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I was given recently an interesting article
from the Tasmanian newspaper "The Examiner" (Wed, 18th December 2002) and
the story was further corrected by a later article in another Tasmania newspaper
"The Saturday Mercury" by aregular columnist Don Knowler (which I was also given
but did not get the date of the article), about a Peregrine that killed a
White-bellied Sea-eagle at Judgement Rocks in Bass Strait seen by 2 observers
(volunteers for Wildcare) from a fishing vessel. They watched the Sea-eagle for
an hour raiding the nests of Gulls along a cliff face and at the whole time
being constantly harrassed by a Peregrine Falcon (reminds me recently
regarding a number of raptor species in the same situation at the East
Maitland Tip).Once the Sea-agle had enough of feeding on the Gull eggs, it
spread its wings and dropped from the cliff. As the eagle manouvered its body
for flight, the Peregrine swooped and hit the eagle in the neck. There was a
crack and the eagle plummeted in the water. The crew headed towards the eagle,
tried to revive it but it was dead. Instantly killed by the blow from
the Peregrine, about half the size of the eagle).
For one of the Black Falcons I saw a few days ago
and a Wedge-tailed Eagle a few weeks before that, lucky they too did not
share the same fate as this poor Sea-eagle.
Edwin Vella
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