I know I'll probably hammered for this but I'm wondering if there is any way to photograph a Sea Eagle nest from above without risking the welfare of the birds.
I'm not interested in any method that has any potential to interfere with their nesting behaviour eg drones, tree climbing etc.
The nest overlooks a large lake and from the other side I have taken some photos of adults, chicks and juveniles that I'm quite pleased with given the distance from the nest (probably close to 300m). It has been there for at least 10 years, and the adults have successfully raised 5 chicks in the last 3 seasons.
Anyway your thoughts on the question are appreciated.
Tim
I've sent you a PM with my e-mail. Happy to discuss offline.
I am photographing two nests in the Nepean Region of western Sydney. Perfectly safe, not harming any birds in the process. Just a lot of groundwork to do.
Well, following some informative comms with canonguy - thank you by the way - we are pleased to report that the Sea Eagle nest at Dan Stiller Reserve (Brisbane) is occupied and apparently incubating.
Marg and I went there with scope, camera and binos today and can report that one adult was on the nest and the second in a nearby tree. The last time we saw both was on April 15.
Easily visible with the sope, marginally visible with the camera and tele lens, not visible with binos which explains why we haven't seen them in the last few weeks of weekly casual/extended obs with binos.
This is very good news given the massive industrial "development" nearby. The nest has now been occupied for at least 10 years with last year being the most successful in the last 5, 2 juveniles being raised to leaving the nest.
We have seen last years juveniles fishing in the nearby lakes which is quite a treat, but they were not evident today. But we did see a Bhraminy Kite take something from the lake and a Whistling Kite circling so the morning was big success for us.
We are very happy to help anyone who wants to know more about Dan Stiller reserve. It is a real gem with about 150 species seen so far. My very amateurish attempt at a species richness regression suggests that somewhere around 170 species can be expected - please note that the data used are not of the quality usually used for species richness regressions, but we fully expect more to be seen than are curently recorded.
Tim and Marg Roberts
How wonderful it is to hear about Sea Eagles & other raptors surviving near an industrial complex. Perhaps a letter or email with photos to the CEO of the company praising her/him for having wildlife adjacent to the company's operations would be in order. Who knows, it might encourage the CEO to issue orders about habitat protection!
Great news Tim, it was really great chatting with you about the eagles. And I thank you for all the great info you sent me about this reserve.
My two local pairs should be on eggs now too, and also I know the Newington pair near the Olympic Park (Sydney) have eggs now for at least the past week. Hopefully their young survive this year.
Sorry for the delayed reply, but I finally managed to get a camera adapter that fits our old scope and went back to the reserve this morning. Sadly, while the scope is ok for viewing it is dodgy at best for photography, so I attach the photos below only to illustrate that both adults are attending the nest. I was blessed indeed to see both on the nest after a very short wait.
apologies in advance for the poor quality of the photos .....
Tim