Sea Eagle Fly-by

How very lucky we are to be able to look out of an upstairs window and watch a sea eagle fly past the house.  This one - it may  be a juvenile, and it's probably over here from Mull - was flying west along the Ormsaigbeg coastline this morning.

Sightings of sea eagles have increased as the winter has progressed.  There were three over Mingary on Tuesday - see Mingary Castle blog here - and Tom Bryson reported one sitting on Glas Eileann on the far side of Kilchoan Bay in his Craigard Croft blog on the same day - see entry here.

While it's great to see so many of these majestic birds, like all good things there's always a down-side.  Sea and golden eagles don't make good friends, and there have been reports of sea eagles knocking golden eagles to the ground.  This rivalry is probably spurred at this time of year by hunger.  The stalkers on Ardnamurchan Estate are reporting sea eagles queuing up for the gralloch, the entrails left on a hill after a deer has been shot.  And the local crofters remain wary of a bird which can do considerable damage to their flocks.