Stopover 187

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

As mentioned in yesterday's post (click here), 187 has been in southern Russia for the last week or so.  Migrating birds, including the Steppe eagles we are tracking, sometimes "stopover" during their migration.  In other words, they halt active migration, and remain in an area for some period of time.  Mostly these stopovers are probably related to the availability of food.  So, an eagle might interrupt its migration in a place where food is plentiful.  There it will feed and build up reserves before continuing on its way.  

Below is a map of some recent locations of 187.  Although we do not know for sure that there is food at this place (Dobrozhelannyy, Stavropol Krai, Russia), it seems to have a number of buildings that appear to be chicken sheds.  This bird was caught in Oman feeding on chicken remains from a local farm in Salalah, and the large number of eagles seen in central Saudi Arabia last year (See: http://steppeeaglesoman.blogspot.com/2019/11/6700-eagles-found-in-central-saudi.html).  

Stopover location for a tagged Steppe eagle (187) at Dobrozhelannyy, Stavropol Krai, Russia during mid September 2020.  Red arrows indicate buildings that may be chicken sheds.  Waste from the production of chickens could be a reason for this eagle to stopover at this location. (© 2020 IAR)

Progress of migration - mixed

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

The status of the Steppe eagles we are tracking is mixed. Some birds have moved south, but have not checked in for some days.  We think they might be in a GSM hole, and are unable to upload data.  Such is the case for 183 (See http://steppeeaglesoman.blogspot.com/2020/09/183-in-iran.html).  Indeed, some birds "disappeared" for weeks on the summering grounds when they settled into areas where there was no GSM coverage (See http://steppeeaglesoman.blogspot.com/2020/07/187-checks-in-after-110-days-of-silence.html).  We hope those birds will "call in" soon.

Others are still fairly far north, like 185 and 187.  Below is a map of these birds' movements since 1 September.  They are still located north of the Caucasus.  In contrast, a Steppe eagle tagged in Kuwait last winter is now making its way down the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast (See: https://kuwaiteagles.blogspot.com/2020/09/steppe-eagle-now-west-of-medina.html)

Movements of two Steppe eagles since 1 September 2020.

183 in Iran

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

While most of the tagged Steppe eagles are still on their summering grounds, 183 has made a leap forward and is now in south-central Iran, about 400 km NNE of the head of the Gulf.

We'd also like to announce the lauch of a new blog about eagles in Kuwait.  You can access it here https://kuwaiteagles.blogspot.com/.  We'll be updating it often as we try to catch up with historical events, and the eagles being tracked are likely to start their migration soon.

Movements of Steppe eagle 183 during 1 August-10 September 2020.

Bon voyage

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

Bird migration has started, but not all birds have moved.  This is the situation across species.  For the Steppe eagles we have tracked, its also mixed, so far. Below is a map of locations from six tags since 1 August.  You can see that some are still on their home ranges (186), some seem to be wandering and have not pushed along their migration route (182), and others have started their migration (183,185,187).  184 was last heard heading east from its summer home range on 5 August.  Two of the birds appear to be heading around the north part of the Caspian, and has headed down the east coast of the Caspian.  None of the birds we have tracked have ever wintered outside of Arabia.  We'll see if that record holds.  

Migration can be a perilous time, and Steppe eagles have been lost to electrocution and poisoning on the way.  Hopefully, all the birds will arrive safely.

As the migration gets going, we'll post progress reports to the blog, so come back every so often or sign up to be notified when we post something.

Has migration started?

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

It's been a rather quiet summer.  All birds migrated to western Kazakhstan, and settled into territories. Some did not send any data for long periods because those territories were outside the GSM network.

These are the dates of the latest locations:

182 - 23 August

183 - 26 August

184 - 5 August

185 - 25 August

186 - 20 August

187 - 22 July

222 - 8 August

It seems that migration has started for some individuals.  A Steppe eagle was seen on Farasan Island, Saudi Arabia a few days ago, and one being tracked by a Kuwaiti team has moved from summering areas mostly in western Kazakhstan to a location just north of the Caucasus, near Stavrapol, Russia.  183 may be the first of our tracked birds to make a move.  Below is a map of its movements since 1 June.  From 1 June to 7 July, it was quite settled, but then went on an excursion.  It retuned to that initial settlement area on 3 August, but just passed through.  It then headed NW until 7 August.  Since then it has made its way SW, and is currently just west of Beyneu, Kazakhstan.

Movements of a Steppe eagle during 1 June - 26 August 2020.

187 checks in after 110 days of silence

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

187 has reported in, after last being heard on 3 April.  There are still some Steppe eagles that have not been heard of since arriving on the summering grounds, but we remain hopeful.  The map below shows data since 3 April. The cluster of locations at the "start" label is most likely its breeding home range.  Recently, as the duties of being a territory holder wane, the bird has started moving and has come into the GSM network and started to upload its stored data. Over time the gap during 3 April - 21 July should be filled in.  As you can see in the post just before this one, other eagles are showing up after long periods of silence.  They, too, are probably now less tied to breeding home ranges, and able to move away.  Changing availability of food around their summer home ranges may be a factor in the movements.

