Young golden eagles disappear in mysterious circumstances

Area becoming 'black hole' for the species, expert says after almost a third of tracked birds disappear

Conrad Duncan

Monday 1 July 2019 12:38 

The Independent

Two young golden eagles have disappeared “under suspicious circumstances” within hours of each other on the same Scottish grouse moor, according to wildlife presenter Chris Packham.

The birds were being monitored with satellite tags by Mr Packham and Raptor Persecution UK as part of a study of the movements of young golden eagles in Scotland.

The two eagles, named Adam and Charlie, are said to have vanished from the Auchnafree Estate in the Strathbraan area of Perthshire on 18 April.

They had been wearing satellite tags that inexplicably stopped working and the birds have since been untraceable, Raptor Persecution UK said.

It is illegal to intentionally kill, injure or take any wild bird, with a few exceptions, in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Mr Packham and Raptor Persecution UK said there was no evidence to suggest the Auchnafree Estate was involved in the disappearances.

Continued 

Scottish government urged to regulate grouse moors after golden eagles vanish

Call to outlaw intensive grouse shooting after disappearance of two juvenile eagles

Severin Carrell Scotland editor

Mon 1 Jul 2019 13.33 BST Last modified on Mon 1 Jul 2019 20.25 BST

Conservationists have urged the Scottish government to regulate grouse moors after two golden eagles disappeared within hours of each other on a shooting estate in Perthshire.

The two juvenile eagles were fitted with satellite tags which abruptly stopped sending out signals on 18 April – the latest of a spate of cases where birds of prey have disappeared or been found dead in the same area of Perthshire, known as Strathbraan, near Dunkeld.

One of the eagles was tagged last year by Andy Wightman, a Scottish Green party MSP who is the golden eagle “species champion” in Scotland, as part of a bird of prey conservation project led by the broadcaster Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay, who blogs for Raptor Persecution UK.

Wightman had named the bird Adam after the revered Scottish mountain ecologist Adam Watson, who died in January this year.

Wightman, an expert on land reform, said the eagle’s disappearance had left him distraught and he had written to Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, asking her to outlaw intensive grouse shooting.

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Can sound protect eagles from wind turbine collisions?

MAY 15, 2019

by Acoustical Society of America

Every year, bald and golden eagles are killed when they inadvertently fly into wind turbine blades. One possible way to prevent these deaths is to chase the birds away with acoustic signals—sound. To determine what types of sounds are most effective in deterring the birds, researchers at the University of Minnesota and their colleagues tested the behavioral responses of bald eagles to a battery of both natural and synthetic acoustic stimuli.

Auditory neuroscientist JoAnn McGee will present the results of those tests at the 177th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, which takes place from May 13-17, at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky.

Three adult bald eagles were used for the study: two birds that are unable to survive in the wild and live permanently at the university's Raptor Center, where the testing was done, and one bird undergoing rehabilitation at the center prior to release back into the wild.

Each bird was tested within a 9- by 7-foot space lined with sound-damping materials. The bird was perched on a bar in the center of the room, with loudspeakers mounted on the wall to its right and left; a high-resolution video camera mounted directly in front of the bird captured its reaction to the sounds.

Read on

Bird of prey tracking tech to help stop Highland wildlife crime

23rd March

By Jane Cassidy

SOME of Scotland’s golden eagles will be fitted with new tracking technology able to pinpoint death locations in a bid to cut wildlife crime.

The satellite tag has an early warning system to detect unusual behaviour and will provide more accurate information on deaths.

Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said the tags should “make a real difference in deterring would-be criminals” as they will give an instant fix on birds which die.

The trackers will also give more in-depth information on raptor movements and behaviour.

Golden eagles at the Cairngorms National Park will be fitted with the tags in an 18-month trial which, if successful, could be extended to cover the species elsewhere.

The technology could potentially be miniaturised to fit on smaller tags for other birds of prey, such as hen harriers.

