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Golden eagle chicks released (1 Viewer)

Kits

Kits

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A long-awaited project to boost the population of golden eagles in the south of Scotland has taken off.

Three young golden eagles have been released into the wild at a secret location in the Moffat Hills.

They were moved from nests in the Highlands where the majority of the birds are usually found.

The translocation project hopes to increase the number of golden eagles in parts of the country where they have become an increasingly rare sight.
Fewer than five breeding pairs exist in the south of Scotland with none in England or Wales.



Full article here.
 
Well I hope they all have transmitters and a crack team is ready to swoop the second one stays still for more than a couple of minutes.

John
 
Kits said:


They were moved from nests in the Highlands where the majority of the birds are usually found.
Click to expand...

Wow - so successful breeding pairs are being deprived of young too - not too likely there are many/any pairs that can spare a youngster! Sounds like a win-win situation... for the bang bang brigade...
 
Patudo said:
Wow - so successful breeding pairs are being deprived of young too - not too likely there are many/any pairs that can spare a youngster! Sounds like a win-win situation... for the bang bang brigade...
Click to expand...

No. A basic knowledge of Golden Eagle breeding biology would include knowing of sibling rivalry taken to extremes. Each egg is incubated at once so siblings hatch at different times and one has a head start in feeding and growth. Very frequently it kills (and may eat) its smaller sibling. So removing the smaller individual from nests is unlikely to negatively affect their success and may even improve it.

Meanwhile the sibling most likely to have been subject to a fatal attack from its nest-mate gets a safe start in life. Win-win for conservation - except that the reintroduction project is in an area still ruled by primitive savages.

John
 
Farnboro John said:
No. A basic knowledge of Golden Eagle breeding biology would include knowing of sibling rivalry taken to extremes. Each egg is incubated at once so siblings hatch at different times and one has a head start in feeding and growth. Very frequently it kills (and may eat) its smaller sibling. So removing the smaller individual from nests is unlikely to negatively affect their success and may even improve it.

John
Click to expand...

Is there any info in the public domain as to when the young are taken from the eyries - before or after "Cainism" has taken place?
 
Farnboro John said:
No. A basic knowledge of Golden Eagle breeding biology would include knowing of sibling rivalry taken to extremes. Each egg is incubated at once so siblings hatch at different times and one has a head start in feeding and growth. Very frequently it kills (and may eat) its smaller sibling. So removing the smaller individual from nests is unlikely to negatively affect their success and may even improve it.

Meanwhile the sibling most likely to have been subject to a fatal attack from its nest-mate gets a safe start in life. Win-win for conservation - except that the reintroduction project is in an area still ruled by primitive savages.

John
Click to expand...

Patudo said:
Is there any info in the public domain as to when the young are taken from the eyries - before or after "Cainism" has taken place?
Click to expand...
Not sure if it's quite so simple - the problem is, chicks for translocation are best raised by natural parents for as long as possible before transfer shortly before fledging (so they learn natural behaviour), but cainism occurs quite early on, in the first week or two - after that first week or two is past, older siblings won't attack a returned younger sibling.

So maybe they take a chick out for a few days and then put it back when the danger of cainism is over, and then take it away again just before fledging tor translocation? Just guessing there, though!
 
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