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Usually white-tailed eagles are tagged with two foot rings, in Estonia already from 1984. But in summer 2012 we fitted GPS transmitters on two young white-tailed eagles (Sillu and Meelis). Meelis's fitting was video recorded by Kaido Einama. In the video it can be seen that at the time the young eagles were almost capable of flying. At that time of the year we no longer do regular ringings because the eaglets can fly out from the nest but may not yet fly well. When the transmitter is fixed the bird must be as fully grown as possible so that the transmitter straps will not start chafing later. Thus in such a case an exception must be made. As the video shows both eaglets flew out from the nest this time and Meelis flew on to another tree, from where we had to make him fly again in order to catch him in the bog.

Meelis’s sister was also in the nest and at once flew off into the bog. Sisters are generally bigger than brothers, and since we only a day earlier had fitted a transmitter on Sillu in West Estonia, Meelis’s sister did not get a “backpack“.

Because fitting a transmitter takes some time and there were mosquitoes in the forest we put up a tent this time to be able to work at leisure. Both eaglets got rings on their legs, and Joosep brought them back into the nest. Luckily neither of them wanted to test more flying that day. But both eaglets left the nest at the right time, and we have been able to follow Meelis later. The solar panels that load the transmitter batteries cannot provide sufficient power during the autumn-winter period, and so at the moment we cannot see either of the young white-tailed eagles. But last year too they both disappeared in November and started transmitting data again in February.

Let us hope that a happy virtual reunion will take place once more in February in the new year! The most dangerous period of Sillu and Meelis’s lives is over.

We still cannot show the migration map at present, but hopefully the programmers will find some time in the beginning of the new year to adjust it.

 

A Happy Christmas to all from the Eagle Club!

Urmas Sellis