It uses the “geostationary Iridium” satellite network and ensures signal information is always available, while multiple sensors immediately send a distress signal and exact location back to base if unusual behaviour is detected. This means rapid identification and recovery of any tagged birds which die and provides detailed information on their movements in the minutes leading up to their death.

Last year, RSPB Scotland said 12 golden eagles had disappeared over seven years after their tags stopped transmitting in an area of the Highlands dubbed a “black hole” for satellite-tagged birds of prey.

Cunningham said of the new technology: “The tags should make a real difference in deterring would-be criminals, as well as playing a key role in establishing exactly what happened, should any of these magnificent birds of prey disappear or die in unusual circumstances.”

Grant Moir, Cairngorms National Park Authority CEO, said: “This is an exciting breakthrough in the technology around raptor conservation, understanding the birds and combating wildlife crime.”

The latest wildlife crime report published by the Scottish Government in December showed raptor persecution offences fell from 25 in 2015-16 to 11 in 2016-17.

Continued

Mitigation techniques fall short of preventing electrocution of golden eagles on power poles

January 24, 2018, Wiley

Despite efforts to retrofit power poles and to build new poles to avian-friendly standards, electrocution remains a substantial cause of death for the golden eagle. The global conservation problem results in an estimated 504 eagles electrocuted annually in North America alone. A new Journal of Wildlife Management article examines the risk factors and mitigation techniques from literature published from 1940-2016 and provides new strategies by region to target high-risk poles that could substantially reduce the mortalities.

The authors note eight electrocution risk factors, with pole configuration as the most frequently identified. Age was the second most frequently identified risk factor, with juvenile eagles electrocuted at approximately twice the rate of subadults or adults.

Read more at: 

Rise in golden eagles where eight birds disappeared

14 December 2017

Numbers of golden eagles have increased in an area of the Highlands where eight of the birds were believed to have been killed illegally.

The satellite-tagged raptors disappeared over a period of less than five years in the Monadhliath mountains, south of Inverness.

It led to the Scottish government ordering a review of tagging data to check for other suspicious deaths.

A group set up as part of the review said eagle numbers rose this year.

Highland Partnership Against Wildlife Crime North Monadhliaths Subgroup said reports from RSPB Scotland and the Highland Raptor Study Group suggested numbers of the birds in the area had increased.

There had also been "positive sightings" of goshawks, buzzards, ospreys and red kites, the subgroup said.

Continued

Golden eagles released in Scotland with hope they will fly south

Conservationists launch project to restore bird numbers with view to reintroducing them in northern England and Lake District

Severin Carrell

Scotland editor

Tuesday 12 December 2017 10.48 GMTLast modified on Tuesday 12 December 2017 10.56 GMT

Conservationists hope golden eagles will start reappearing over northern England and the Lake District as part of a project to release up to 10 eagles in southern Scotland.

The birds will start to be released at a secret location south of Edinburgh from next year in a £1.5m programme by conservationists and landowners to restore golden eagle numbers in the southern uplands, where they have struggled to survive.

The young eagles are expected to soon fly over the English border in search of food and new territories as they are released in the Moffat hills each autumn over the next five years.

Golden eagles are in effect extinct in northern England after decades of persecution by gamekeepers, the spread of commercial conifer forests and inadequate food supplies, and there are none in Wales.

Although the Cumbrian Fells, north Pennines and the moors of Northumberland could be suitable territories, there was until recently only one golden eagle in the Lake District, an elderly male whose mate died in 2004. It was not spotted at its Haweswater nest last year and is assumed to be dead.

Continued  

How many golden eagles are there?

Date:  October 18, 2017

Source:  American Ornithological Society Publications Office

Summary:

For conservation to be effective, wildlife managers need to know how many individuals of a species are out there. When species are spread out over large areas and occur at low densities, this can be tricky. However, a new study applies an old technique called 'mark-recapture' in a novel way to count golden eagles, eliminating the need to actually capture and mark eagles with math that allows scientists to turn individual observations into population estimates.

Continued  

Golden eagle numbers close to 'historic' levels

10 November 2016

Numbers of golden eagles in Scotland are close to "historic" levels, with more than 500 pairs, a survey of the birds has found.

