Finnish White-tailed Eagle population: Good and bad news
In Finland, as in other countries around the Baltic Sea, White-tailed Eagles came back from the brink of extinction after the ban of DDT and PCB during the 1970s. According to the newspaper
Wasabladet, the raptors have thrived now for more than two decades (
see also the table at WWF Suomi), multiplying to a statewide population of 500 breeding pairs. However, where there is light, there is also shadow. Conflicts between wind energy use and bird protection regularly occur when wind turbines are being planned. Also an increased eagle predation on eiders is reported, e.g. from the Åland archipelago, which is home to more than 100 WtE breeing pairs. Some scientists think there is “a link between the white-tailed eagle boom and declining eider populations in the Baltic” (
National Geographic, 17 Mai 2016), while the Swedish eagle expert Björn Helander
“says that increased eagle predation on eiders is a symptom, not a cause, of decline.”
A major cause of death in White-tailed Eagles is still caused by hunters due to the use of lead ammunition. One third of 120 eagles found dead in Finland died from lead poisoning – a "collateral damage" to non-target animals. DDT seems to become a threat for the species again; high levels of the pesticide were found in eggs recently. Sources of contamination could not be identified by now.
Kökar, Åland archipelago. By Muymuymyu (own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) oder GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
