Golden Eagle Fledgling

Golden Eagle Chick leaves the nest

The Golden Eagle Chick that hatched in Glenveagh National Park in late April has now fledged and left the eyrie.  The chick spent 79 days in the nest.  The chick was fed by both adults during the fledging stage and is likely to be fed by the adults until sometime in October.  The nest hatched two chicks but as normally happens the second chick died after five days.

Golden Eagles last bred in Glenveagh, Donegal in 1910 and became extinct in Ireland after the last breeding attempt in County Mayo in 1912.  A single pair bred on Fair Head County Antrim from 1953-1960.  The adult eagles were reintroduced into Glenveagh National Park as part of the Golden Eagle reintroduction programme, which commenced in Glenveagh National Park in 2001.  The Golden Eagle Trust Ltd and the National Parks and Wildlife Service are managing the project.  The project began with funding from the National Millennium Committee in 2000 and has been funded since by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, EU LIFE Nature, the Heritage Council, KPMG and others.

The very wet weather in June and July was likely to have suppressed the hunting ability of the adult Golden Eagles, and was of concern to the project management.  Fortunately the chick was well feathered and able to maintain its own body temperature before the prolonged period of wet weather set in.  The adults also chose a nest ledge under an overhanging rock, so that whenever there was heavy rainfall the chick simply moved to the back of the nest and was well sheltered from some long periods of heavy rainfall.

A thorough search of the nest vicinity will take place during the autumn in order to identify the variety of prey remains plucked near and brought into the nest.  However, at least 6 Hares, a Fox cub and two Badger cubs were identified in the nest during routine monitoring of the nest. 
The adult eagles were seen foraging up to 7km away from the nest site, during the breeding season.  The provisional list of prey items was quite interesting, consisting entirely of mammals, two thirds of which were Hare and one third of which were predatory mammals (Fox and Badger).  Over the past one hundred years, due to the previous extinction of several Irish birds of prey, the Irish food chain was somewhat distorted whereby Badgers, Hooded Crows, Foxes, Ravens and Magpies had little risk of natural predation, excluding poisoning, shooting, snaring or trapping by humans. 

Golden Eagles first nested and laid eggs in Donegal in 2005 and again in 2006 but this year’s nest has produced young for the first time. The nest is in a remote area within the boundary of Glenveagh National Park.  The exact location of the nest has not been revealed and the project team are very grateful to the public for not trying to locate and unintentionally disturb this breeding attempt during such a sensitive period.

A second pair also laid eggs in 2007 but these eggs failed to hatch.  3 other young pairs were seen in further locations and hopefully will establish territories in the coming years.  A single male defended a sixth territory this year.  4 more young birds were collected, under licence, from Scotland and are due to be released in mid August, bringing the total to 50 birds released in Glenveagh National Park from 2001 to 2007.

The project manager, Lorcán O Toole, from the Golden Eagle Trust Ltd, said, “It is a sheer joy to be able to watch an Irish bred Golden Eagle hatch, grow and fledge in Ireland – it is another significant addition to Ireland’s wildlife.  The involvement of the hill farmers and Donegal IFA have been significant ingredients of the project’s success to date.  It is important that we recognise the vital role and responsibility farmers have in sustaining Ireland’s landscape and wildlife.  We are also grateful to the people of Donegal who did not seek out, visit or disturb the nest during the sensitive breeding season.  A single chick will not in itself establish a viable breeding population, but 10 years ago many people had genuine doubts whether Golden Eagles could ever breed in Ireland again.  But the rugged Hills of Donegal are now a little wilder, as the mountain valleys hide an eagle eyrie and a locally bred Golden Eagle soars along its ridges, as nature intended.” 

Joe Gatins, Regional Manager of National Parks and Wildlife Service said, “It is extremely gratifying to see this eaglet take to the wing.  It is now able to travel with the adult birds and learn to hunt and fend for itself.  This is a significant step in the success of the reintroduction process.  As a wildlife manager, I find it fascinating that we now, for the first time in a hundred years, have a native born predator that can hunt fox, grey crows, magpies and even young badgers.  This is a facet of the project that few envisaged and it may surprise many people but it will be interesting to see the effect our eagle population will have on these species.”

“The presence of the chick in Glenveagh National Park has certainly focussed public attention on the need for conservation of our native species.  Based on this years experience we can certainly look to the future with renewed confidence in the success of this project and I congratulate all concerned.”

Irish Farmer’s Association Donegal branch Chairman, William Monagle, said it was great to see the chick fledge and there had been strong consultation between the two groups since the inception of the project.  “It has worked very well with the steering group set up at the time and the farmers have no problem with it and we hope it continues this way.  We believed it would be the hill farmers who may have been the ones to have issues, but this has not been the case and we continue to stay in consultation.  It proves to us and the outside world that if you do not get everyone onside these things will not happen and it is not the case that people can do what they like without the support of farmers, so it is nice to be associated with a successful project like this.  That certainly is my view and the view of the county executive”, said William.