Scruffy and the Harriers part four.
03rd February 2011
Apologies for the delay!
So Scruffy was satellite tagged, it would be a few days until I found out by whom, but I knew it should certainly be possible for me to do so.
Time was called on this particular sortie into the hills. The Harriers were still agitated, and this time I felt sure it was the dog and I who were responsible for their distress.
On the long walk home over the moors, I mulled Scruffy and his friend over.
It seemed strange that two young Golden Eagles should seek each others company out like this.
Was it possible they were related? Goldies generally rear only one chick. Often two are hatched, but the strongest ultimately tends to kill the weakest, very rarely are two brought to fledging.
My other questions involved the apparent reluctance to fly from Scruffy.
Was he sick, or malnourished? Was the pitiful state of his wings a hindrance to him taking off?
Obviously a huge bird like a Golden Eagle needs some sort of prominence from which to take to the air. Maybe when I had surprised him high on the moor, none such prominence was available; and he had decided to just take his chances hidden on the ground, hoping I would quickly leave.
The other thing that crossed my mind was Kosi.
If she had come face to face with Scruffy, what would the outcome have been?
She isn’t a large dog, but she is relatively powerful, even so I wouldn’t have fancied her chances against a cornered Golden Eagle.
I have watched many videos of this particular bird over the years. Often they are filmed in Mongolia, where they are domesticated and used to hunt foxes, and even wolves.
Kosi would certainly not have emerged well from a confrontation, and I thanked providence that none had ensued.
Home, and emails were written to various organisations describing my encounters, and including photographs of the birds. I had no immediate replies.
A few days later I decided to take a walk in the high country again.
This time I took a different route, choosing to firstly ascend Beinn Ghulean, then skirt by a small hill loch on my way east and down towards the ruin.
It was somewhat misty, especially at one thousand feet or so, where I would spend the majority of the day. There where however some sunny breaks, and I found myself enjoying one of those at the beginning of the walk.
The ascent of the Ben proved uneventful, but as I drew towards the loch, my attention was pricked by three very noisy Hooded crows.(what would I do without them?!)
I watched them from some distance - as they, like the Harriers before them - dive bombed an unseen enemy in the larch below.
Moving onto my belly, I inched my way stealthily towards the position, and was not all that surprised to see the object of their ire was one of ‘my’ young Golden Eagles.
This was the first time I had properly seen the bird perched, and I marvelled at his size, and the way the strong early Summer sunlight glinted on his Golden head.
It was hard to tell from that distance, but this bird looked like Scruffy’s slightly tidier looking friend.
He soon grew tired of the Hoodie’s harassment, and laboriously took flight from the tree, leaving the slim larch branches swinging crazily, and the Hoodies voicing their anger all the more intensely.
They disappeared east towards the summit of Beinn Ghulean, an enormous pied piper, and his smaller band of vocal followers.
Kosi and I followed too, and an hour later I disturbed him again a little farther on.
He had no problem taking flight this time, as he had been sitting on a high rocky knoll overlooking the Grouse rich moorland. Soon he was once again pursued by a gaggle of unwanted corvine admirers.
I endeavoured to get a few shots of him while he was relatively close, and after reviewing them, realised with disbelief that he too had a satellite tag.
Confusion now reigned.
Why did both of these birds have tracking devices attached? This was incredible.
As is human nature, I began to doubt myself. Had I got the birds mixed up? I honestly didn’t think so, and that night on the computer I was able to ascertain that both had tags, and were certainly two very different birds.
The rest of the day proved a bit of a let down, no more sightings of Eagles, or much else for that matter.
Even the weather had turned. The mist billowing up to the high tops from the Kilbrannan Sound had made both visibility and temperature drop dramatically. I went home.
As I said, that night I reviewed the shots, and thankfully satisfied myself that both birds were tagged.
Then, a kernel of an idea took shape in my mind.
The Summer before two young Golden Eagles had been fitted with transmitters some twenty or so miles North of Campbeltown.
When a wind farm had been erected on Kintyres central spine in the 1990’s there was some conjecture as to whether this project would prove detrimental to the breeding success of Golden Eagles in the area.
Unfortunately this had proved to be the case. So steps were taken to enrich the habitat, and provide the birds with more Grouse and Hare, which would in turn (hopefully) give their breeding prospects a much needed boost.
