Facts of life bring forward Andrew’s new expedition
THE life cycle of the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle has disrupted the timetable for the Bookend Trust’s adventure learning teachers this year.
In an inconvenient quirk of their biological clocks, the giant eagles insist on laying an egg or two in late August or early September. They also get especially jittery around this time and don’t enjoy madly enthusiastic wedgie spotters hanging around.
Our new project, “Where? Where? Wedgie!” is therefore heading bush in May, a few months earlier than usual.
Our task is to learn more about birds of prey, and to be part of a survey that will try to get a better picture of how many Wedgies are out there.
Bookend Trust citizen science coordinator Clare Hawkins has led an expert team in designing a field survey that students and the general public can gather data for in the last weekend of May.
In the lead up to the survey week- end I’ll be travelling across Tasmania with PhD student James Pay who is researching Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles by tracking a select group of youngsters after they leave the nest.
More than 20 juveniles are currently finding their flying feathers as they leave their parents territory and embark on an eagle gap year. Not yet paired up for life and defending their homes from the snarky forest ravens, these wide-eyed wanderers are true adventurers.
Where they go, how they get there and what they eat along the way are all questions James is interested in.
These birds text in a report every day with location and altitude data. No, their feathery wing tips cannot negotiate a smartphone touchpad, it’s all automatic and we will share this research with students across Tasmania with reports, photos and videos from the field.
We also hope to visit wind farms, find out how to not electrocute ourselves on powerlines and see eagles in rehabilitation.
If you want to find out about eagles, follow the adventure throughout May at www.expeditionclass.com.
If you want to a bit more than that and contribute to the understanding of Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles join the public surveys on May 25-27 through www.naturetrackers.com.au.
The project was launched at Ulverstone Primary School by the Governor of Tasmania, Professor Kate Warner who recounted scenes in childhood of wedgies being nailed to wooden gates of rural properties. Those days are behind us but there is much still to be learned about the conservation and celebration of our largest raptor. With thanks to partners including the Department of Education, Tasmanian Community Fund, the Mercury, Pennicott Foundation, Inspiring Australia, UTAS, ICS Multimedia.