White Tailed Eagles Fly Free In Killarney National Park

Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government  John Gormley T.D., welcomed the release of eight young White-tailed Sea Eagles last week in Killarney National Park, Co. Kerry, as part of the second year of the reintroduction of this once extinct species in Ireland.

In June this year 20 eagle chicks were collected under licence from nests in Norway and flown to Kerry.

The remaining 12 eaglets are to be released during August and September.

All released birds have been fitted with coloured tags on the wings and carry radio-transmitters that allow the birds to be tracked in the wild.

It is hoped  that the newly released eagles will remain in the Killarney area for one or two months where the will be provided with food by Park Rangers until they begin to disperse to other parts of Kerry and beyond.

White tailed Sea Eagles were once resident in Kerry but disappeared over a hundred years ago following persecution by man.

"The release of the new eagles in Kerry represents another important stage in efforts to restore these magnificent birds to the skies of the south-west," said Minister Gormley.

Allan Mee, the project manager of the Golden Eagle Trust said: "It is a great day to see more of these magnificent birds in the skies of Kerry where they belong.

"It will be five or six years before the birds attempt to breed in the wild so returning sea eagles to their old haunts is a long and slow process."

"But every year that goes by brings us ever closer to achieving that goal so all the effort and goodwill shown by so many people will some day be rewarded."

National Parks and Wildlife Service District Conservation Officer Frank Mc Mahon added, "From a conservation point of view it is very encouraging that we are one step closer to establishing a self-sustaining population of White-tailed Sea Eagles within its former stronghold along the Atlantic seaboard.

"This project is part of the Government's effort to fulfil international commitments to significantly reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity across the globe by 2010 under the UN Convention of Biological Diversity."

The project to reestablish the species is a collaboration between National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Golden Eagle Trust.

The first 15 White-tailed Sea Eagles were released in 2007 and spent most of the winter in the Killarney area and to the west of the Iveragh peninsula.

However, in early 2008 four birds flew to east Cork while others have since dispersed to Lough Corrib, Co. Galway, the Ox Mountains in Sligo, Lough Mask, Co. Mayo, and even as far as Limavady, Co. Derry.

Another bird has also been spotted in the North on Lough Neagh.

"Its very encouraging to see some of the Kerry eagles being reported from as far away as Co. Down and know they are still alive and doing well," said Allan Mee.

Young sea eagles wander widely during the first few years of life before settling down and establishing territories usually near where they were hatched.

Once they reach adulthood they remain on their territories all year round.

Although the project has reached another important stage concerns still remain over the threat posed by poisoning.

Four of the 15 eagles released in 2007 succumbed to poisoning including three birds at one site in Kerry.

Efforts to address this problem are ongoing. While the loss of four birds is a serious blow to the success of the project the fact that to date the poisoning has been largely confined to one locality suggests that the problem may not be widespread.