This spring I was convinced that 2019 would be a record year for the golden eagles in our area, and maybe it was, but without our knowledge…
In other parts of the country, the golden eagle breeding seems to have been successful, in some county even new record.
All the eagle pairs in our area showed signs of wanting to nest, but when we later visited the nesting sites we knew, most nest were empty. Some had collapsed during the winter but since eagles usually have alternative nesting there is rarely any problem. The problem is for us to find these nests!
Although the golden eagle is a big bird and they build very large nest, it is remarkably difficult to find them. The eagle is very discreet around the nest and an alternative nest can be located more than 5 km from another. The eagle territory in our area are often around 30 square kilometers, so there will be extensive forest areas to look through.
In our oldest golden eagle territory, which I have inventoried for 19 years, it was successful nesting this year too. It´s an old couple who often manage to breed chicks. Whether it´s been the same eagles all the time is hard to say, but I think so. They can get quite old. Our oldest eagle was probably at least 32 years old.
Often eagles only succeed in breeding every two years, but this pair often succeeds two years in a row. Here the results was the same as last year. A kid lay dead under the nest and a large and powerful one was ringed.
Later in the summer a colleague found a new alternative eagle nest and a kid so in summary, at least two eagle nesting´s succeeded this year.