It worked, and it worked well. Two young Eagles were fledged that year, and this was actually repeated the following season.
Again, I cant stress how unusual it is for two of these birds to reach flying stage from the same eyrie, and whilst the project has its critics, I think it has proved worthy.
Were Scruffy and Co. these first two young Goldies? Had they decided to pass the initial, and most dangerous part of their lives in the hills so familiar to me?
The next day I found the answer to be yes.
An email arrived from a chap involved in the project. A friend of his had seen an image of the Eagles I had posted on a birding website, and immediately suspected that these where in fact the birds from the project.
Through correspondence with the Eagle man, I was able to obtain some data maps showing the movements of young Scruffy and his brother.
Scruffy hadn't strayed particularly far from his birthplace in mid Kintyre before settling in my backyard. But, his brother had roamed far and wide in Argyll, and had only recently decided to join Scruffy in the hills behind Campbeltown.
A few weeks later he would lose his tag whilst wandering in the Lochgilphead area, but both he and his sibling are still seen together around Beinn Ghulean and the ruin.
Many times now I have encountered these birds, sometimes miles from where I would expect to see them.
Scruffy turned up very close to my old stomping ground 'The Corrie' on the west coast of Kintyre one morning in June 2009.
His laboured flight, scrappy plumage, and reluctance to fly too far giving him away almost immediately, even some ten miles from his usual haunts. I wonder how the Corrie's breeding pair would have perceived this young stranger if they had seen him……
I also noticed in subsequent sightings that his plumage showed signs of improvement. And in fact by the beginning of the Winter, he was almost indistinguishable from his handsome brother.
As the Summer waned and the days grew shorter, I found myself returning to the ruin and surrounding hills more and more often.
Eagles, of course were an attraction. But the Hen Harriers, and later the Short eared Owls proved to be just as exciting; and photographically much more rewarding.
More of that in the next part.
So Scruffy was satellite tagged, it would be a few days until I found out by whom, but I knew it should certainly be possible for me to do so.
Time was called on this particular sortie into the hills. The Harriers were still agitated, and this time I felt sure it was the dog and I who were responsible for their distress.
On the long walk home over the moors, I mulled Scruffy and his friend over.
It seemed strange that two young Golden Eagles should seek each others company out like this.
Was it possible they were related? Goldies generally rear only one chick. Often two are hatched, but the strongest ultimately tends to kill the weakest, very rarely are two brought to fledging.
My other questions involved the apparent reluctance to fly from Scruffy.
Was he sick, or malnourished? Was the pitiful state of his wings a hindrance to him taking off?
Obviously a huge bird like a Golden Eagle needs some sort of prominence from which to take to the air. Maybe when I had surprised him high on the moor, none such prominence was available; and he had decided to just take his chances hidden on the ground, hoping I would quickly leave.
The other thing that crossed my mind was Kosi.
If she had come face to face with Scruffy, what would the outcome have been?
She isn’t a large dog, but she is relatively powerful, even so I wouldn’t have fancied her chances against a cornered Golden Eagle.
I have watched many videos of this particular bird over the years. Often they are filmed in Mongolia, where they are domesticated and used to hunt foxes, and even wolves.
Kosi would certainly not have emerged well from a confrontation, and I thanked providence that none had ensued.
Home, and emails were written to various organisations describing my encounters, and including photographs of the birds. I had no immediate replies.
A few days later I decided to take a walk in the high country again.
This time I took a different route, choosing to firstly ascend Beinn Ghulean, then skirt by a small hill loch on my way east and down towards the ruin.
It was somewhat misty, especially at one thousand feet or so, where I would spend the majority of the day. There where however some sunny breaks, and I found myself enjoying one of those at the beginning of the walk.
The ascent of the Ben proved uneventful, but as I drew towards the loch, my attention was pricked by three very noisy Hooded crows.(what would I do without them?!)
I watched them from some distance - as they, like the Harriers before them - dive bombed an unseen enemy in the larch below.
Moving onto my belly, I inched my way stealthily towards the position, and was not all that surprised to see the object of their ire was one of ‘my’ young Golden Eagles.
This was the first time I had properly seen the bird perched, and I marvelled at his size, and the way the strong early Summer sunlight glinted on his Golden head.
It was hard to tell from that distance, but this bird looked like Scruffy’s slightly tidier looking friend.
