A brood of wedge-tailed eagle chicks surrounded by fresh prey.
Photo Credit: Simon Cherriman
An adult female wedge-tailed eagle peers over her nest in the Perth Hills.
Photo Credit: Simon Cherriman
Adult wedge-tailed eagles have almost completely black plumage.
Photo Credit: Simon Cherriman
A juvenile male wedge-tailed eagle fitted wtih a satellite-tracker. This bird flew 500 km just a few weeks after dispersing across its natal territory.
Photo Credit: Simon Cherriman
A month-old wedge-tailed eagle chick on a large nest in Western Australia’s arid zone.
Photo Credit: Simon Cherriman
Taken from a helicopter, this photo shows the sheer size of a wedge-tailed eagles wingspan.
Photo Credit: Simon Cherriman
Just days old, this wedge-tailed eaglet still has remnants of its egg at the tip of its bill.
Photo Credit: Simon Cherriman
Usually only one wedge-tailed eagle chick survives to fledging but this nest reared both chicks in 2016.
Photo Credit: Simon Cherriman
Wedge-tailed eagles line their nest with fresh green leaves— often gumleaves, which cradle the new eaglets.
Photo Credit: Simon Cherriman
At about eight weeks of age eaglets are well on their way to a new covering of golden, juvenile feathers.
Photo Credit: Simon Cherriman
A wedge-tailed eagle peers back at the researcher after being fitted with colour-bands, a harmless method of marking it for later identification.
We know very little about the wedge-tailed eagles’ (Aquila audax) movement across Australia’s vast arid lands. And with dramatic changes to the habitats of the native raptor, mostly caused by human activity, the more we know the better.
Wedge-tailed eagle expert, Simon Cherriman has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to purchase satellite-trackers to research the movements of juvenile wedgies.
Having raised enough money to fund three satellite-trackers in 2015, which were attached to wedgies in the Perth Hills area, Simon explains that our knowledge depends on following the stories of more than just a few birds.
“Despite being subject to a period of extensive persecution for over a century, when hundreds of thousands of eagles were culled, the Wedge-tail is currently listed as Least Concern. However, this status is based on information collected using methods designed for small songbirds, and it does not consider the complex population structure of a large raptor,” Simon explains.
To donate to Simon’s crowdfunding campaign, click HERE.