protected species at a respectful distance usually from about 1000 metres for short periods of time only.
reintroduction scheme - Royal Society for the Protection of Birds East Scotland Sea Eagle reintroduction project.
Link to Czech Republic Carbofuran info in links bar at top right of web page.