There is something prehistoric about seeing something big and fierce-looking- and for a gentle lamb this is petrifying! When lambing season starts in Australia, a predator from the sky looks likely to add to the formidable challenges affecting sheep farmers. These Wedge-tailed Eagles are smart, determined and fierce and have even started hunting in packs. Up to 20 birds may attend a carcass with only two or three feeding at any one time. Even though Wedge-tailed Eagles largely survive on rabbits and dead animals they can easily swoop down to prey on young lambs, horrifying farmers!
1. Do Wedge-tailed Eagles take healthy lambs?
The predation of Wedge-tailed Eagles is generally on sick or already dead animals but now more reports are coming in of Wedge-tailed Eagles hunting healthy lambs. Witnesses say they have watched these Eagles swoop down and take healthy lambs. Some witnesses have seen a pair of Eagles work together to separate a Ewe from her twins lambs, then attack the lamb left behind. They have seen juvenile Eagles hunting in packs terrifying their stock. Some farmers have reported that they have witnessed Wedge-tailed Eagles attack in a fast-swooping motion, and land on a healthy lamb crushing their skull with their talons!
2. Why are Wedge-tailed Eagles now attacking healthy lambs?
This could be a sign of a lack of other food sources for the Eagles. It could also be possible that there was less roadkill, and the Eagles had been forced to target healthy prey and not rely on carcases. During severe drought and in times of limited food availability eagles have been choosing to kill lambs!
A Wedge-tailed Eagle can lift 50% of its body weight and carry off a 6–8-pound lamb through the air! However, they normally take dead, sick or injured lambs dying due to natural causes, of a crow or fox attack.
Many lamb deaths are due to mismothering and starvation. They have used their fat reserves by walking and being starved of food. Since these starved lambs occur frequently and are easily taken by eagle predators.
3. Are Wedge-tailed Eagles protected?
In the early to mid-1900s the Wedge-tailed Eagle was the most bounty system encouraged the slaughter of tens of thousands of Eagles. Farmers now understand that usually they prefer to attack sick or dead lambs, but watchful eyes have seen that this is not always the case.
Wedge-tailed Eagles are now protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972. It is illegal to kill, trap or poison them.
4. What roles do Wedge-tailed Eagles play in the ecosystem?
The Wedge-tailed Eagle have a vital role in ecosystem and provide a role both in natural and agricultural ecosystems by:
- Controlling rabbits and hares
- One of the few predators that kill feral cats and foxes
- Help control toxoplasmosis (an exotic disease) carried by feral cats
- Assist bush and farm hygiene by feeding on dying animals and the rotting flesh of dead animals
Many of the remaining Wedge-tailed Eagles in Australia occur within the agricultural landscapes. These birds of prey are powerful, carnivorous hunters and can be seen soaring in the air surveying their territory or perched high in trees or poles. They use their keen eyes to spot their next meal from up to 2 kilometers away.
5. How can farmers tell if an Eagle has killed their lambs?
When carrying a postmortem on a lamb to gain a better understanding of the true cause of lamb deaths, the key is to look for evidence of predation or scavenging or carrion feeding. Thie can be determined by the presence of blood at points of attack on the carcass or around the kill site. Bleeding can happen before or soon after the lamb has died.
The carcass inspection involves skinning the lamb’s carcass from the top of the neck to look for fatal bite wounds.
Wounds inflicted by a dingo or fox are characterised by regularly spaced canine puncture marks. They are found in pairs on either side of the body part that was bitten.
Eagles kill with their talons either by a strike to the head or more usually by the crushing grip of the talons on the neck and upper back. If it was an eagle, irregular spaced punctures to the skin and maybe the skull will be found. The presence and degree of bruising determines if a lamb was alive when taken especially if there is considerable bruising where the claws penetrated. If there is only a little bruising at the site, this means the lamb was close to death and if there is no bruising it means the lamb was dead already.
6. What steps can be taken to stop eagles from taking lambs?
Key steps to improve lambs’ survival rates would be to:
- Use sheltered, small paddocks preferably close to the house or farm headquarters, to help ewes in hiding and defending their lambs.
- Confine ewes in sheds during lambing and kidding periods
- Remove any dead animals quickly from livestock pastures
- Minimise the use of split-grain which attracts predatory birds
- Use bird-proof feed bins
- Scarecrows could discourage eagles from using the area for short periods of time
- Scare eagles off with guard dogs that ready to attack predators
- If possible, time the lambing to coincide with that of neighbouring sheep farmers to spread the attention of local predators
Some farmers have successfully trained their resident eagles not to bother lambing ewes, by scaring off the eagle with noise and movement each time it approaches the lambing paddock.
7. Have Wedge-tailed eagles ever been tracked?
The Wedge-tailed Eagles have been fitted with solar-powered tracking devices to follow their movements and find out what they have been eating. Researchers have found that eagles were seen eating foxes, cats, and other small birds with their top prey being rabbits. The eagles mainly only eat lambs that have already died but some have been observed attacking lambs that are alive.
Some long-running studies conducted in Australia have looked at the actual predation rate of Eagles on lambs finding out that less than 1% of lamb deaths have been attributed to Eagles. This was more common in marginal areas where conditions had dried out and ewes were under stress during lambing.
8. Why is it called a Wedge-tailed Eagle?
The Wedge-tailed eagle can be distinguished from all other Australian hawks by its long wedge-shaped tail. This unique pointy, diamond shaped tail is not as obvious when the eagle is perched but in flight it can still be seen when the bird is soaring thousands of meters above the ground. Some of these birds have been recorded soaring as high as 6,800meters.
As Australia’s largest bird of prey, the Wedge-tailed eagle has a wingspan of more than 2 metres. Apart from its size and long wedge-shaped tail, it has upswept wings and feathered legs.
Eagles form a pair that bond for life only having a new partner if one of them dies. These long-lived birds can live to over 30 years old and even 40 years in captivity. There are reports of their nests being used for over a hundred years.
9. What does the Wedge-tail eagle symbolize?
Aboriginal Victorians hold a connection to the Wedge-tailed eagle, they called Maliyan. They believe that when you see one, you feel safe and have a connection knowing you do not walk this country alone. They believed you were then under the protection and guidance of a higher presence, a Creator spirit which flies the closest to the Creator. The Wedge-tailed eagle represented respect, honor, courage, strength and wisdom.
An Aboriginal word in the Warlpiri language group from central Australia is Warlawurru. It translates to Eagle-hawk or Wedge-tailed eagle.
The Wedge-tailed eagle was declared one of the two Northern Territory faunal emblems. Featured in the Coat of Arms it is symbolic of history and landscape of the Northern Territory It is Australia’s largest bird of prey with a dark brown body and a chestnut neck, and an average wingspan of 2.5 meters.
10. In which constellation does the Wedge-tailed Eagle appear?
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky, and it is in the center of the important Australian Indigenous Boorong constellations. The male Wedge-tailed eagle, the Warepil is the chief of the leaders who created the land, and its wings spread to either side of Sirius across the less bright stars.
The Wedge-tailed Eagle is one of the world’s most powerful avian predators, due to its impressive and dominating nature. It is sometimes nicknamed ‘ King of the Birds’, along with golden eagles
