My name is Iain Malzer, I’m a student from Glasgow University and have been conducting a project on the behaviour of the White-tailed Eagles released this year in the East Coast. With help from Claire, I have been analysing video footage recorded at food dump to try and gain an insight into the secret social life’s of these birds. White-tailed Eagles often communally roost, especially during the winter, they also form strong pair bonds between sexes even before sexual maturity and so an understanding of the social interactions or hierarchy is important when acting to conserve or study these birds. They can also be very fun to watch!
As expected for this time of year, the 2010 birds have begun to disperse to all corners of Scotland and are using the food dump less and less. This has allowed me to examine the back log of video footage collected since the birds were released in August and finally see just who’s been in charge around the food dump.
This has to be yellowH, one of the largest females to be released on the east coast yet. When on the food dump she aggressively protects the meat from all of the other eagles, insistently intimidating them with her wings stretched wide or just flying at them so fast they have no choice but to get out the way. One early morning in September birds yellow2, yellow7 and yellowO were feeding in perfect harmony, each with their own piece of venison when all their eyes turn to the sky as yellowH crashes in like a bullet, knocking O clean of the side of the food dump. H then stands for five minutes before flying off without touching any meat. A great display of dominance and aerial finesse.
The greatest numbers of fights have taken place between yellowH and another large female, yellow2. These two are often seen having scraps over small pieces of food. These scraps, however, can quickly escalate into full scale brawls with one bird pinning the other upside-down using their huge yellow talons. Don’t be alarmed though, when the wing flapping has stopped and the feathers have settled, the two birds normally seem relatively unfazed and get back on with feeding, having agreed to disagree.
A small male, yellowO, taken from a nest of triplets in Norway unfortunately seems to bare the brunt of the abuse. Throughout the whole of September he persistently tried to feed while being chased, bombarded and intimidated by the larger, grumpier, females. Lucky there was always an excess of food at the dump meaning his perseverance always paid off in the end with a long feed. By mid October he seemed to have had enough and has not been seen around the food dump for a while, his signal being picked up around Angus.
One sunny afternoon in October I was tracking the birds around the food dump, when I heard the sound of beating wings overhead. The female yellow2 and a male yellow7 were circling overhead. I decided to eat lunch while watching them play in the air together, riding the updrafts from slopes below and calling to each other. Now having watched back the food dump footage I have noticed these two are often seen feeding together with only the occasional disagreement. Perhaps love is in the air? Although, they’ll have to wait at least 5 years until breeding, unfortunately!
I will post again here with any updates on the project or anything interesting I see while working with the East coast Sea Eagles.