Big Baby finally takes flight!

The longest known sea eagle chick to stay in the nest has finally taken flight after more than 17 weeks after hatching - about seven weeks later than is usual.

 

"attachment_1028044" "" "300"] BB the sea eagle chick about to take flight
Photograph: Theo de Clermont/NatureScotland
TC-T38_seaeaglebbonnest-2023-NatureScotland

 

RSPB Mull Officer Dave Sexton said in his 20 years studying sea eagles on the island, this was the latest he had ever known a chick to stay put.

 

Generally, chicks can fly at 10 weeks old and have usually gone by 12 weeks, but this girl – nicknamed ‘BB’ for Big Baby – was more than 17 weeks old.

 

"attachment_1028041" "" "201"] Parent, Tiroran, watches anxiously as BB the sea eagle chick takes flight - at last. Photograph: Bryan Rains

 

"That’s over four months and she wasn’t showing any sign of taking that leap into the unknown!" said Mr Sexton.

 

He added: "But then again, who could blame her? She had all the home comforts from mum and dad, delivering her juicy furry and feathery meals throughout the day, a comfy - if probably by then very smelly - nest as a bed to sleep on and an adoring crowd of wildlife enthusiasts, tour groups and holiday makers watching her from afar."

 

For a while Mr Sexton was worried there was something not quite right. Maybe she was not feeling 100 per cent or was somehow snagged by fishing line or something else.

 

Her sibling in 2022 sadly died from bird flu, so he was watching very carefully for any signs.

 

He said: "But I’d seen her jumping about, exercising her wings and calling loudly just as she should have been so she seemed fine. Maybe just a late developer?

 

"By August, she should have been out and about and following her parents around to learn how to hunt and survive. She was on land owned by South West Mull and Iona Development Ltd, managed by Tilhill Forestry and her parents had made their home in the brilliant Tiroran Community Forest.

 

"Everyone locally cares about their breeding progress each year and we were all watching BB’s antics closely. BB’s mum had a new mate after her original male disappeared in 2021. Maybe her new dad was spoiling her and didn’t want his daughter to leave home? As the father of two girls, I know the feeling!”

 

Mr Sexton added: "It’s been a long, tense wait and I really began to worry that she was ill. The threat of her being infected with bird flu, like her sibling chick last year, was ever present in my mind. But finally, she’s summoned up the courage to fly. She was may be well over a month late but she got there in the end."

 

BB's maiden flight was not exactly epic – she ended up landing safely on the ground and walked around there for a few days, making short flights from one tree stump to the next, until eventually getting the hang of flying.

 

"She’s got a wing span of 2.5 metres so they take some getting used to. Now she’s joined her parents soaring up into the wide, blue yonder and we have all breathed a sigh of relief," said Mr Sexton.