Another day, another massive distance! Kuyurnpa is now really exploring far and wide from her birthplace, and over the last 6 days has covered an INCREDIBLE 1200kms! Her roost position tonight was near the north-western corner of Lorna Glen - but before reaching this point she had some travelling to do.
Kuyurnpa left the edge of Lake Carnegie (pictured centre right in the above map) on Wednesday morning and headed north, stopping overnight on what appears (from the aerial photographs) to be a patch of sand dunes, a distance of 200km. She then spent Thursday going south-west, roosting last night just south of a chain of wetlands, which probably still contain water considering the amount of rain which has fallen since January. Today she took of towards home again - does this mean she is heading back to see mum and dad again soon? In three days we will find out. Stay tuned!
Before I sign off - here's a map of Kuyu's movements on a much larger scale, showing the lower half of Western Australia. For the last 9 months we've had to zoom right in to the Lorna Glen study area to look at the small distances covered by our adults (except for Wallu's short walkabout back in January). Here Kuyurnpa is beginning to demonstrate how this species really is capable of covering huge distances in a relatively short space of time. She is just one of the (possibly hundreds) of juvenile wedge-tails who have fledged and begun their independent wandering period in WA this year. I wonder what the others are doing?
Our little girl has suddenly grown up! The latest and most exciting data from our satellite tracker on Kuyurnpa's back shows she has left home, and for the first time ever, roosted away from her parents' home range. This morning she was recorded in a tree near the south-west corner of the fenced enclosure, perched in a tree at 9 am. At 10 o'clock she had hardly moved, but when the GPS took its next fix at 1pm, she was soaring above a large salt lake nearly SIXTY KILOMETRES to the south!! Not long after she settled in this area and picked a roost site just east of the salt lake. Where will she go next?
It's nearly mid-March. The male Red Wattlebirds in the south-west have begun their frequent territorial 'cough' calls, signalling that Birak (summer) is passing. Heavy rainfall in central WA has left floodwaters in the territories of our eagles, and the new season is now approaching. Could it now be time for Kuyurnpa to leave home?
Her tracking data over the last 2 weeks have revealed she has made two very long flights from Gidjee and Mulga's territory. You can see these in the above map. At midday on 26th February Kuyu was recorded 20km from home, flying about 500m above the ground (quite low given her previous heights!), near the southern boundary of Lorna Glen. She returned to the fenced enclosure that night to roost, and remained there for over a week.
Yesterday, again at midday, Kuyu was recorded 10km north-west of the enclosure, soaring 1km above a flat plain area of spinifex. Again she returned home to roost.
Do these short wanderings indicate she is getting 'itchy feet' and is starting to think about dispersal? More tracking will soon tell us!
Nearly 300mm of rain has fallen at Lorna Glen since the beginning of this year! Summer rain is a normal occurrence in this part of Australia, but the amount varies from season to season. Last year about one third of this fell on the property, creating some very green conditions in March, but by June things had dried out. The conditions lately have made it very difficult for Lorna Glen caretakers Keith and Rhonda to get around. The roads are under water! The above photo shows one corner of the fenced enclosure, which is well and truly flooded. Here are a couple more shots of one of the large wetland areas, brimming with wonderful fresh water!
I've wondered why our tracked eagles' altitudes have been quite low over the last 3 weeks. This is probably because there has been little thermal activity, and too many thunderstorms! In wet conditions eagles spend much of their day perching in trees - flying when waterlogged is too energy demanding. It will be an amazing season this year and hopefully this rain bodes well for eagle breeding success!
Thanks to Keith and Rhonda for sending me these pictures.
Kuyurnpa from
Simon Cherriman on
Vimeo.
It's been nearly 4 months since Kuyurnpa took her maiden flight and rose above the Mulga scrub in the outback. Since then she has expanded her home range to the size of her mother Gidjee, learned where the key feeding spots are, and gained confidence at soaring to great heights. It's easy to forget that it wasn't that long ago she was still confined to her nest.
Shortly after she was tagged with a PTT, I built a hide and spent many hours over several days inside, observing her behaviour. I wanted to ensure that the PTT did not impact her natural behviour; it is most important that nestling eagles can move freely on the nest cavity, get used to walking around, and build strength in their pectoralis major (main flight muscles) as they progress toward fledging.
This video provides a flashback to those nest days and demonstrates Kuyu did not even worry about her new gadget. Enjoy!
Three THOUSAND metres! That's how high our juvenile eagle Kuyurnpa has been flying! At that sort of altitude, she can hardly be called a baby any more. During the past week Kuyu has come on in leaps and bounds, climbing to greater heights each day, usually soaring at similar altitudes to her mother, who we have had GPS fixes on nearby. Kuyu's highest fix has been 6400m asl (above sea level), and although I am still unsure of the accuracy of these extremely high points, we know that points up to 3300m asl are definitely correct. This shows she has now become a highly confident flyer, riding thermal air currents and using the altitude reached as a starting point to glide (with no use of energy) across the scrub. Kuyu is well on the way to becoming an independent eagle. It's hard to believe this is the same bird that I removed from her nest 3 months ago!
Here is a short video simulation of Kuyu's 3-dimensional home range. The nest on which she hatched (shown by the pink dot labelled 'WTE-N66') is now a tiny speck below her. She has not (as far as we can tell) returned here, even to roost, since fledging at the beginning of November.
Kuyu 3K Video from
Simon Cherriman on
Vimeo.
No - your eyes do not deceive you! The long orange line connecting several red dots on the above map shows the largest movement made by any of our tracked eagles to date. The culprit is Wallu, who for six consecutive months has remained within his territory near the south-eastern corner of the Lorna Glen study area. This area is about 8km wide and is shown by the cluster of red dots above.
Today I checked the tracking data and it revealed that, around 12 noon on 9th January, he had paid a small visit to the far south-east, crossing the border of the property (white line), and returning to roost 'at home' again that night. He repeated this visit the next day, this time heading almost directly east, before returning. Then today, he left his home range around 10am and again headed south-east, crossing the Lorna Glen boundary around midday. When the next GPS fix was taken at 3pm, he was traveling at 30km/h along a creek line at a location nearly SIXTY KILOMETRES from his territory! The 4pm and 5pm GPS fixes show Wallu's return journey, which by 8pm had brought him right back home to a favourite roost at - guess where - 'the larder': a well-populated rabbit warren within his home range. You can have a closer look at the map by clicking the picture above.
We don't know why Wallu made this huge journey - perhaps he was looking for another mate, fighting over territory with a rival male, investigating food supply in other areas, or simply 'checking out the scenery'. Further tracking data will hopefully reveal if this type of movement is normal for an apparently sedentary breeding adult in the non-breeding season - or if it was just a random Wallu walkabout.
