I like mine with a pair of eagles!!
As Dave mentioned in his last blog, Skye and Frisa have decided on this year's nest and are now well into the routine of incubation. Both adults take turns in sitting on eggs, although Frisa will tend to do a bit more. It's fascinating watching their behaviour. They are incredibly careful when they perform their changeover of duty. The incoming bird will land on the edge of the nest, wait for the bird that has been incubating to gently ease itself backwards off the egg before the incoming bird then settles down. The outgoing bird will then tend to fly to a favourite roost tree and have a good old preen usually followed by some well earned flying time. We have had some incredible spring like weather the last few days and the birds have been taking advantage of the thermals going to some incredible heights.
For those of you who follow the Estonian eagles, you will know that the female laid her first egg today! If you go to the website and look at page 37 on the forum, there is a short video of her laying that first egg. Incredibly, she makes a gentle chirrup-like sound as she lays - something we were unaware of before. It really is a great webcam and I would encourage you to check it out - here is the link. Estonian Webcam
Incubation lasts for around 38 days and of course we will keep you updated with developments.
Estonian female with her 1st egg
photo courtesty Looduskalender website
Bit of housework needed on this nest photo taken couple of weeks ago, thankfully now
thawed! photo courtesy Looduskalender website
One day last week I had a very pleasant encounter on the way to carrying out a shift for Mull Eagle Watch (the 24 hour watch on our eagle nests) - as I turned a corner heading up to the loch, I was met by the familiar profile of a sea eagle gently coasting along and seeming in no hurry to go anywhere. On closer inspection, I could see this was a very young eagle, no sign of white on the tail or paleness of head but a lovely dark chocolately brown. My instinct was to say "Heather" ! Obviously without being able to read her leg ring I cannot know for sure but this bird was huge (like lots of birds of prey, the female is larger than the male) and she certainly looked at home over Loch Frisa and just seemed to linger longer than other visiting youngsters.
Today our visitors to the hide had some other spectacular views. The first sighting this year of our red-throated divers and their rarer cousins the black throated divers all back on the loch. We have also seen our male and female hen harrier along with the familiar sight of the kestrel hovering over the craggy cliff tops. On top of that, a goshawk appeared which is a real rarity on Mull. Our pair of pied wagtails also made a welcome return today, busy collecting material for their nest. It won't be long before the sand martins and swallows arrive - spring really is here (for the moment).
Male siskin at Loch Frisa
photo Debby Thorne
Dont forget, if you are coming to Mull, come and see Skye and Frisa and who knows what else you might encounter. Mull Eagle Watch
If you are planning a visit to the Island, Mull and Iona Wild Isles week takes place between 8th and 14th May. Lots of events are planned and once detail are finalised we will publish a link to the website.
Debby thorne
White Tailed Eagle Information Officer, Mull
Hi Debby and Dave good to know everything going well at the moment,no doubt some drama to come,would like to wish all the Eagle Watch team a successful year and our thanks for all their hard work which those of us who visit during the year get huge benefits from increasing Eagle numbers.What a huge job it must be organising it all.