birding-aus White Breasted Sea Eagle vs. Wedge Tailed Shearwater.

[Mike & Judy Hines <>]

    While walking down Main Beach, Pouint Lookout, North Stradbroke
Island early this morning to retrieve an immature Masked Booby (Sula
dactylatra) found yesterday, I was treated to the spectacle of a White
Breasted Sea Eagle hunting down a Wedge Tailed Shearwater.
    The activity took place over 100 m away from me and  as I hurried to
the scene, the prey was herded shorewards over the shallows and then
pursued as it twisted and turned over the beach finally landing in
exhaustion on the beach to struggle again and then be grabbed by talons.

    By this time I was close enough to interrupt activities and the
eagle flew off. The Shearwater ws not dead but dying. It was a very dark
bird, but its white toenails confirmed its identity.
    A son had witnessed a similar performance a few weeks earlier, but
it was offshore. The eagle flew under the shearwater, flipped and
grabbed the prey from under with its talons.

                        Mike Hines


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