Sea eagles keeping in satellite contact

Interest in the first white-tailed sea eaglets born on Bushy Island, near Mountshannon, is expected to soar next month when a satellite-tracking transmitter is attached to one of them.

Bird enthusiasts will get the opportunity to follow one of the eaglets  around the clock on the internet once they are measured.

The Golden Eagle Trust plans to determine the sex of the two eaglets when they are seven or eight weeks old and will also place an ordinary transmitter on one and a satellite device on the other to ensure they can both be tracked once they leave the nest.

Placing a satellite device on both was ruled out by the trust, as the cost is too prohibitive. Once the trust determines their gender, they will ask national schoolchildren in Mountshannon and Whitegate to come up with names.
Trust project manager, Dr Allan Mee, believes the chicks will prove to be an ideal eco attraction over the coming years and expects the number of tourists visiting the area to increase steadily.

The white-tailed sea eagle was once a respected and conspicuous part of the Irish landscape before it was driven to extinction in the early 20th century.

Dr Mee estimates a few hundreds spectators travel to see the Bushy Island chicks on a weekly basis. He thanked the local communities in Mountshannon and Whitegate for their goodwill and continued support. However, he warned that disturbance during the early stages of nesting when the birds have small chicks would be detrimental to the pair’s success. “It is an offence under the Wildlife Act (1976) to wilfully disturb white-tailed eagles at the nest. Disturbance could result in the birds leaving the small chicks unguarded.

“People should not approach the nest but instead avail of the unique opportunity to watch a nesting pair of sea eagles from nearby Mountshannon pier. Information on the birds, their ecology and conservation will be available locally,” he said.
While the trust has tagged a number of birds with devices, the Killarney National Park and Mountshannon Pier are just two of the accessible sites where the eagles can be viewed in the country.

The Mountshannon breeding pair, a five-year-old male and four-year-old female, are from the island of Frøya off the west coast of Norway. This pair laid eggs in 2012 but they did not survive.
White-tailed eagle tourism brings in £5 million annually to the local economy of the Isle of Mull in Scotland.