by M. McGrady, B.-U. Meyburg, F. Al Lamki & A. Spalton
We've been a bit quiet recently, but that is not because nothing has been happening. We'll try to catch up in the coming days...
The BIG news is that two of the Steppe eagles that we tagged last January in Salalah have returned, and one is about 100 km away at the moment (See map below). This was somewhat of a surprise because the two Steppe eagles we captured near Muscat in January 2017 spent the subsequent two winters near rubbish dumps in Saudi Arabia. The behaviour of those birds suggested to us that perhaps the birds that winter in Oman settle there because they are a bit "lost". However, fidelity to wintering areas (i.e. returning to the same place) is not uncommon for many bird of prey species, so that these birds eventually returned to Salalah is not completely surprising. Maybe eagles near Muscat are "off course", but Salalah is a more regular wintering site. Maybe we'll see in the coming years. At Salalah Steppe eagles are, by far, the most common wintering raptor; near Muscat, Egyptian vultures (apparently mostly resident birds) are the most common raptor species using the landfill there.
We've been a bit quiet recently, but that is not because nothing has been happening. We'll try to catch up in the coming days...
The BIG news is that two of the Steppe eagles that we tagged last January in Salalah have returned, and one is about 100 km away at the moment (See map below). This was somewhat of a surprise because the two Steppe eagles we captured near Muscat in January 2017 spent the subsequent two winters near rubbish dumps in Saudi Arabia. The behaviour of those birds suggested to us that perhaps the birds that winter in Oman settle there because they are a bit "lost". However, fidelity to wintering areas (i.e. returning to the same place) is not uncommon for many bird of prey species, so that these birds eventually returned to Salalah is not completely surprising. Maybe eagles near Muscat are "off course", but Salalah is a more regular wintering site. Maybe we'll see in the coming years. At Salalah Steppe eagles are, by far, the most common wintering raptor; near Muscat, Egyptian vultures (apparently mostly resident birds) are the most common raptor species using the landfill there.
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| Movements of three Steppe eagles (186, 187, 182711) during 1 September - 12 October 2019. |
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