I don't wish to give the impression that I've seen too many Wedgetail Eagles of late. To misquote Samuel Johnson, "when a man is tired of watching eagles, he is tired of life". Perhaps in this PC age, I should have used the term "person"!I set off last week for Marion Bay, full of expectation, but by the time I arrived, there was a very cool south westerly blowing, scudding clouds and occasional rain. I was still wondering whether I should abort the trip as I drove down the ever deteriorating track towards the car parking area, when I noted a large bird being harasssed by a couple of Forest Ravens, a Wedge-tailed Eagle. Watching the eagle, driving, and getting my camera prepared, all at the same time, made for an interesting few moments. But in no time I was alongside the eagle, now standing in the paddock, keeping a wary eye on me. I guessed it would inevitably take off shortly, and positioned myself upwind and waited. As you can see from the image, I had an excellent view of it as it floated by in the strong wind. Gaining height, it quickly outflew the ravens, circled and flew along the length of the dune, briefly attacked by two Kelp Gulls. After that, the walk to the point was, inevitably, an anti-climax!
Hi.. I found your site when I did a search for shy albatross, which I found in an earlier post. And I happened to know of the guy who wrote the post! (John Tongue, from Holy Trinity, a church I have a few links with). This site is really great! I work for Sealife Experience (www.sealife.com.au) and I thought lots of your readers, as well as you, might be interested to know about the birds we see out there each day. We regularly see heaps of pelagic birds and a lot of more common coastal birds. We see shy albatross, australasian gannets, black-faced cormorants, crested terns, pacific gulls, kelp gulls, and white-bellied sea eagles, not to mentions their huge nest in Fortescue Bay! The tour is 3 and a half hours, leaving from Eaglehawk Neck. It's awesome, and I highly recommend it! We've seen some feeding frenzies lately and those would have to be the highlight.. Anyway, good work people and keep it up!
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you for your blog! I love it. We've just moved to Geeveston from Adelaide. I've been seeing a lot of big brown birds and was wondering if indeed they were eagles and now I am almost certain that they are. The other day we were driving along and there was one by the side of the road, feasting on roadkill. Golly it was beautiful! From our property I see them soaring the skies, almost daily. They truly are magnificent. I wish my camera was good enough for me to capture them in their glory.
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