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.