Tom,
In spring of 1968 I drove a VW overland from Wilpena Pound to Broken
Hill. We followed wheel tracks that were closest to the desired
compass direction. It took a couple of days.
We set up a rough camp by the track in the late afternoon & boiled
the billy. As it grew dark we became aware of a light on the horizon
& watched it approach over the next hour & half.
It was a roo shooter in a butcher-hooked ute & he stopped for a yarn.
He was on his way to a further property to thin their roos & gave us
some tips on the best route to BH.
We asked about the bloody bandages on his arms & he told us that
earlier in the afternoon he had seen a Wedgetail swimming on a tank.
He reckoned it was too water-logged to fly so he swum out to it.
He was able to swim right up to it so he grabbed it. "I thought I
would take it home to the kids as a pet".
The eagle also grabbed his arms & neither would let go.
"So what happened then" we asked.
"Have a look in the back of the ute"
We got the torch & there was the Wedgetail glaring & perching on the
spare wheel with a fence wire ring around his leg & a chain to the
spare. It did not seem to be injured.
"What will you do with it""
"Probably take it home to show the kids & then let it go"
Did your Wedgies have any trouble taking off again when wet, Tom?
Regards, Chris
Chris Charles
0412 911 184
33deg 47'30"S
151deg10'09"E
On 09/08/2008, at 3:42 PM, Tom Tarrant wrote:
Today whilst trying to film White-eared Monarchs on a gorgeous
Queensland
winters-day near Dayboro I noticed a couple of large birds passing
overhead,
to my astonishment a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles fell out of the
sky and
landed in the middle of a pond, they were talon-grappling and must
have been
unaware of the water beneath them, a third bird then arrived and
joined
them, two flying-off and the younger bird flew to a tree to dry-off.
Until today didn't realise that raptors (...apart from Ospreys)
could swim
so well.
I've posted video-footage
here<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5277788128967782249>
(apologies
for the quality) and updated our blog at
http://www.aviceda.org/wp
Tom
--
********************************
Tom & Marie Tarrant
Kobble Creek, Qld
http://www.aviceda.org
http://wildlife.vodpod.com/
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