He soon grew tired of the Hoodie’s harassment, and laboriously took flight from the tree, leaving the slim larch branches swinging crazily, and the Hoodies voicing their anger all the more intensely.
They disappeared east towards the summit of Beinn Ghulean, an enormous pied piper, and his smaller band of vocal followers.
Kosi and I followed too, and an hour later I disturbed him again a little farther on.
He had no problem taking flight this time, as he had been sitting on a high rocky knoll overlooking the Grouse rich moorland. Soon he was once again pursued by a gaggle of unwanted corvine admirers.
I endeavoured to get a few shots of him while he was relatively close, and after reviewing them, realised with disbelief that he too had a satellite tag.
Confusion now reigned.
Why did both of these birds have tracking devices attached? This was incredible.
As is human nature, I began to doubt myself. Had I got the birds mixed up? I honestly didn’t think so, and that night on the computer I was able to ascertain that both had tags, and were certainly two very different birds.
The rest of the day proved a bit of a let down, no more sightings of Eagles, or much else for that matter.
Even the weather had turned. The mist billowing up to the high tops from the Kilbrannan Sound had made both visibility and temperature drop dramatically. I went home.
As I said, that night I reviewed the shots, and thankfully satisfied myself that both birds were tagged.
Then, a kernel of an idea took shape in my mind.
The Summer before two young Golden Eagles had been fitted with transmitters some twenty or so miles North of Campbeltown.
When a wind farm had been erected on Kintyres central spine in the 1990’s there was some conjecture as to whether this project would prove detrimental to the breeding success of Golden Eagles in the area.
Unfortunately this had proved to be the case. So steps were taken to enrich the habitat, and provide the birds with more Grouse and Hare, which would in turn (hopefully) give their breeding prospects a much needed boost.
It worked, and it worked well. Two young Eagles were fledged that year, and this was actually repeated the following season.
Again, I cant stress how unusual it is for two of these birds to reach flying stage from the same eyrie, and whilst the project has its critics, I think it has proved worthy.
Were Scruffy and Co. these first two young Goldies? Had they decided to pass the initial, and most dangerous part of their lives in the hills so familiar to me?
The next day I found the answer to be yes.
An email arrived from a chap involved in the project. A friend of his had seen an image of the Eagles I had posted on a birding website, and immediately suspected that these where in fact the birds from the project.
Through correspondence with the Eagle man, I was able to obtain some data maps showing the movements of young Scruffy and his brother.
Scruffy hadn't strayed particularly far from his birthplace in mid Kintyre before settling in my backyard. But, his brother had roamed far and wide in Argyll, and had only recently decided to join Scruffy in the hills behind Campbeltown.
A few weeks later he would lose his tag whilst wandering in the Lochgilphead area, but both he and his sibling are still seen together around Beinn Ghulean and the ruin.
Many times now I have encountered these birds, sometimes miles from where I would expect to see them.
Scruffy turned up very close to my old stomping ground 'The Corrie' on the west coast of Kintyre one morning in June 2009.
His laboured flight, scrappy plumage, and reluctance to fly too far giving him away almost immediately, even some ten miles from his usual haunts. I wonder how the Corrie's breeding pair would have perceived this young stranger if they had seen him……
I also noticed in subsequent sightings that his plumage showed signs of improvement. And in fact by the beginning of the Winter, he was almost indistinguishable from his handsome brother.
As the Summer waned and the days grew shorter, I found myself returning to the ruin and surrounding hills more and more often.
Eagles, of course were an attraction. But the Hen Harriers, and later the Short eared Owls proved to be just as exciting; and photographically much more rewarding.
More of that in the next part.
Comments
By Don: Hi Jimmy,
Just read one of your Scruffy stories,I liked it, did you find out who did the satellite tagging?
I haven't visited any nests yet as haven't had the time.
Almost all the Summer birds here now just a feww I've not seen yet, the Terns, Arctic skua, Wood warbler, Chiff chaff, Tree pipit and Dunlin, most here just not seen them.
Found a new Sand martin colony outside village.
Worryinlgy found mink carcasse on one of the beaches, hoping it washed in from Western isles, I've not seen any sign on the ground.
Can you e mail me at address above?
How is the business going?
I must phone John sometime.
Am off to Crete for a week on Wed, hope to see Lammergeier et al.
Regards Don.