White-bellied Sea-eagle Monitoring Project at Sydney Olympic Park
Project Overview:
In April 2009 Birds Australia Southern NSW & ACT (BASNA) in collaboration with
Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA) and with technical expertise and finance
from a number of volunteers placed a CCTV camera high in a tree overlooking a
White-bellied Sea-eagle nest within Sydney Olympic Park. The video from the
camera provided a detailed insight into the nest renovation and incubation
activities of the eagles during May/June 2009. Unfortunately, this camera was
soon occupied and "decommissioned" by ants who obviously found the warmth and
security of the camera housing to their liking. A replacement camera was
organized but because the eagles had already started their nesting activities
it could not be installed in the original camera's position so was placed at
some distance from the nest at ground level. This camera provided a limited but
nevertheless interesting perspective into the nestling stage of the nesting,
with an eaglet fledging in November 2009. We learned a great deal from the
footage including details of male/female workloads in rebuilding the nest, the
extent of pair-bonding during incubation and the parental investment and
behaviour in raising the chick.
As there was a substantial gap in the middle of the period due to camera
failure, and subsequently a limited view from then on, we endeavoured to
improve the coverage in 2010. This year, after the necessary NPWS permissions
and approvals, we have installed 3 separate CCTV cameras (suitably ant-proofed)
with one of these being a high-definition (HD) camera. We believe it is one of
the first times that a HD camera is being used in an ongoing raptor monitoring
project anywhere in the world. Unlike some eagle-cams seen on the web, these
cameras are not intrusively positioned directly above the nest but are
positioned laterally away from the nest to give a wide angle of view with the
HD camera, when zoomed, capable of providing a more detailed view into the nest
than conventional nest-cams. One benefit that we have already seen is the
ability to identify species of fish that are being brought to the nest. This
project is designed to be the first to obtain a near complete record
(continuous recording in daylight hours) of the behaviour of White-bellied
Sea-eagles at their nest, running uninterrupted from May until November. The
advantage of this system of monitoring is that it is relatively unobtrusive.
There is no need for an observer to be present anywhere near the nest during
the nesting period as all video footage is sent via cables back to the office
and is recorded automatically onto portable computer hard drives. The video on
the hard drives can then be taken away for later analysis.
Your Help Needed!
As part of the study it will be important to manually catalogue as much detail
as possible of the eagles' activities away from the nest in and around Sydney
Olympic Park and along Parramatta River. This information can only come from
casual observation, in taking photos or in making notes of the eagles'
activities. If anybody is interested in helping out this year in regard to
supplying observations of the eagles away from the nest during this period,
then please contact us directly.
All photos of sea-eagles in the Sydney area will be extremely useful in the
study. We would be delighted to receive any images of sea-eagles within the
immediate area and further afield. Photos taken by digital cameras would be
preferred as they have the date/time of image capture recorded within the image
file. All images annotated with the location that the photo was taken would be
gratefully received. None of the collected images will be published or
displayed as they will only be used in the study database.
Also of importance will be mapping the eagles' home range and territorial
boundaries. To this end, it will be useful to obtain photographs of any
sea-eagles seen in the greater Sydney region (within a 50km radius of Sydney
Olympic Park). The extent and pattern of white streaking in the underside of
the flight feathers (particularly on young birds), the presence/absence of
white terminal bands on the under-wing primary coverts along with wear and
damage to the outer flight feathers (later in the season) is a reliable
identification feature of individuals. The Homebush eagles are likely to
maintain a territory that extends the length of the Parramatta River but they
may range a lot further than this; at present we do not know. Submitted
photographs could then determine the eagles' range and also the ranges of the
surrounding sea-eagle populations that occasionally come into the territory of
the Homebush pair. Any additional information such as records of nesting and
juvenile birds would also be gratefully received.
With thanks,
Jon Irvine (BASNA)
Geoff Hutchinson (BASNA)
Judy Harrington (SOPA/BASNA)
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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