Open Daily From 10am - 5pm! @ The National Botanic Garden of Wales
White-Tailed Sea Eagle
"Aquarius"
Aquarius hatched on 8th April 2022 and has a very special role at the Centre. She is the Ambassador for the Eagle Reintroduction Wales programme. She visits Agricultural Shows and Schools to educate and engage members of the public to encourage support for the chance to have these majestic creatures back in the skies over Wales.
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White-Tailed Sea Eagle Facts
Haliaeetus albicilla
Territory / Location
The largest population in Europe is found along the coast of Norway and Russia, with important populations also found in south-west Greenland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Germany. Small numbers can be found in the rest of Europe, the Middle East, China, India and Mongolia. The population in 2008 stood at 9,000–11,000 pairs.
Habitat
Inhabits large, open expanses of lake, coast or river valley in temperate regions and tundra zones. It prefers to be close to undisturbed cliffs or open stands of large, mature trees for nesting.
Conservation Status
Least Concern
Diet
The diet is varied, opportunistic and seasonal, prey specimens can often include fish, birds and mammals. The daily food requirement is in range of 500–600g. Virtually any fish found near the surface is potential prey for the white-tailed eagle. Commercial fisheries and carp ponds are readily exploited by the eagles when available. Although, given the opportunity, they occasionally kill and harass some land birds, usually target water-based birds as prey.
Size / Weight
It measures 66–94 cm in length with a 178–245cm wingspan, weighing 4–6.9 kg (8.8–15.2 lb), are slightly larger than males, which weigh 3100 –5400g .The record weight for the species was 7500g.
Nesting
The nest is a huge edifice of sticks in a tree or on a coastal cliff. Being faithful to their territories, once they breed, nests are often reused, sometimes for decades by successive generations of birds; one nest in Iceland has been in use for over 150 years. sexually mature at four to five years of age, breeding from March – May laying 1-3 eggs.
Life Expectancy
21 years old average
25 years oldest recorded in the wild
42 years oldest recorded in captivity
Scientific
Classification
KINGDOM
Animalia
PHYLUM
Chordata
CLASS
Aves
ORDER
Accipitriformes
FAMILY
Accipitridae
GENUS
Haliaeetus
SPECIES
H. albicilla
Did you know?
There are now 100 pairs of white-tailed sea eagles living across Scotland. One of the latest eaglets to hatch in a Fife woodland has been tagged and ringed in advance of its first flight away from the nest.
