Majestic raptor is an unusual local guest

APRIL 25 2019 - 11:33AM

Roger Thomas

The white-bellied sea-eagle is a rare visitor to Ballarat, so a sighting of one over Wendouree at Easter was a surprise. The bird was soaring high above the Ballarat North Water Treatment Plant in Gillies Street.

Sea-eagles are large birds, almost as large as wedge-tailed eagles. The recent bird was at first assumed to be a wedge-tail, but its shape and posture were slightly different. Its wings were held in a deeper V-shape than those of a wedge-tailed eagle, and its tail was shorter.

Our sea-eagle hunts for waterbirds, fish and rabbits, which it catches in its talons. These talons operate by ligaments that can lock in place, ensuring that prey cannot wriggle free once gripped.

Over the years, the sea-eagle has been seen at all of our region's larger waters, such as Lakes Wendouree, Learmonth and Burrumbeet, and various reservoirs and other places. However, it has never taken up residence anywhere here, nor can it be reliably found anywhere in the district.

Most sightings are occasional and irregular, although there are times when it appears to be a short-tern resident at Lake Burrumbeet. This is usually in the summer/autumn period.

European carp are probably its main prey there.

The recent Wendouree bird may be from the Werribee area, where a small population exists. Immature eagles can travel long distances, so a flight from Werribee to Burrumbeet would be no effort for a sea-eagle seeking potential new waters.

Although the handsome white, grey and black adult sea-eagles have been seen locally, most sightings here are of the browner immature birds. Breeding does not occur until the birds are about six years old.

Breeding adults do not move widely, although home ranges of pairs may be up to 100 square kilometres.

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Sea eagles in Hong Kong

On a recent boat trip along southern Lantau I noticed a large bird of prey soaring in the distance. If you live in HK you know that we have thousands of black kites that soar overhead pretty much everywhere including the financial district of Central. So normally the sight of a bird of prey soaring overhead is commonplace and not worthy of note. I would not have thought more of it. But it struck me that this bird seemed bigger and the closer the boat got, the bigger it seemed. A lot bigger than a black kite! Once we got close enough and passed under it I saw it had a wide white triangular shape covering it's head, belly and part of the underside of the wings. Looking it up in my copy of 'Birds of Hong Kong and South China' I managed to identify it as a white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster). Sea eagles in Hong Kong? That surprised me.

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Export port plan sparks fears for rare bird

There is concern a proposed port on the Eyre Peninsula could affect the breeding site of a rare bird.

Yesterday, IronClad Mining received state approval to develop a port at Lucky Bay near Cowell to export iron ore from its Wilcherry Hill mine near Kimba.

Conservationist and documentary maker Dan Monceaux says there is an important bird breeding site in the Franklin Harbour wetlands near the site's proposed ore stockpile.

"The population of white-bellied sea eagles is very small in South Australia, they're endangered, there's 70 to 80 state-wide and 79 per cent of that population breeds on offshore islands," he said.

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