Cork born male eagle is fitted with satellite tag

Clare Heardman holds the eagle chick prior to tagging.

IT’S a boy! The eight-week-old white tailed sea eagle chick born in Glengarriff has been confirmed as a male and fitted with a satellite tag.

This will allow the movements of the chick to be closely monitored when it fledges in 3-5 weeks’ time.

The chick weighed in at a healthy 4.3kg and prey remains found in its nest suggest that dogfish has been a favourite food item.

The Glengarriff chick was the first to hatch in Ireland this year, and he is on course to be the first wild Cork-born eagle to fly in over 100 years.

The chick was tagged by Dr Allan Mee (Golden Eagle Trust) under licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Assisting with the logistics were local NPWS staff Clare Heardman, with colleagues Declan and Paddy, and tree climber Damien Clarke (NPWS Wicklow) and Tony Nagle (Birdwatch Ireland).