March 2017: Part 3, Steppe eagle 162312

In contrast to the Steppe eagle 105 (See earlier post), 162312 has not started its migration, and is currently at the Tahwa Landfill site.  The map below shows that it did make some excursions out to the Wahiba Sands, but those were almost a month ago.

Movements of Steppe eagle 162312 during March 2017.

Below is the image zoomed into the Tahwa landfill.  The red box shows is where a power pylon is located where this bird likes to perch, and the purple box is where the landfill is located.

Locations of a Steppe eagle near the Tahwa landfill during March 2017.

March 2017: Part 2 Steppe Eagle 105

In January we caught two Steppe eagles (Aquila nipalensis) at the Muscat Municipal Landfill at Al Multaqa.  Look back at our January 30 blog post.  Steppe eagles are migratory and only visit Oman in the winter, so these birds were destined to someday fly off to summering areas in Asia.  For Steppe eagle 105, that journey started on 7 March, when it started moving north west from Bahla.  By 18 March it was flying over Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after which it changed course and headed toward Kuwait City.  As of the afternoon of 24 March, 105 is located about 50 km east of the Saudi Arabian town of Hafar al Batin and about 200 km south west of Kuwait City.  Migration can be a dangerous time, and we hope that this bird will continue safely on its journey.

Below is a map (If you click on it, it should open up larger in new window).  The gaps you see are because the bird has been flying over areas where it has no GSM coverage, inhibiting the upload of GPS locations.  Hopefully over time, as long as it gets periods of good GSM coverage, those gaps will get filled in as the transmitter catches up and sends the saved data.

Movements of a juvenile Steppe eagle Jan-March 2017, showing 18 days of its spring migration.

March 2017. Part 1 Egyptian vulture

This is one of three blog posts I will make in late March about the birds we are tracking.  This one is about the Egyptian vulture we have been tracking since January 2016.

Since the last post the vulture has been visiting regularly used places.  It has spent most of its time at the rubbish dump at Tahwa (roosting in Jebel Kahwan at night and on the high voltage pylons to the west of the rubbish dump during the day).  However it has also made trips up to the Muscat municipal rubbish dump at Al Multaqa, to a deep wadi near Ras Al Shajar, the steep cliffs of Wadi Sareen and locations near Ibra.  Have a look at the map below.  Currently, it is at the rubbish dump at Tahwa.

I'll be posting Part 2 in the coming days, so visit the blog again soon.

Movements of an immature Egyptian vulture during 26 Feb - 23 March 2017.