The mysterious travels of eagles in sight

1998/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

Recently one of the great mysteries surrounding the solar eagle that inhabits the southwest of Spain has been solved.

The management of this species has always had a great difficulty, since the year of its birth the solar eagles disappeared and returned to chitear years later. They realized that in that period there were high mortality rates, but nothing great could be done without knowing where they were going and how they died.

Scientist Javier Oria needed the help of satellites to solve the mystery. For two years he has monitored eight eagles with the help of the satellite. After leaving the nest, the young eagles have shown that they can travel hundreds of kilometers south and remain there until they reach sexual maturity. Then they will return to their place of birth to look for and reproduce couple.

In one case, the satellite detected the young eagle in the lands of Senegal.

As for mortality, it has become clear that electric poles are primarily responsible and that 60% of young eagles die electrocuted.

In some regions there have been projects of change of posts and mobility, with a significant decrease in mortality.