THE CHICK at the centre of the UK’s only Golden Eagle Watch has flown the nest, and is carrying some unusual baggage.
The antics of the baby eagle and its parents have been watched over the past few weeks by more than 500 people on North Uist at a special viewing site organised by the RSPB, complete with high-powered telescopes.
As part of a project to find out more about the movements of juvenile golden eagles, the chick has been fitted with a satellite-tracking device in the form of a tiny backpack with four straps fitting around the animal.
The battery-powered device has a 6in aerial protruding from the top. The stitching will deteriorate over five years and the tag will finally drop off.
The chick has already reached its adult size and will only grow muscles and feather from now on, so it will not outgrow the backpack.
North Uist RSPB officer Jamie Boyle said the chick appeared completely unconcerned by its new accessory, and its parents showed no curiosity about it at all.
Mr Boyle said: “Very little is known about the movements of juvenile golden eagles after they fledge and for around the following five years until they become adult.
“So far, this chick has hardly moved from the nest area since fledging and we expect it might hang about there for the next three or four months until it gets chased out by its parents in time for the next breeding season.
“Unsuccessful attempts have been made to tag golden eagles before, but the technology has now improved so much and is getting smaller all the time, so soon we will be able to find out the secrets of many different birds.”
Nine golden eagle chicks across Scotland have been satellite-tagged this year, in the Western Isles, Wester Ross, the north-east, Argyll and Perthshire.
Banchory-based Natural Research is the company behind the project, working since 2004 on tracking golden eagle juveniles to see where they go and what habitats are important for them in those years, to sustain a healthy population.
The cost of fitting a satellite tag and tracking a golden eagle for up to five years is about £7,000.
Project researcher Ewan Weston said: “Information on the North Uist chick will be transmitted every 48 hours to the satellite for a six-hour period.
“We will be able to see where it is to within 360 yards, and will learn a lot about the decisions the bird makes for its survival until adulthood.
“It has to look for food and safety by seeking out unoccupied territory, and it also has to look for its own territory.”
The project findings will be submitted to part-funder SNH and the British Trust for Ornithology, among others.