canberrabirds

Eagle-hawk [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

To: <>
Subject: Eagle-hawk [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
From: "Geoffrey Dabb" <>
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 07:46:42 +1000

The usual anachronicity of the email system.  When I sent the below I hadn’t received Benj’s, Ian’s or Roger’s.  There is much to be said for only responding to emails of the previous week.  g

 

From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Monday, 30 July 2007 3:57 PM
To:
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Eagle-hawk [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

 

Neville Cayley, What Bird Is That?, 1st edition, 1931:  ‘Wedge-tailed Eagle  -  Also called Eagle-hawk – a ridiculous name considering that it is the largest species of Eagle in the world.’  [That ranking was progressively revised downwards in subsequent editions.] 

 

From: Mark Clayton [
Sent: Monday, 30 July 2007 3:06 PM
To: 'Whitworth, Benjamin - BRS';
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Eagle-hawk [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

 

G’day Benj and all,

 

Eagle-hawk is an old name for the Wedge-tailed Eagle. As with most people I have no idea where the Aboriginal clans come from in Australia but don’t rule out the Yellow-bellied Glider as a possibility for the flying squirrel. When working in the forests of eastern Australia in the 70’s and 80’s for CSIRO, we were often told by the felling crews they had seen “flying squirrels”. They are very obvious at night, especially when they are vocalizing!

 

Mark

 


From: Whitworth, Benjamin - BRS [
Sent: Monday, 30 July 2007 2:54 PM
To:
Cc: Whitworth, Benjamin - BRS
Subject: [canberrabirds] Eagle-hawk [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

 

What species is an Eagle-hawk?

.

I have been reading the Moth Hunters of the ACT (Flood, 1996). One of the Ngarigo (Aboriginal tribe) clan totems is Eagle-hawk, plus we have Eagle-hawk winery, and the region.

But I don’t know what one is.

I checked Birds of prey of the World, no Eagle-hawks, but there are references to Hawk-Eagles, but they are in SE Asia. Also, obviously there are Goshawks and Sparrowhawks.

 

My thought is, it is an old name, from around the turn of the century, well 1900. This is roughly when the survey of aboriginal moities and clans took place. But which species does it refer to?? My guess is little eagle.

 

Other interesting totem names for ‘clans’ included rabbit-rat. Not sure what that is? They had also bandicoot, so perhaps a rabbit-rat is a potoroo or bettong or rat kangaroo. Another interesting one was flying squirrel, and the totem ‘next in size to flying squirrel'. Which way?? There are 3 species it could be. Squirrel glider, sugar glider or feathertail glider, or maybe even greater glider.

 

Benj-hawk


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