Posted online: Jan 25th, 2007

Donegal’s golden eagles – which were re-introduced to the county as one of the millennium projects – are now beginning to really spread their weeks.

Around 30 of the birds of prey are now fending for themselves having been brought over from Scotland and satellite technology is now being used to track their movements.

One golden eagle is currently in Mayo, having been recorded in Tyrone, Derry, Fermanagh and Sligo as well.

“Every four days a signal is sent out from the bird to a satellite and this is sent back to a computer in French and we get a read-out,” explained Lorcan O’Toole, manager of the Golden Eagle Re-introduction Project. “The eagle has been tagged since 2005 and the battery will last another five or six years.”

Golden eagles can live to reach 25-30 years but often they do not start breeding until they are four or five years old.

So far, none of the imported birds have bred here. But the hope is that they will could start breeding in the coming year.

The golden eagle became extinct in Ireland around 1910, but hopes are high that the re-introduction of the species will lead to a sustainable native population once again.

“One bird laid eggs last year in Donegal last year but they did not hatch,” Mr. O’Toole added.

The project has considerable tourism potential and one option being explored is the possibility of installing a camera at a nest site so that tourists visiting Glenveagh National Park could get live coverage of the eagles.

At the last count, there were 42 golden eagles, although some of them may have not been tracked for some time. Satellite tracking is expensive, so most of the birds are given just ordinary tags. One was recently found dead near Milford, and the results of a post-mortem are expected shortly.

The main funding for the project initially came from The National Millennium Committee, The Heritage Council, EU LIFE Nature and Údarás na Gaeltachta. It is now funded through the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Plans to re-introduced the white-tailed eagle in Kerry are now underway.