I was driving to Melbourne yesterday and spotted what I thought were a couple of huge wedge tailed eagles scuffling over something on the groud, there was a flock of sheep skittering around, and I hurriedly pull over the car, crossed the road and took a long distance snap. My intention was to walk across the paddock and get a closer one but a very unfriendly local to offense at my presence.
As I left, the birds had moved even futher away, and I now think the second one was not a wedge tailed, but what was it? I can't see what was on the ground under the wedge tail in the first photo. Could it be standing over the other eagle?
They were over 120 metres away so the photos are pretty dodgy, sorry.
Two wedgetails, the lighter colored one is younger.
Big or little bird, bright or dull, it's always the juveniles that fool me. Thanks Headsie.
(It always seems strange replying to a forum username!)
Roger
To be correct the name is not wedgetail, it is Wedge-tailed Eagle. With a hyphen between wedge and tailed and both first and second names are capitalized.
That golden one is an immature eaglet, most likely last year's hatchling. As they get older, they lose the colour and become darker and darker. It's always important to look at the GISS of the bird not just the colours Roger.
GISS - general impression of size and shape. Raptors can be tricky, but with Wedge-tailed Eagles it is easy to determine species (with a little practice) due to their sheer size. The only other raptor that may be similar in size is the White-bellied Sea Eagle (which is more a kite than eagle and is not a true eagle for that matter), but young WBSE are all brown and have no golden patches like young Wedge-tailed Eagles.
Thanks Windhover, a very thorough answer, thanks for the tips.
Roger