RSPB Scotland said there had been a 15% rise since 2003, when the last survey took place, from 442 to 508 pairs.

The research was carried out by experts from the wildlife charity and the Scottish Raptor Study Group. 

Scotland is now thought to be home to the UK's entire population of golden eagles.

England's only resident golden eagle, which occupied a site near Haweswater in the Lake District, has not been seen for more than a year and is feared dead.

The RSPB said the six-month survey - which the charity co-funded with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) - showed the raptor could now be defined as having a "favourable conservation status".

'Awe-inspiring'

Numbers of golden eagles in Scotland reached very low numbers in the mid-19th Century, but have been steadily recovering since then.

Duncan Orr-Ewing, head of species and land management at RSPB Scotland, said the birds were an "awe-inspiring part of our natural heritage" and welcomed the news from the survey.

"Across many parts of Scotland there's been a very welcome turnaround in how people respect these magnificent birds, part of a more enlightened public attitude towards birds of prey," he said.

"Increased monitoring and satellite tagging of eagles, as well as stronger sanctions against wildlife crime may be serving as effective deterrents against illegal activity, therefore helping their population to increase.

"However, the continued absence of golden eagles in some areas of eastern Scotland remains a real cause for concern and suggests that much more work needs to be done."

Read on

Golden eagles may be more abundant in undeveloped, elevated landscapes

Model predicts golden eagle density across Western United States

Date: August 24, 2016

Source: PLOS

Golden eagles may be more abundant in elevated, undeveloped landscapes with high wind speeds, according to a study published August 24, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ryan Nielson from Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc., USA, and colleagues.

Better understanding of golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) abundance and distribution across the developing western United States is needed to help identify and conserve their habitats in the face of anthropogenic threats. The authors of the present study monitored golden eagle abundance across four major Bird Conservation Regions, comprising ~2 million-km2, in the western United States. They used existing data from aerial surveys and distance sampling during late summer in 2006-2013. The authors then modelled counts of golden eagle observations based on land cover and other environmental factors.

The authors' model revealed the golden eagles were less abundant in developed and forested areas and more abundant in open, elevated areas with high wind speeds. They used this model to construct a map of predicted land use by golden eagles during late summer across the study area.

The authors speculate that golden eagles preferred elevated, open landscapes with high wind speeds since these factors may help them hunt for prey and fly more efficiently, whereas more developed and forested landscapes provided fewer foraging opportunities. While the golden eagles' habitat preferences may differ in other regions and seasons, the authors suggest that their map could help prioritize landscapes for conservation efforts and identify regions for additional research and monitoring.

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Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Journal Reference:

Ryan M. Nielson, Robert K. Murphy, Brian A. Millsap, William H. Howe, Grant Gardner. Modeling Late-Summer Distribution of Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in the Western United States. PLOS ONE, 2016; 11 (8): e0159271 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159271

Source  

Way for eagles and wind turbines to coexist

Date: August 27, 2015

Source: University of Waterloo

Summary: Collisions with wind turbines kill about 100 golden eagles a year in some locations, but a new study that maps both potential wind-power sites and nesting patterns of the birds reveals sweet spots, where potential for wind power is greatest with a lower threat to nesting eagles.

Brad Fedy, a professor in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, and Jason Tack, a PhD student at Colorado State University, took nesting data from a variety of areas across Wyoming, and created models using a suite of environmental variables and referenced them against areas with potential for wind development. The results of their research appear in PLOS ONE.

Increased mortalities threaten the future of long-lived species and, when a large bird like a golden eagle is killed by wind development, the turbine stops, causes temporary slowdowns and can result in fines to operators.

Read more ...

Migratory patterns of eastern Golden Eagle population revealed

Date: August 12, 2015

Source: Central Ornithology Publication Office

Summary: Eastern North America is home to a small population of Golden Eagles, but despite their potential vulnerability to habitat loss and wind energy development, little information has been available on the patterns of their annual migration. Groups of eagles face different threats depending on the locations they use, and for a new study, researchers have analyzed isotopes in eagles' feathers to trace their annual movements.

