Stay at home sea eagle chick finally takes the plunge
He is the sea eagle chick who would not fly the nest .... until now.
The chick, which hatched in a nest in Tiroran Community Forest managed by South West Mull and Iona Development, is being compared to a teenager reluctant to leave the comfort of home.
The chick has flown into the record books by staying for a further five weeks in his nest beyond the date when he should have taken his maiden flight but now he has finally taken the plunge from his lofty abode,
Sea eagle chicks have usually all fledged by the age of 12 weeks. But this chick, hatched by parents Fingal and Iona, was still in the nest at 17 weeks old.
‘This is the longest time I’ve known a sea eagle chick stay in the nest for,’ said Dave Sexton, RSPB Scotland’s Mull officer. ‘I did start to wonder if he was okay and capable of flying. We had lost his sibling due to a lack of food and then infection earlier on in the season. We watched the surviving chick very closely to ensure all was well and he seemed to be growing well with an increase in the food supply coming in. At about that time, in June, Fingal and Iona visit a common seal pupping area in Loch
Scridain and regularly come home with talons full of energy and protein-rich placenta for tea. We were also fortunate this year to have Tilhill Forestry managing the forest nearby. They always go the extra mile to ensure the eagles are safe around the harvesting operations and their haulage drivers and staff kept an eye on the eagle chick too. So they had plenty of people looking out for them. But week after week when I would have expected the youngster to fly, he just didn’t and I became increasingly concerned,’ said Dave.
Now aged four months old, the chick has taken the plunge and was spotted and photographed on the forest floor by wildlife guide Bryan Rains of Wild About Mull.
The chick has also been seen in flight so all is well, added David.