eagle associations

[(Richard Johnson)]

Hi Birders, especially BOP'ers

Driving between Winton and Longreach, western Queensland, last Monday morning, I twice came across single Wedge-tailed Eagles soaring at low altitude (maybe 100m) accompanied by a single Little Eagle. In both cases there weren't any obvious interactions, e.g. aggression, between the two birds, at least for the brief period in which I watched. They simply soared together in a loose grouping, if you can write of a 'group' of two. I wasn't keeping track of kilometres travelled but the two 'groups' were well separated, perhaps by as much as 100km, certainly many tens of km.
I cannot recall ever seeing this association before and to see it it twice in a 176km journey seemed remarkable. A quick look at the species accounts in HANZAB 2 revealed only that Little Eagles are known to attack Wedge-tails, while Olsen (Australian Birds of Prey, UNSW Press 1995) notes occurrences of social foraging but does not document associations between these two eagles.
I'm tempted to think my sightings were of foraging associations but I haven't any evidence to support such speculation. Has anyone else seen this and can they shed any light on it?

Richard

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Richard Johnson
Roma District
Tel: (07) 4622 4266  Fax: (07) 46 22 4151
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