Where? Where? Wedgie! 2018 Day 8 : 08-05-2018

Well, what a special day for this pair of eagle enthusiasts! Our first pictures of one of the tagged eagles were snapped by James, we spotted a pair of White bellied sea eagles and exited Maria Island in a fury of wind.

At nine o’clock this morning we waited in anticipation to see if Ernie would text James with his exact location. We we’re ready to walk in any direction to find him and do our eat surveys for detectability.

Just before the clock ticked over James spotted a large bird behind the trees and we turned to see a Wedgie gliding across the sky. Then all at once the phone started beeping with 13 eagles checking in for the day. One of them was Ernie. His location was further down the island so the eagle we saw was not Ernie, but probably one of his parents. 

Two backpackers from Switzerland had camped overnight nearby. They are only 19 years when of and just out of high school but they’d come all the way to to Tasmania for two months especially to see carnivorous marsupials. Would a carnivorous bird be interesting too? Yes it would, so they joined us to find Ernie.

 It far down the track James spotted an eagle perched in a dead tree. It was Ernie. When he flew away we could see the light coloured feathers of a young bird. It was confirmed soon afterwards when two more eagles came into view, soaring up high. Ernie’s parents. Wow!

We did some test surveys for 10 minutes to see if we saw any of the eagles during the strict 10 minute survey time. On the last survey a pair of White bellied sea eagles cruised the coastline looking for a feed. Eagles everywhere.

Walking back to Darlington to catch the ferry we were feeling pleased with the mornings work. The wind continued to strengthen and by the time we boarded the ferry it was howling across Mercury Passage. Tomorrow we’re hoping to track some eagles in the Midlands and Central Plateau area of Tasmania.

T-shirt winner today: gingerninja for the contribution about eagles ‘shorts vs trousers discussion.