A typical Golden Eagle eyrie site in Scotland set on a broad vegetated ledge behind an old Rowan tree |
The chick is about 30 cm long and 20 cm broad, so this is a deep wide eyrie |
It was good that Simon came to this eyrie, for as the two of us roped down to the nest I was reminded of the size of these nests. I don't always appreciate that when alone. But with another person on the nest the scale became clear. The nest was huge.
Simon measures the length of the chick's head and bill there is room for two people and the chick on the nest |
The chick was ringed and measured within minutes, a minimal intrusion when the adult birds are often away from the nest for hours when the chicks are this age or older - this chick was about four weeks old. Although I am sure the adult birds would have been watching us from a distance all the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment