Sea Eagles

[Strider]

White-tailed eagles — one of the largest birds of prey with a 2.5-metre wingspan — have been spotted for the first time in 240 years soaring above the North York Moors.

https://www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/countryside/a32089888/white-tailed-eagles-spotted-north-york-moors/?

Could be seeing them all across northern England soon!

[andybr]

Great to see but not really the first time in 240 years. Juvenile Scottish birds have been wandering down at least as far as the Humber for the last couple of years and been widely reported on birding sites.

[Mel]

I've never seen any on/near the Humber     


.... did see 4 buzzards circling over my house a few days ago though - unusual for around here - and I've had the dubious pleasure of seeing a peregrine falcon murdering its breakfast in my garden.  Fascinatingly gruesome.





Cheers for that info/link Strider - hopefully when this lockdown business is finished with I'll be lucky enough to spot some on my NYM adventures 

[andybr]

Mel. - There were juvenile wild birds recorded at Spurn, Blacktoft Sands and North Cave in 2018 and 2019. these young birds can cover huge distances as they are not yet looking for territories and breeding sites. The RSPB used to have a live tracking page for them but I am not sure whether this is still active.

[mananddog]

They are spectacular birds and not easily mistaken for anything else - they look like a flying door their wings are so broad.

Here we have loads of buzzards and red kites and of course sparrow hawks and kestrels. In fact there is a red kite nesting only 200m from my back door. Ravens are super common this year.

[Mel]

Mel. - There were juvenile wild birds recorded at Spurn, Blacktoft Sands and North Cave in 2018 and 2019. these young birds can cover huge distances as they are not yet looking for territories and breeding sites. The RSPB used to have a live tracking page for them but I am not sure whether this is still active.

Arrgh, that's even more frustrating. Spurn isn't that far away from me in the grand scheme of things.  There's a new wildlife visitor centre opened there recently too that probably has info.  I often have a nosey on the RSPB site but never for sea eagles!  Always thought they were a "Scottish thing" !

[Bigfoot_Mike]

We did have a sea eagle over on the east coast of Scotland, but its satellite tracker stopped transmitting suddenly when inland. The suspicion was that someone (a gamekeeper?) had shot it.


I have seen a number of sea eagles on the west coast around Shieldaig and the Applecross peninsula over the last years, including some newly fledged ‘chicks’. These are very dark in colour, almost black, and are huge. They don’t seem to be much smaller than the adults, so calling them chicks doesn’t seem right. Although their range here is quite close to that of the golden eagles around Torridon, I haven’t seen them overlap.  They are also quite abundant on the Hebridean islands. I have seen them on Rona, northern Raasay and the Shiant Isles. These are magnificent birds, with a huge wingspan and look much grumpier than golden eagles do. I probably have some photos of adults and chicks, if anyone is interested.

[Islandplodder]

Just to make everyone jealous, I have seen both golden and white tailed eagles from my kitchen window!

[Mel]

What makes you think anyone would be jealous?         

[Owen]

I've seen them around the Sound of Jura and on Canna whilst sea kayaking. The one on Canna was having a fight with a Peregrine. At first the Peregrine had the upper hand, repeatedly dive bombing the Eagle. Then with a quick flick of it's wings the Eagle did a neat barral roll and turned the tables on the Peregrine. Unfortunately the sea was very choppy so no chance of any photos.

[Dyffryn Ardudwy]

Saw one, soaring around the steep cliffs of Mull, on my way to Iona, last year.

It was a considerable distance away, a good mile or two on the horizon, but the sheer size of the thing.

My friend went to the isle of Hoy to see them, last October, where their nesting.

Their almost as large as the Griffon Vulture that escaped in the Vale of Clwyd a few years ago.


The bird was somebody's pet, and somehow got loose.


It was eventually recaptured around two months later, but there were many sightings, of this massive creature soaring the thermals in North Wales.

[Owen]

When I was about 12, a Griffon Vulture escaped from Twycross zoo. It flew right over our school. The crows mobbed and killed it. Nature red in tooth and claw.

[Bigfoot_Mike]

I have seen crows mobbing a sea eagle near Ardeshlaig on the Applecross peninsula. The crows scarpered when it flipped over to show them its claws.

[Dyffryn Ardudwy]

Imagine an Andian Condor flying overhead.
I ve still got a few photographs of one, with its wings opened, taken in Bristol zoo, back in 1972, when i was on a School trip.

It makes a Sea Eagle appear tiny in comparison.

[richardh1905]

I had the good fortune to see the White Tailed Eagles nesting on Hoy a few years ago. Flying barn door is a pretty apt description.