New book out

http://www.langford-press.co.

uk/Eagle%20Days.htm
My new book on eagles has just arrived from the printers and is now available from Langford Press. http://www.langford-press.co.uk , and also Amazon, Borders etc.

That was the plug. As for content, what do you get. Well, I have tried to portray my experiences and knowledge of golden eagles and their ecology in the Scottish Highlands, using words and photographs all taken by myself. This is not a dry academic text, nor is it a coffee-table book. Rather, using the high quality production of Langford Press, and modern styling, the book gives a feel of what it is like to walk hundreds, thousands of miles over many years, let's say about forty years, studying golden eagles. I have shared the Highlands with these birds; the weather, the scenery and all that is there. And I have collected a long run of scientific data, with the results published in academic journals. Eagles are an integral part of the Highland ecology, and in this book I have tied together various strands of the one and the whole.

          The nictitating membrane flicks across an eaglets eye. Photographed at 1/800th of a second.

On still mornings, eagles will simply sit on a highpiont and watch for prey, only rising in the sky when the wind rises.

Meanwhile, I am currently busy in the Highlands, studying eagles, the story never stops......

Wedge-tailed eagles

Yesterday while I out in the local woods, I heard grunting, muffled, barking calls. So I crept on quietly, expecting to find some mammal lurking in the shrubbery, but no. There were a pair a wedge-tailed eagles sitting in adjacent trees, calling to one another.

Eagles are normally quiet birds, or thought  to be, but I have been close to quite a few and have heard such muffled barking calls before; by golden and wedge-tailed eagles. They are probably thought to be quiet birds because people are seldom close enough to hear them.

These birds had obviously not long finished eating something as both their bills were red with blood. But it must have been a small prey item as their crops were not full. Adult Wedge-tailed eagles have a fine golden nape similar to the golden eagle, of Europe, Asia and North America. Their wedged tail forms a distinctive long pointed shape when the birds are perched.

This bird was probably the male as it was the smaller one, and its feet can be seen to be quite small in this photograph - females are larger and usually have large thick talons. The long central tail feathers droop down when in level flight. I often wonder on their purpose, do they help the birds steer through the canopy? For these are birds of open woodland and landscape with scattered trees.

There was no point in me hiding as both birds had obviously seen me. So I grabbed a few quick images as the male flew off through the trees - the nictitating membrane closing over his eyes as he squeezed through the branches.

Big rain

It has been raining here for a few days now, with more than 100mm down in March so far. It's raining again now and more to come. That should see us with 200mm for the month, by the 4th.

 Scrivener Dam, like all the dams around here is overflowing.

 Better to keep clear

 Well clear

 Power

 Picturesque power

 Lots of flooding

The darters still have big chicks in their nests, not many fish being brought in though...

New website

I have opened a new website at http://sites.stuartrae.com/  or just click on the website link on the right.

I would be grateful for any comments on layout, content, usefulness, favourite image, etc.. I would especially like to know how it appears on various devices, as I know iOS corrupts the layout no matter what I do to set the gadgets, text or inserts.

Please send any comments to the associated email address which is stuart@stuartrae.com .

Thanks for your interest and help.

Stuart

Banding birds

I was helping John Rawsthorne catch and band birds last weekend at the Weddin Mountains. It was the end of the breeding season and many of the birds we caught were young of the year. Or like the rainbow bee-eater above were adults worn out after their efforts - literally as this bird shows with its tatty plumage and broken tail-streamers.

This red-browed firetail was identifiable as a bird of the year because the red in its brow was incomplete

- the adult birds have a thick brush stroke across their brow.

There was a family party of grey butcherbirds in the area, this is one of the adults.

They have a particularly sharp hook on the tip of their bill for picking up prey, mostly invertebrates, but also small skinks and young birds if they can catch them. That is my skin on the tip.

                               Another predator made an appearance - a goanna ( lace monitor lizard). 

 

It was nice and quiet as it walked through the camp, still a youngster itself.