More than a century after the country's largest bird of prey disappeared entirely from Ireland, a white-tailed sea eagle has been delivered—and the young fledgling became another success for conservationists to celebrate.
Fota Wildlife Park in County Cork has announced the successful birth and fledging of a white-tailed sea eagle chick—the first chick of the species born at the park in more than a decade.
The eaglet hatched on April 13 to resident parents Áine and Tony, who, according to their caretakers, have taken naturally to the demanding job of raising Europe's largest eagle.
"The mother and father have done a great job," said Jess Hodnett, Fota Wildlife Park's Native Species Conservation Officer.
And there's quite a lot of chick to raise.
Adult white-tailed sea eagles can have wingspans stretching more than 8 feet—an extraordinary 2.5 meters. During breeding season this puts great demand on the parents requiring them to eat 18-21 ounces of food every day (500-600 grams) to support their young.
The successful fledging carries particular significance in Ireland.
White-tailed sea eagles were once common along the country's coastline, but human persecution eventually wiped them out. Ireland lost its entire population, and the species remained absent for more than a century.
Then people decided to bring back the only sea eagle native to Europe.
Beginning in 2007, Ireland's National Parks and Wildlife Service, working with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research as well as farmers and local communities, began releasing white-tailed sea eagles at sites around the country.
More than 200 have now been released—and the recovery effort has reached an extraordinary milestone: Ireland's population is now considered self-sustaining.
Fota wildlife park, has participated in white-tailed sea eagle conservation since 1991 and has now successfully bred six chicks.
Hodnett said the staff hoped the youngster will eventually participate in a European endangered-species breeding program, meaning this one Cork-born eagle could contribute to conservation efforts far beyond the park where it hatched.
For Fota's conservation team, however, the eagle is only one piece of a much larger success story—the park is helping some of Ireland's most vulnerable native animals, from curlews to the endangered white-clawed crayfish.
Fota's work with the endangered natterjack toad has produced great success, as the park takes toad spawn from ponds in County Kerry and raises the youngsters during their most fragile stages before returning them to the wild.
Since 2016, more than 13,600 natterjack toadlets have been released back into their native habitat—with another 750 expected to join them this August.
For Fota, the eagle chick demonstrates the positive outcomes that come through cooperation. A species humans once eliminated from Ireland is being nurtured by another generation of birds there—with people now working together to make sure it thrives.
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