During Christmas and New Year we have had three Golden Eagles at the station; one in second plumage, now 3CY, and the adult pair F&F (Fox and Foggy). We have got good pictures of both for comparison with recent years. Foggy continues to have a good portion of white in the underwing and tail, whereas Fox is coming closer to a traditional adult look.
Foggy (above) and Fox. Regarding the secondaries Foggy has only changed two of the
outermost secondaries, s3 and s7, during summer 2011.
The weekend proved to be the breakthrough we needed. During both days the adult pair visited in the afternoon. The best time was after 15 o'clock when first the female called Foggy feeded during Saturday and the day after the male Fox paid a visit for about 20 minutes. As usually he didn't leave until he had cleaned the beak.
Saturday
10/12 at
15:04:
The female Foggy
on the table with
another Golden Eagle, probably
Fox,
perched
in the pine tree 50
m behind the table.
Sunday 11/12 kl 15.40: Montage of Fox.
During the first two weeks we have one record of a Golden Eagle. It feeded for half an hour on Saturday 12th November. An adult Goshawk is more regular and often feeds in the first hour after sunrise. Ravens have not yet appeared in larger flocks but we have the two stationary pairs in the surroundings. They are, as usually, very cautious in the beginning of the feeding season.
A probable female is feeding at Saturday 12/11 during the
time 13.05 - 13.35.
Today the winter feeding of eagles in the Store Mosse national park starts, three weeks earlier than last winter. With this strategy we expect to attract and keep migrating Ravens. A larger amount of Ravens at the feeding station also attracts eagles. We have moved the camera closer to the feeding table, now the distance is 10 m from the table, which allows us to better determine the colour of the rings of banded eagles.
The feeding station is now closed for the season. During March we have managed to get more Ravens attending but it has not resulted in an inflow of more eagles. We can sum up this season as a most moderate when it comes to the number of visiting eagles. We have 11 Golden Eagles and 7 White-tailed Eagles reported, the lowest figure we have recorded. This is partly due to the severe winter which killed many Roe deers and thus giving the eagles plenty of carcasses to feed from. Another explanation is the late start of the feeding, early December, which was related to problems getting meat.
Five eagles were ringed, all but one in Sweden. The female Golden Eagle ringed 077K is ringed in central Finland 2004 but has been visiting every winter since then. She is now most probably a summer resident in southern Sweden. This is also valid for another Golden Eagle, 250H, which was ringed as a chick 2003 in northern Sweden. 250H has been a regular visitor since then.
Figure 1. Number of visiting eagles during the
research project.
The past weekend we have experienced a new situation: no visits by eagles at the station since Wednesday. Not even the reliable Fox has been feeding. This indicates that there is dead animals lying in more undisturbed places in the neighbourhood. As seen on the webcam the location of the feeding station is only 400 m from a main road and parking lot. This means the eagles are more cautious when visiting the station. We just have to wait and hope that they soon are back.
The feeding station has recently been visited by the male Golden Eagle named "Fox". He has been a regular around 9 o'clock in the morning and after 14 pm in the afternoon. Besides Fox only an adult Goshawk has visited from time to time. No ravens have appeared since we started the feeding which is not good. Ravens signal to the eagles that there is something to eat and with more eagles in the feeding station even more becomes curious and will approach.
Currently, the webcam is out of work because the batteries are too low in power. Snow covers the solar panels that supports the system and this reduces the effect. The snow depth is now approx. 50 cm. The batteries (which weighs 160 kg!) must be collected for the recharging. It will therefore take a couple of days before the camera is running again.
The feeding started at Monday 1st December and today our adult pair, Fox and Foggy visited around noon and feeded for almost two hours. A Goshawk was also noted in the morning.
The webcam will start at Monday 5th and later in December we will start transmitting live with a new camera.