WHITE-TAILED eagles on Scotland’s west coast have been observed in “unprecedented” behaviour which has stunned scientists.
A pair of white-tailed eagles on the Isle of Mull have been seen taking care of a juvenile eagle that was injured as a chick in a development described as “astonishing”.
The RSPB said the youngster injured its wing when its nest fell to the ground during stormy weather last July, in an incident which its sibling survived unscathed and fledged soon after.
While the parents supported the chick, its wing continued to heal and it finally took flight with a wonky wing in the autumn, but locals did not hold out much hope for it surviving the winter, the wildlife charity said.
But RSPB Mull officer Dave Sexton was onboard the Lady Jayne, run by Mull Charters, for an early season monitoring check, when he witnessed an “incredible sight”.
The RSPB said that, as the boat approached the territory of the pair, the male scavenged a fish from on board, a normal behaviour.
As it flew back to shore, Sexton heard the “unmistakable sound of a young eagle calling for food, something usually heard in August after eaglets fledge but are still reliant on their parents for food”.
Sexton then saw a one-year-old eagle chasing its father bird before being given the fish.
Sexton said: “I looked at the skipper in astonishment and we both watched on, unable to quite believe what we’d just witnessed.
“I was astounded to see this behaviour which was new to me despite four decades of watching white-tailed eagles in the field.
“Normally, in the autumn and certainly by the winter, all fledged young have naturally wandered away from their parent’s territory and if they’re still loitering when the next breeding season approaches, they aren’t made very welcome.
“But here we were watching their chick, now over a year old, still in close company with its parents and still being fed!
“For the adults to be tolerating the youngster and tending to it, well into a new breeding season, is unprecedented in my experience.
“Each day they share fish from Mull Charters with their disabled offspring and it seems to show a previously unseen type of white-tailed eagle behaviour. We normally think of eagles as ‘hard-wired’ and unemotional but clearly there might be another side to their nature.
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“It’ll be fascinating to watch how long this might go on for. Could they tolerate it and feed it for another year … or two?
“What would happen as the immature starts to reach the sub-adult stage in three to four years’ time? It’s hard to imagine this scenario continuing by then but who knows? We’re in uncharted territory.”
White-tailed eagles, nick-named flying barn doors because of their 8ft wingspan, became extinct in Britain in the early 20th century due to human persecution but were successfully reintroduced in Scotland from the 1970s, and in the last few years have been released the Isle of Wight.
The RSPB said the UK population has now reached more than 150 pairs, with Mull the best place to see them in Scotland.
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