White-tailed eagles sighted in United Kingdom for the first time in 200 years

Amid coronavirus lockdown, endangered white-tailed eagles, kwn to be UK’s largest bird of prey with a wingspan of 2.5 meters have been reportedly sighted for first time in over 200 years in Britain.  humongous bird, fitted with satellite tags and majestic wings breed in wild and were sighted in Scotland until 1916 after which, it was declared extinct in 20th century, as per media reports. 

According to reports, at least 130 breeding pairs of  white-tailed eagles were bred across Scotland in 2016, and  six young Isle of Wight birds were adopted via special license by UK. birds reportedly disappeared in England back in 1780, however, a project from Forestry England and Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation was initiated towards its conservation program. birds released in UK were fitted with trackers for conservationists to monitor ir activities, that ticeably flew to far-away regions in world. But recently, y returned to UK as many of eagles soared and were reported to have been sighted. refore, Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation urged people to share photos on its official website. 

Picture credit: Amy Robjohns/Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation

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foundation wrote on its website, “re have been a large number of sightings in spring 2020 which relate to birds released on Isle of Wight, and ors, likely from Continental Europe. If you have seen and photographed a White-tailed Eagle in England or Wales please send us details and upload your photograph.”

Foundation identified bird

Furr, foundation identified bird as, “y have a white tail, ridged with black in juveniles.  short tail has a distinctive wedge shape.  head and neck are pale, almost white in mature birds, although juveniles are dark brown, and do t attain full adult plum until 4-5 years of . y have a hooked yellow beak, much more prominent than that of a golden eagle, and piercing golden eyes.  legs and talons are yellow.” 

 white-tailed eagle's species suffered huge declines in Europe during 19th and 20th centuries and was driven to extinction in UK, mainly due to threats it posed on livestock, Roy Dennis Foundation said. As with many birds of prey, species also suffered huge losses in 1950s and 1960s due to orgachlorine pesticides such as DDT, which caused eggshell thinning, it furr listed in causes for bird’s extinction. 

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