Continued ...

Golden eagles survey takes flight in Scotland – in pictures

RSPB and Forestry Commission staff along with conservationists head out to GPS tag pairs of golden eagle chicks in remote nest sites near Loch Ness in Scotland. Experts will monitor their movements for six months as part of a major survey of the species. Golden eagle numbers are rising but the birds continue to be at risk from poorly sited windfarms and illegal killing

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Monday 6 July 2015 13.33 BST

See pictures here

Hunting fears as rare golden eagles vanish in Scotland’s ‘Bermuda Triangle’

Several rare and highly-prized golden eagles have vanished in Scotland’s avian “Bermuda triangle” amid fears that they are being systematically hunted.

A fifth eagle disappeared without a trace in Cairnghorm National Park last month, a 100 square kilometre area between Moray and Aberdeenshire that has drawn comparisons with the Caribbean island for the regular disappearance of birds.

Angus, the latest victim of the unexplained phenomenon, was fitted with a satellite tracer that was last used to locate the eagle on 13 May.

The head of investigations for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland (RSPB), Ian Thomson, told a local paper: "It's becoming a bit of a Bermuda Triangle. These birds are disappearing as they travel around.

“It's exceedingly disappointing that they are disappearing so young in their lives before having the opportunity to breed. There have been proven cases of deliberate killing of birds in this area which makes it highly suspicious.

Read on

Fears for golden eagle nests as wildfires sweep Highlands

Dozens of golden eagle eggs and other rare bird nests may have been destroyed in Highland wildfires, experts warned.

RSPB Scotland said it was seriously concerned about the impact on the species, which nests in open moorland.

There have been almost 200 wildfires in the Highlands over the past week, with fire crews still battling a large blaze in Wester Ross.

There are also concerns for thousands of migrant birds that are due to nest in the area in the next few weeks.

“The loss of one nest is serious. The loss of double figures will potentially have a huge impact”

James Reynolds, RSPB.

There are thought to be about 400 golden eagles in Scotland, mainly in the Highlands.

James Reynolds, of the RSPB, said the loss of nests could have a devastating impact on the population.

"It is absolutely certain that we will have lost a number of golden eagle nests," he said. "How many we don't know, but for a population that small, even the loss of one nest is serious.

"The loss of double figures will potentially have a huge impact.

"Numbers are already very low, this will just hold them back further."

The RSPB has sent experts to the Highlands to try to assess the extent of the damage.

Mr Reynolds added that white-tailed eagle eggs may also be at risk, as well as those of migrant birds such as short-eared owls, dotterel, golden plover and wheatears, which are due to nest from mid April.

Read on:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-22026768

Wildlife Advocate Pressure Cuts Altamont Wind Bird Kills In Half

by Chris Clarke

on January 30, 2013 2:03 PM

A years-long campaign to reduce bird mortality at the Altamont Pass wind turbine area has cut deaths of eagles and three other bird of prey species by about 50 percent since 2005, according to a study completed in November that's just starting to attract some notice. A combination of junking obsolete turbines and paying closer attention to siting seems to have reduced the number of bird deaths at the site.

The study, conducted by the consulting firm ICF International for the Alameda County Community Development Agency, was delivered to the county in November.

According to a recent blog post on the website of the Golden Gate chapter of the National Audubon Society, deaths of four key raptor species dropped significantly from 2005 to 2010:

The estimated number of Golden Eagles killed by turbines each year fell from 58 to 33, Burrowing Owls from 543 to 233, American Kestrels from 415 to 268, and Red-tailed Hawks from 196 to 85.

Golden Gate Audubon's Mike Lynes offers some caveats about the data:

These figures are rough estimates: It's exceedingly difficult to track exact numbers of bird deaths on the sprawling Altamont Pass. And while the data indicate a decline in risks to birds, we know bird injuries and deaths are likely to always result from wind turbine operations.

Read on:  http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/wind/wildlife-advocate-pressure-cuts-altamont-wind-bird-kills-in-half.html