The matter summed up Havørna, which was once dangerously low in population, now has a historically high population. The eider population has declined dramatically in recent years, with a decline of 80 per cent. Some blame sea eagles for the decline in the eider population. Bird watchers believe there are too many eagles and that this affects the weaker species, such as the eider. Eagle researchers claim that sea eagles are mainly scavengers and that humans are to blame for the imbalance in nature. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. For tourists, sea eagles are a majestic sight that they like to travel far to take pictures of. But she has not always been as easy to photograph as it is now. In 1968, the population was dangerously low. Then the eagle was spared. Now – 17 years after it was written off the red list, the population of Europe’s largest bird of prey is historically high. And some think the sea eagle has changed its role; from being a victim to being a villain. – In danger all the time In recent years there has been a dramatic decline in the eider population along the coast. According to the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research, the decrease is 80 per cent. Warmer seas, less access to food and increased boat traffic are partly to blame. But some also blame the sea eagles. Eivind Hansen has been a bird watcher at Træna in Nordland for over 50 years. – There are too many eagles. The eagle is in danger all the time. In the last ten years, 130 eiders have disappeared, according to Hansen. But in the last couple of years, around 40 birds have disappeared every year. The bird watchers believe that the eider chicks in particular are in constant danger. Photo: Jacob Guttormsen / private Hansen says he has observed flocks of around forty sea eagles. – When the eagle comes flying, the eider takes off because it gets stressed and scared. Then the seagull can take the young while the eagle takes the mother. The bird watcher at Træna thinks it’s about smaller fish in the sea. The fishermen are also not allowed to throw out sloes as they did before. Then Hansen believes that the eagle takes what is easiest to take. The bird watchers on the islands in northern Norway have for generations built houses to protect the eider. Now, bird watcher Hansen says that the greylag goose also uses the house to protect itself from eagles. Photo: Markus Thonhaugen / news – One cannot let it continue. Then it goes beyond the weaker species. – But the eagle was on the red list, isn’t it good that she is doing well? – I do not think that one should do as in the 60s and exterminate the eagle, but take out a portion so that there is a balance in nature. The researchers must also see that. – Taking eiders as candy Just east, into the Ranfjorden, sits the fourth generation of bird watchers Jacob Guttormsen in the protected nature reserve on “Holm Holmen”. At most there were over 700 eiders nesting there. Last summer there were only 142. Guttormsen owes it to the same bird. – I think that all eagles that come to Holmen during the nesting period should be shot. Bird watcher Jacob Guttormsen sits here watching over an eider that is on a nest. Photo: Tore Gjerløw / news He adds: – The bird organization is to blame for the seabirds doing so badly. If we don’t get to shoot the eagle soon, there will soon be no more eiders here. The reason, he says, is that the eagle has no natural enemies. He says the eagle attacks three or four times a day, either alone or in pairs. Bird watcher Guttormsen says the eagle kills the eider before it eats the male. The birdwatcher does not think that we should go back to the way it was in the 60s, but according to the birdwatcher, neither food nor mink is a problem for the birds in the fjord. Photo: Jacob guttormsen / private – She takes the eider, ribs them and eats them. It’s just nonsense that eagles are scavengers. The eagle takes live eiders as candy. – Not a hunter Until the 1960s there was a prize for shooting eagles. On Værøy in Nordland, the eagle was caught with only its talons and its powerful wings used for broomsticks. Eagle researcher Alv Ottar Folkestad said that even before the eagles were protected, in the 1960s, there was talk that sea eagles were a danger to egg and down weather in Lofoten. But then there were also weather owners who rejected this. – There weren’t as many eagles in the 60s, but the sea eagle was part of nature in Nordland, and has been so all along, he says. At the start, the eagle researcher, who is also part of the bird organization Birdlife Noreg, said that the researchers also thought seabirds were important prey for sea eagles. But international research over the past 50 years has shown that sea eagles are mainly scavengers. – The sea eagle is territorial as an adult, for life and throughout the year. The most important cause of death in adults today is territorial battles. It balances the population, says eagle researcher Alv Ottar Folkestad. Photo: Arne Flatin / news – The sea eagle is also a kleptoparasite that steals food from others. 70–90 per cent of the food is fish, says Folkestad. The Center Party has previously wanted to open up the shooting of white-tailed eagles in certain areas in order to save the highly endangered eider bird. The eagle researcher doesn’t think anything of it. He believes that the sea eagle population along the Norwegian coast is largely balanced today, and that flocks of sea eagles have been a known phenomenon since the 1980s. – It is natural for young sea eagles to gather in the first four or five years, at, for example, a large quail carcass. But gradually the young bird dies in a fight for territory with other sea eagles, Folkestad explains. Folkestad says that the bird organization Birdlife Norway does not have a centrally directed position on eagles, but that they expect knowledge, and not opinion, to be used as a basis for nature management. Photo: Torgeir Beck Lande The researcher believes that humans are to blame for the imbalance in nature, and the decline of seabirds. According to him, changes in sea temperature are the biggest threat. – The fact that the seabirds do not find enough food is the reason why they are unable to carry out nesting, he says and adds: – Finding a living, warm-blooded creature that one owes to overtaxing eiders is turning things upside down. We meet ourselves at the door. The researcher points out that the primary food in the sea has been reduced by almost 80 per cent. Among other things, the spiny lobster, which makes up the majority of zooplankton in the Norwegian Sea, has declined. Photo: Calanus AS – Don’t you believe what the bird watchers tell you? – I believe in research. If we go back to knowledge before the extinction of game of prey, people knew that sea eagles were scavengers and were not considered a problem bird. Back then, the sea eagle population was probably at least at the same level as today. This is what the Norwegian Environment Agency says about shooting eagles According to senior advisor Jo Anders Auran in the Norwegian Environment Agency, there were only about 400 pairs in Norway when the sea eagles were protected. Today it has increased tenfold, with between 2,700 and 4,000 pairs. But a population target has not been set for sea eagles in Norway, as has been done for golden eagles. – There is no basis for this either, as white-tailed eagles do not affect other industries as golden eagles can, says Auran to news. For the administration, the story of the eagle is a success story. Part of the reason is that Norway is a tourism nation for nature tourism, of which sea eagles are an important part. In addition, several countries where the white-tailed eagle has been hunted will reintroduce white-tailed eagles. Then Norway contributes with birds, according to the senior adviser. – We know that sea eagles are a predator of seabirds and can disturb the nesting colonies along the coast, but the underlying reasons for the dramatic decline in seabirds have completely different causes, such as climate change and changes in access to food as a result. – What does it take for someone to be allowed to shoot sea eagles to save seabirds? – Seabirds are a natural part of the diet for sea eagles. This is how it has always been. We do not give permission to shoot birds that are searching for food naturally, says the advisor in the Norwegian Environment Agency and adds: – We therefore see no need as of today to follow up with either hunting or removal of sea eagles. The non-reproductive young birds regulate themselves by natural processes such as access to territories, access to food and through active fights with death as a result. Published 08.12.2024, at 08.13
ttn-69
