More on migration

by A. Spalton, B. Meyburg, F. Al Lamki, M, McGrady

The Steppe eagles continue thier migration. At the moment we have recieved information about thee that are underway. We'll have to wait to hear from the others. 

182711 is making steady progress, and is currently near Basra.  We'll have to wait to see whether it ends up in Salalah again. 

Movements of a Steppe eagle (182711) during 4-11 September 2019.

Steppe eagle 187 has also migrated as far as Esfahan, Iran, where it has been for the past two days, apparently at a waste disposal site. 

Locations of  a Steppe eagle during 9-11 September 2019.

187 has started to migrate

by M. McGrady, F. Al Lamki, B.-U. Meyburg and A. Spalton

Steppe eagle fitted with tag number 187 has started to move.  It seems to have initiated migration on 31 August.  This is an adult male bird, and althought it was settled during most of the summer, it also made very big excursions, especially during late spring.  During most of the summer it was located in an area about 30 km north of the Kazakhstan village of Karaoy, 160 km SE of Aktobe.  As of 7 September it was located about 25 km north of Khur, Iran.

Bon voyage!

In seems that migration has started in earnest, so visit this blog regularly to keep up to date.  We hope to be hearing about other migrants soon.

Movements of a Steppe eagle (187)during 1 August-7September 2019

Migration has started

by F. Al Lamki, A. Spalton, B. -U. Meyburg. M. McGrady

Migration has started, at least for one of the Steppe eagles (185) we tagged earlier this year in Salalah.  Others may have started, and indeed some seem to be wandering during the late summer (mostly in Kazakhstan), but none have made a concerted push towards the wintering areas yet. 

185 is a female that was in its third year when we caught it.  It seems like she bred about 40 km east of the town of Embi, Kazakhstan because she stayed in a rather restricted area during 15 March -2 September.  On 2 September it started to migrate, but instead of returning along its spring migration route towards Arabia, it has flown north of the Caspian Sea and is currently about 100 km west of Astrakhan, Russia.

The movements during Jan-August 2019 of a third year Steppe eagle (185) tagged in Salalah.

Summering area used by a Steppe eagle (185) during 2019.

Zoomed in view of the summer home range of Steppe eagle 185.  It spent almost the entire summer within a radius of about 2.5 km.

Movements of Steppe eagle 185 since leaving its summer home range in 2019.  In the 3 days since starting migration, it has covered about 1000 km.