THREE-K

 
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.