Bird of the month: Wedge-tailed Eagle

Posted on 30 December, 2024 by Anna

Bird of the month: Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax)

Welcome to Bird of the Month, a partnership between Connecting Country and BirdLife Castlemaine District. Each month we’re taking a close look at one local bird species. We’re excited to join forces to deliver you a different bird each month, seasonally adjusted, and welcome suggestions from the community. This article was written by Damian Kelly and Jane Rusden from BirdLife Castlemaine District, accompanied by photos from them both.

Photo by Damian Kelly

Wedge-tailed Eagles, or ‘Wedgies’ as they are often known, can be seen all over the Mount Alexander region, usually soaring on thermals at great heights, identifiable by their characteristic wedge shape tail and broad up-swept wings. A common enough, though still awe inspiring sight when I’m doing Connecting Country’s Woodland Bird Survey on private land, on a peak along Fogarty’s Gap Road. Recently a pair cruised over the Campbells Creek bush, just high enough to clear the ridges, sending some of the local birds into a panic of alarm calls. Interestingly, wedgies don’t always illicit alarm calls from other bird species. My best guess is that potential prey bird species know if a Wedgie is on the hunt or not, and therefore if they are in danger of becoming a meal.

Australia’s largest bird of prey and one of the largest eagles in the world, it is more common across the inland plains and it tends to avoid human habitation when building a nest. Wedge-tailed Eagles are quite adaptable when breeding with nesting sites ranging from large trees on hillsides, low trees in desert areas, on cliffs, in rain forests and even on the ground on islands. Density of bird territories varies widely. In years of abundant rabbit populations pairs may nest within 700m of each other. In more difficult years a territory may be several square kilometres and some pairs will not breed. Nest are seemingly enormous heaps of messy sticks.

Photo by Damian Kelly

Diet is varied with rabbits composing a significant proportion when available, but the eagles are known to take a variety of carrion and road-kill when available as well as wood duck, ibis, raven, galah, cockatoo and even other raptors. They are also known to harass other predators such as other raptors and even foxes to steal food.

The colour of their plumage varies – very dark birds are often older adults, but this is not always the case, with some lighter coloured birds recorded breeding. At times, fledglings can even be darker than their parents. So you cannot reliably rely on colour to estimate age.

There is a lot of misinformation prevalent about eagles and bounties were paid to exterminate them up until quite recently. They are now a protected species, but sadly there are still cases of eagles being shot and poisoned with some recent high profile court cases in Gippsland. Detailed studies have shown that in reality eagles take a very small proportion of lambs lost each year.