Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos

I have been monitoring breeding golden eagles in the Scottish Highlands for over forty years. Eagles need open ground to hunt over and undisturbed cliffs or trees to nest in. These are limited resources which are progressively intruded upon by human activities. In recent years much of my work on these birds has been related to possible impacts of windfarms on their use of nest sites and hunting areas. Over the years I have seen several nest sites abandoned by breeding eagles, and this has been probably due to disturbance by various types of human intrusion. In such cases the birds tend to shift to other less public eyries. However, the main damage being done to eagles, and all raptors in Scotland, is deliberate killing, such as in areas managed for grouse moors. This is a serious effect, as it removes breeding birds from the Scottish population. This is a deliberate illegal act, when will it be stopped.

Little Eagle Hieraaetus morphnoides

This study is as part of the Little Eagle Research Group, based in Canberra, Australia. The main aim is to assess the population of the eagles in the Australian Capital Territory and nearby New South Wales. The general methods involve studying the the breeding ecology and movements within the local area and their nationwide migration outwith thee breeding season. These include searching for and counting the breeding pairs and their breeding success, collecting food samples from prey remains and pellets, and following the birds' flight paths and identifying their hunting areas. The results of the study can be followed in group's website: https://littleeagleresearch.blogspot.com/ and Facebook page: www.facebook.com/LittleEagleResearchGroup/ .

Rock Ptarmigan Lagopus muta

These are alpine/arctic birds and my main interest has been in why these birds live on some Scottish mountains but not others. This has involved identifying what foods they prefer and where they seek cover from weather and predators. They are most numerous on hillsides, where there is abundant blaeberry and crowberry, their main foods, interspersed with patches of rock or boulders which they use for cover. As these birds live on the mountain tops they might be vulnerable to global warming. Simple annual counts of birds are unlikely to provide any definitive information on such an effect on ptarmigan however, for their numbers vary in approximately 10-year cycles and populations on different hill massifs are not synchronised. To fully understand how ptarmigan might be affected by any change in the climate, it would be more suitable to study their numbers and breeding success in current different environmental patterns.

Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides

These night-birds rely upon their cryptic colouring and behaviour to avoid daytime predators, and they are so difficult to find that there have been very few studies of them to date. I have identified over eighty breeding territories/pairs and followed their breeding success for several years. So far I have found that; birds in open woodland growing on moderately-rich soils live at higher density than those in close-canopy forest growing on poor soils; and they select to nest on branches which are orientated away from prevailing winds and exposed to more sunshine. This would allow them to have a more secure nest site and help the birds thermoregulate more efficiently. They are frequently seen basking in sunshine, especially in winter and this might be crucial behaviour for a species that likely evolved in a more tropical climate and now lives throughout temperate Australia too. Further long-term study of the population will focus on breeding behaviour and habitat use.

Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus

I have made numerous trip to Scandinavia, mostly Norway, to study birds. In recent years these have concentrated on waders in the far north and broad-billed sandpipers in particular. My brother, Rab, and local expert Karl-Birger Strann have lead this work which has revealed the favoured habitat of these birds. The main habitat being a particular type of mire with much floating vegetation and short sedges. Currently we are using geo-locators, which also collect temperature data, to find out where they migrate to in the non-breeding period and their breeding schedule.

Bird Ringing

Ringing, or banding as this is known in America and Australia, is an important method for studying birds. Small lightweight metal and sometimes also coloured plastic rings are put onto the birds’ legs with special pliers. Each metal ring is stamped with a unique alpha-numerical code and notification address. The plastic rings are applied in individual combinations of colours, or some are uniquely numbered/lettered. These methods allow the birds to be identified when subsequently seen, by which we can learn such details as where they move to and from, or how old they are. In recent studies of Greenshank in Scotland and Broad-billed Sandpipers in Norway, which I have worked on, we have also deployed geolocator tags which record details of time and day-length which allow calculation of the latitude and longitude of where the birds have been on migration. Conservation of any migratory species requires knowledge of its behaviour and habitat at both ends of its range.