Wedge Tailed Eagle
|
ID#26
|
Classification: Avian
Endangered Status: Red List Least Concern Habitat: Australia’s forest, mountains, desert, savannah, New Guinea, Tasmania The Wedge Tailed Eagle has many features including a narrow, pale stripe on its under wing, and wedge shaped tail. The plumage is the same in the sexes, dark brown back and feathered legs. The Wedge Tailed Eagle is also one of the world’s largest birds of prey and it’s Australia’s largest bird of prey too. The Wedged Tailed Eagle is 1m-1.5m tall, it’s weighs 3.5-6 kilograms. The average wingspan of the Wedge Tailed Eagle is 2.5meters wide. Wedge Tailed Eagles have many traits they swoop from a perch to hunt. Wedge Tailed Eagles are like Buzzards or Vultures because they will eat dead animals. They will also eat emu eggs, wallabies, young kangaroo, domestic animals, and large reptiles. In addition to that trait Wedge Tailed Eagles make their nests on cliff edges, and in trees. The nests are lined with leaves. Another characteristic of the Wedge Tailed Eagle is that it sleeps at night or is diurnal. Wedge Tailed Eagle breeding is very interesting. The eagles put on flight show, almost. They fly really fast. Then dive and pull up. Sometimes a couple will even perform the loop to loop. However the eagles mate on the ground. The mating season of a wedge tailed eagle is June-November. It produces 1-2 eggs. The incubation period for the chicks is 42-45 days. Once the egg hatches the chicks plumage is white. Immature plumage is golden brown patches on the under wing, shoulders, hind neck, nape. The eagle’s chick takes 6 years to develop adult plumage. The entire lifespan of a Wedge Tailed Eagle is an average of 20 years. Some interesting facts about the Wedge Tailed Eagle are; in 2004 the Wedge Tailed eagle was of least concern on the IUCN Red List. The National Wildlife Act protects the eagle and it’s illegal to hunt, or harm them in any way. Wedge Tailed Eagles were targeted for bounty because they were thought to prey on lambs. |