Do Sea Eagles Take Lambs?

Farmers & crofters provide eyewitness accounts of lambs being taken on the hill, and sheep bones are certainly found in eagle nests. They do feed on carrion and that would be one explanation as to how these bones got there.....but some RSPB members have, somewhat bizarrely, claimed outright that sea eagles do not take live lambs.

Surely they are more than capable? An ailing, weak lamb is going to be an easy meal for a bird the size of the sea eagle.......but the extent to which they prey on live lambs is still not known. BUT, a new electronic tagging project in Gairloch has been initiated by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) which should shed light on the matter. 60 lambs have been tagged and their movements will be monitored.

Watch this space.....

quickfind:ben > "60 lambs have been tagged and their movements will be monitored."

Do their tags monitor altitude as well? Or are they just assuming that lambs don't run at 30mph.... and straight into eagles' nests?

The Nature film on the Sea Eagles of Mull by Gordon Buchanan documented lambs being taken by the eagles. Just watched it last week. The birds are certainly big enough.

Oh yes most definitely. I saw a figure quoted of over 200 last year on the west coast.

quickfind:shecam > " I saw a figure quoted of over 200 last year on the west coast."

This story hit the news in September 2008. To quote from one report at the time:

"the RSPB told the BBC it had inspected one nest containing the remains of a number of lambs and said it did not believe the birds were behind all the deaths.

A spokesman for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) told the Scotsman: "We are aware of these concerns and very surprised at the numbers being talked about. There is no doubt that they will take lambs, but usually dead or weak ones, and we've never heard of it being done on this scale.""

So it looks like the answer to the topic question is a qualified 'yes'.

I wonder if there are any statistics of the number of sheep and lambs killed by traffic? Many more than 200 per year I would imagine... Better close all the roads then (or fence the moorland...)

Probably, but its unlikely to be in huge numbers. I would expect a greater loss to hooded and carrion crows which are very powerful and far more widespread.

quickfind:scotaviaflyer > "I would expect a greater loss to hooded and carrion crows "

Ah yes, I forgot about that. Crows have the unpleasant tendency to peck at lambs' eyes.

(The Nature film on the Sea Eagles of Mull by Gordon Buchanan documented lambs being taken by the eagles. Just watched it last week. The birds are certainly big enough.)i

The problem is Sea Eagles are near shighted and frequently mistake a lamb for a wild Haggis.

As a shepherd with Scottish Blackface living next to nesting Turkey vultures who never bother my sheep I am somehow skeptical.

quickfind:ben > "but some RSPB members have, somewhat bizarrely, claimed outright that sea eagles do not take live lambs"

Some years ago, there was a similar controversy here in Texas, with some people claiming that eagles would not take live lambs. A newspaper photographer working for the San Angelo Standard-Times made fools of them; he set out a live lamb as bait, and photographed an eagle killing the lamb before the day was over.

"As a shepherd with Scottish Blackface living next to nesting Turkey vultures who never bother my sheep I am somehow skeptical"

...but turkey vultures are scavengers, they are not equipped for hunting. Vulture beaks can tear open a carcass, yes, but birds of prey kill with their feet - and vultures have feet like a crow. Eagles have claws like fingers that stab into whatever they seize hold of. An undefended lamb would be very tempting.

However....i fancy mentioning shark attacks on humans. If they take seals and sealions off beaches, why not humans? They'll try anything, loads of them have been caught with litter/rubbish in their stomachs. So its odd they don't "try" people as prey more often!
And what is really bizarre, is the orca or killer whale....that doesn't attack people! The adults are all at least the size of great white sharks, but....no attacks. Surely we're easy meat off the beaches?
But they're just intelligent, playful dolphins (when not slaughtering different dolphins or whale calves)...its odd!?

I watched the Landward programme the other day about Sea Eagles allegedly taking lambs and there were various stories from a selection of farmers and crofters about being in the lambing field and seeing it happen in front of them etc etc

What I found surprising was not a single picture. In today's world with so many mobile phones having a photo capability, and cheap and cheerful digital cameras forby, most of which can take reasonable quality video as well I found it strange that not one crofter or farmer had taken a picture of the slaughter

Simply finding lamb remains in a Golden or Sea Eagle eyrie is meaningless since both are opportunist scavengers as well as being birds of prey and will undoubtedly pick up dead or dying lambs

Eagles actively hunting healthy lambs is a whole different story and requires proof

Turkey Vultures have been documented killing lambs in Gettysburg, PA

Turkey Vultures have been documented killing lambs in Gettysburg, PA

Oh by the way Scottish Blackface ewes defend their lambs. I can't imagine eagles killing that many lambs ever. I have been a shepherd 22 years.

Wow watch this video of Golden eagles it is shocking!

My god that's amazing footage!

When an event unfolds in front of you it can overwhelm you.It takes practice to to think about using a camera if it is not already in your hand.

Mother Nature is not a progressive liberal philosopher ... she is brutally harsh... eat or be eaten! Have we lost sight of that as species?

quickfind:dhwemyss > "Have we lost sight of that as species?"

No. The opposite. We just preoccupy ourselves by being brutally harsh to our own species.

Six months on already. Can you believe it!? Anyway here's a BBC article about the SNH results:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8672303.stm