Abstract
The wind power plant on the island of Smøla, western Norway, is currently the largest in Norway; it has 68 turbines with nominal capacity of 2–2.3 MW each, hub height of 70 m and rotor blade radius of 38–41 m,. It was constructed in two phases between 2001 and 2005. Approximately 60 White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla territories are found in the whole Smøla archipelago. Before construction there were 13 Eagle pairs holding territories in the wind farm area and within 500 m of it, whereas in 2009 this was reduced to only five. Since 1996, baseline data on the White-tailed Eagle population size and reproduction have been collected.
In a post-construction study, 50 fledglings were satellite-tagged during 2003–2009, of which 45 provided more than 80 000 GPS positions in total. In addition to the geographical location, data on altitude and flight speed were provided by the transmitters (Microwave Telemetry, Inc., Columbia, MD, USA). Juveniles of both sexes stayed within the Smøla archipelago during their first winter. Most individuals moved away from the area during spring in their second year (April–May). Females dispersed further than males, often more than 800 km during summer, generally to the north. There was a return movement to the natal area during the second autumn. The same pattern was repeated in the third and fourth years for females, while the males showed more philopatry (Bevanger et al., 2009).