Two white-tailed sea eagle chicks have hatched in a successful pairing of two adults under Ireland’s re-introduction programme.
A male white-tailed sea eagle released in 2008 which had lived alone in east Clare for the past four years, has bonded with a female released in 2020.
Three chicks traced to the male's previous partner have also been observed.
Eamonn Meskell, who heads up the re-introduction programme for the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), said that “a story like this really brings our reintroduction programme to life”.
“It helps people to learn about eagle breeding behaviour and the fragility of our reintroduction efforts, all told through the story of a widowed eagle”.
“For our project, the appearance of any new chick is a milestone and shows that the continuation of the project is proving successful,” he said.
Three chicks reared by one of the male eagle’s offspring from his previous partner have also been observed and tagged in Clare.
“ This earlier offspring, a female eagle, has thus far reared ten chicks which are spread around the island of Ireland, some of whom themselves are forming pairs,” he said.
Meskell described as “incredible” the fact that one of his offspring is now herself rearing three chicks.
“This is a very rare occurrence, as a very small minority of nest sites - in Ireland, Norway or anywhere else - have more than two chicks on the nest,” he said.
“ This is the second year that three chicks are on the nest at this particular nest site. This shows how suited Ireland and our lakes are from a habitat and feeding perspective for this reintroduction project,” he said.
Avian flu, illegal poisoning and climate change are the main challenges involved in securing the programme’s success, the NPWS says.
The male eagle who has found a new partner was originally released in Killarney National Park in 2008 and set up territory with a female from that batch, eventually making a nest in the Lough Derg area.
In 2013, this pair nested successfully and fledged a pair of white-tailed eagle chicks – the first hatching and fledging of a chick of this species in over 110 years in Ireland.
The same pair successfully fledged white-tailed eagle chicks for the next four years until 2018, when the female of the pair died after contracting avian flu, the NPWS says.
The male held the same territory without any mate for the next four years.
Three years ago, the NPWS began a second phase white-tailed eagle reintroduction project to boost the existing eagle population in Ireland, collecting 16 chicks from wild nests in Norway.
The original reintroduction programme (2007-2011) involved releasing 100 young white-tailed eagles in Killarney National Park, County Kerry.
The released eagles subsequently dispersed widely throughout Ireland, with the first successful breeding occurring in 2012 in Lough Derg, County Clare.
By July 2020, a small breeding population of eight to ten pairs had successfully fledged 31 chicks across counties Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway and Tipperary.