Locations for 187 during 3 April - 22 July, that had been uploaded by 24 July 2020.

Steppe eagles are popping up!

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

Its been almost two months since we last reported on the movements of Steppe eagles we have been tracking.  One reason for this was that, upon arriving on the summering grounds, most of the birds 'disappeared'.  At the time we did not know for sure why they had disappeared, but thought that at least some of them had settled into areas with poor GSM coverage, meaning they were unable to upload their locations.  Although we were fairly confident that this was the case, we could not be sure until they moved back into GSM coverage, so in the meantime we just worried about them. As it turns out, we had no need to worry... at least for some.

Below is a map of four birds that have sent data recently.  183 went missing during 26 April to 2 July.  184 went missing during 9 April to 11 July.  185 and 186 have been sending back data sporadically since arriving on the summering grounds.  182 has been missing since 25 March, and 187 has been missing since 4 April (we hope they will show up soon).

The reason these birds are popping up now is that they are probably no longer tied closely to their nest site, especially if their young have flown.  In the coming weeks these birds may wander in the summering grounds looking for food (they should also upload the stored locations during the time they were missing).  Susliks, ground squirrels are important food, and their availability varies across the landscape.  Pretty soon they will hibernate, and that will be an important cue for the eagles to start their migration.

Stay healthy!

Movements of four Steppe eagles on their summering grounds during 15 May - 17 July 2020.

186 has been spotted!

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

Steppe eagle 186, an adult female tagged at Raysut in January 2019, settled into a breeding territory in Kazakhstan (See the posts from May 20 and 24).  Luckily for us, Genriyetta Pulikova was able to visit the area, and she saw 186 with her apparent mate.  It seems that the pair did not rear any chicks this year, but it is good to know that she has survived.  Without chicks 186 may wander around the summering grounds if prey in the immediate vicinity of her nest declines as summer passes.  Then, we hope it will head back to Oman, and we can continue to track her.  At the moment she is in heavy moult, growing new feathers for the coming year.

186 on her breeding territory, 16 June 2020.  The transmitter is easy to see (Photo: G. Pulikova).

186 showing heavy moult.  June 2020 (Photo: G. Pulikova).

The nesting area of 186

by B. Meyburg, A. Spalton, F. Al Lamki and Mike McGrady

Russian and Kazakh colleagues working on the breeding grounds of Steppe Eagles have sent the pictures below of nests in the area around where 186 is nesting,  We are hoping that one of them might be able to make a visit to the nesting area a little later this summer.

Steppe eagle nest in western Kazakhstan in 2010 (A. Barashcova).

Two Steppe eagle chicks at a nest built on the remains of a man-made structure in 2010 (A. Barashkova).

A "typical" Steppe eagle nest in the vicinity of the nesting by 186 in 2004 (I. Karyakin)

186 has been nesting

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

Well the female Steppe eagle with the transmitter 186 appears to have taken stay at home advice seriously.  After about 40 days of no transmissions, it turned up and dumped some data, suggesting that it is a breeding bird and has spent much of that time sitting on a nest.  186 was already an adult when we caught her in 2019 at Raysut.  Below is a map of data from 29 April - 15 May.  You can see that 186 stayed mostly within about 2 km of its nest.  Only recent behaviour (perhaps ranging away from the nest or soaring higher) has allowed the logger to transmit its data to the GSM network.

It is likely that other eagles that have "disappeared" in recent weeks have simply been breeding in remote areas with no GSM coverage.  We hope to hear from them soon!

Location of likely nesting territory of an adult female Steppe eagle (186) in May 2020.

Ranging of a adult female Steppe eagle (186) during 29 April - 15 May 2020.

Out of Arabia

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

The last of the Steppe eagles that we have been tracking over this winter has finally left Arabia and is in southern Iran, about 130 km NE of Bandar Mahshahr.  183 spent its winter at the central Saudi Arabian dump site where more than 6000 other eagles overwintered.  Look back at post from 22 November 2019.  183 is a 5 year male that spent last summer in western Kazakhstan.  We expect it will go there again this year. 

Of course, the Steppe eagle is the focus of the Champions of the Flyway initiative.  Good luck to those participating in the event and to the eagles.

Be healthy, people.

Add caption

Finally!

by M. McGrady, A. Spalton, F. AlLamki, B. Meyburg

It took a while, but 183 seems to have finally started its migration.  Just to remind you, 183 is a 5 yr old Steppe eagle that we caught in Salalah, Oman in January 2019.  It spent the summer of 2019 in western Kazakhstan, then during winter of 2019-20 settled at a rubbish dump in central Saudi Arabia.  The rather large number of tagged eagles that either wintered at that rubbish dump or passed through lead us to visit the site.  What we found was the largest winter aggregation of Steppe eagles in the world... between 4.5 and 9% of the total world population.  You can read about that site in the free issue of Sandgrouse (click here), the journal of the Ornithological Society of the Middle East. 

