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Eddie the white-tailed eagle. PICTURE: VALERIE O'SULLIVAN

Eddie the white-tailed eagle. PICTURE: VALERIE O'SULLIVAN

THIS year’s crop of six young white-tailed sea eagle chicks are now busy exploring the wider world around them as they break their ties with their parents and learn to fend for themselves. After taking flight for the first time in July, at 11-14 weeks old, the youngsters are now proficient fliers so it came as no surprise when one was spotted by a local farmer on Inis Meáin in the Aran Islands. Others have dispersed to south-west Kerry and east Galway.

The 2016 Killarney chick, a female named ‘Danú’ named after the Celtic goddess or the nearby Paps of Danú, left her nest in mid-July but only began to venture away from the lakes of Killarney in late September. She returned to Killarney then finally departed on October 1 when she headed west towards Waterville where she remains. Her satellite tracks show that she even spent the night next to another eagle nest in west Kerry that also produced a chick this year.

Meanwhile the last straggler to leave home, ‘Eddie’ the Glengarriff chick, is yet to make the move out while his parents continue to feed him. Both parents and chick have been thrilling local boatmen and tourists.
Time will tell how these young eagles will fare. “Some may not make it through their first winter when having to find enough food to survive is a big challenge. Young eagles are especially dependent on carrion cavenge often in the uplands. However, the omens so far are encouraging for this new generation of wild Irish-bred birds,” said Dr Allan Mee of the Irish White-tailed Sea Eagle Reintroduction Programme.
 

 
Above: Eddie the white-tailed eagle. PICTURE: VALERIE O'SULLIVAN