If you click on any images in the blog, it will be opened in a separate window, will be larger and it will be easier to see detail.

Blog posts after 1 Feb 2018 about Steppe eagles tracked from Oman can be found at the Steppe eagle blog

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

A further tale of two eagles

Now that we have two eagles on the move, it seems best to join their stories.  To do this it is also best to first identify them.  I can't come up with reasonable names, so their transmitter numbers (162312 and 105) will have to do.

162312 started moving from its summering area in Kazakhstan just about a week ago.  It has made its way south and is now in Turkmenistan, about 120 km NW of Turkmenbashi (See Map 1). [CLICK ON THE MAPS TO GET AN ENLARGED VIEW]
Map 1.  Steppe eagle 162312
105 has been on the move for some time, and for the last week has been mostly using a rubbish dump near the town of Bisha, Saudi Arabia.  Today it made a short move farther south and is now about 200 km north of the Saudi Arabia - Yemen border, some 90 km NW of the town of Abha.  Click here to find out more about Abha (See Map 2).

Map 2.  Steppe eagle 105
Besides these individual movements, it is also interesting how these birds' migratory paths are starting to resemble each other (though we'll have to see what ultimately happens).  Map 3 shows the paths of the two birds (separated by about 3 weeks) as they migrate.  Some locations are < 2 km apart, and there is an implication that their flight paths crossed.

Map 3.  Migratory paths of two steppe eagles (105 and 162312) in western Turkmenistan, autumn 2017.
Of course, though the paths are close, the birds are currently quite far apart... about 2650 km (Map 4).

Map 4. Migration paths of two steppe eagles (105 and 162312) during early October 2017.

No comments:

Post a Comment