183 is the last of the Steppe eagles we are tracking to start migration this spring. Some are already on the summering locatons.  More about that later...  Below is a map of the movements of 183 since 1 December 2019.  Bon voyage!

Movements of a 5 yr old Steppe eagle that wintered near Shaqrah, Saudi Arabia during 2019-20.

Steppe eagle migration has started

by M. McGrady, A. Spalton, F. AlLamki, B. Meyburg

Steppe eagle migration has started, at least for some of the individuals that we are tracking.  In fact, it started some time ago, with the first tracked bird (186) making its move away from its wintering area in Dhofar, Oman on 21 February.  186 is now almost to the border between Iran and Turkmenistan. (See map).  

Migration of Steppe eagle 186 during 1 Feb - 3 March 2020.

Other birds have not moved from their wintering areas (183, See map below), and still others (182, map below) have moved away from areas used for most of the winter, but settled into new sites, and not started migrating in earnest. 

Movement of Steppe eagle 183 during 1 Dec - 5 March 2020.

Movementss of Steppe eagle 182 during  1 Jan - 5 March 2020.

Reports from Kuwait are that many Steppe eagles are being seen in the desert west and north of the city, and that the numbers at the dumpsites in central Saudi Arabia and Dhofar, Oman are declining. You may recall that the dumpsite in central Saudi Arabia was used by more than 6000 Steppe eagles over the winter (see Nov 22 2019 blog post), including 182 and 183. Recently about 700-900 eagles were there. Those birds that have yet to leave seem to be mostly non-adults (P. Roberts pers. comm.).  Numbers in Dhofar have also gone down.

End of Year Update

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

Office for Conservation of the Environment ranger with tagged Steppe Eagle at Raysut, January 2019.

We have learned a lot about Steppe eagles that winter in Oman in 2019.  Here is a recap:

In 2017 we caught two Steppe eagles at Al Multaqaa, the Muscat municipal dump.  This summer one of those eagles dropped its tag in Kazakhstan.  The tag was recovered by Kazakh colleauges, and is being refurbished for future use.  The other has also disappeared, but on its northward migration in spring.  In that case, it seems like the tag was performing less and less efficiently, so we hope that bird is still alive.  In the winters that followed the capture of those birds, they did not return to Oman; one wintered in SW Saudi, and the other at a site in central Saudi.  The central Saudi site has become somewhat famous.  The tracking data led us to ask Saudi collegues to visit the site.  When they went, they found around 5000! Steppe eagles.  Click here to see a short report on the OSME website.

In January 2019, with funding from the Anglo-Omani Society, and in-country support from the Office for Conservation of the Environment (OCE), Diwan of Royal Court, we captured 13 Steppe eagles at the Raysut, near Salalah, and fitted them with transmitters.  The transmitters on two of those birds failed almost immediately.  One bird made it to the summering grounds before contact was lost.  All other birds survived the summer and then migrated back to Arabia.  However, in spring Raysut was closed and the new landfill at Hakbeet (about 50 km N of Salalah) became fully operational.

About 1/2 of the birds arriving back in Arabia, went back to Raysut, only to find that it had been closed and there was no food.  Those birds then dispersed to other areas where they could get food.  Here is what has happened:  1 bird seemed to drop its tag at Raysut, but we have been unable to recover it.  Two birds are in southern Oman, making regular use of the Hakbeet landfill, one is in eastern Yemen, one in central Yemen and one in NW Yemen. Two are in SW Saudi Arabia, and two are at the large aggregation of Steppe eagles in central Saudi mentioned above.

During the wintering times, OCE biologists have been monitoring the use of Raysut by the eagles.  They noted that eagles were not aggregating at the site once it had closed down.  The information gathered from them was presented to be'ah, which reacted quickly and made food available to the eagles at the landfill at Hakbeet.  The result has been that over 500 eagles are now using the landfill, a great example of Omani biologists and government collecting data and using it to conserve eagles, and rapid action by a company that values the environment.

You can troll back through earlier posts to see more detail.

Throughout this work we have operated under permissions granted by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA), and in cooperation with be'ah and its contractors.

So, there we are for 2019.  Our plans for 2020 include continuing the monitoring and tracking of eagles, and working with the OCE, be'ah, MECA and others to promote eagle conservation in Oman and internationally.  Our  Anglo-Omani funding runs out, but we will continue to track the birds, at least, and report on their movements every so often in this blog.  We are hoping other conservation and research initiatives can be started, but as one might expect for a project like this:  "That's up in the air."

What is not up in the air is that we wish you all (and the eagles) a healthy New Year.

Don't forget to visit the other blog about our work on Egyptian vultures in Oman: http://egyptianvultureoman.blogspot.com/