Any ideas, bird of prey ???

[IanL]

Anyone know what type of bird of prey this description could be.
Sitting out having coffee yesterday and I seen what was a black dot moving across the blue sky. I took the binos to it and could only manage to resolve some type of bird of prey riding the thermals. It must have been about 5000+ feet up. It was pretty large and dark and had two fawn patches one on each wing.

That was all I could make out of it as it was gliding that high in the sky. I tried to google it but never saw anything that looked like it. My bino were failing as it was to high to resolve any good detail. Looked large in size as well

Ian

[goober (Doug)]

It sounds like a wedge tailed eagle.

[PCH (Paul)]

RAAF trainer ??

[JimmyH155]

Yes, I reckon an eagle. Was this near Brissie? Either a wedge tailed or a sea eagle if you were near the coast. Wouldn't be at 5000 ft though - a bit high - thats a mile up
Reckon he would be max 1000 ft up??
Hope it wasn't near Gympie though. I lived there and next door neighbour shot them for fun. Never did get prosecuted - had "friends in high places"

[RB (Andrew)]

Another vote for eagle, we see them here too, quite high up.

[Sharnbrook (Mike)]

Almost certainly a wedge tailed eagle, they are quite common in the Western Suburbs of Brisbane where I live. The following quote is from the Australian Museum on line, and as you can see, they will soar up to 2000m, so your 5000ft does not seem unreasonable. Given that they have 2.4m wingspan, and you were unable to resolve details with your binos, it must have been pretty high.

Quote from AMO "The Wedge-tailed Eagle is found throughout mainland Australia, Tasmania and southern New Guinea, from sea level to mountainous alpine regions. It prefers wooded and forested land and open country, generally avoiding rainforest and coastal heaths. Eagles can be seen perched on trees or poles or soaring overhead to altitudes of up to 2000m."

[IanL]

Thanks guys. It was a beautiful site to see it just cruzing the thermals without a flap of its wings for about 6 minutes.
I had thought about size and distance when I moved the binoculars onto a land mark about 1000 feet away and companied it to the size of what I thought the bird was. This is where my estimate of height came from.
My Pentax 8x42 dcf’s were struggling to resolve it, I could only make out 2 fawn patches. I enjoyed the view of our visitor as it passed by.

[I.C.D (Ian)]

G'Day All
A few years ago I was driving the reject truck (cat 785 rear dump truck) and as I back on to the dump to un load I look out to my left and a wedge Tail came gliding up the side of the dump an hovered about 10 metres away we watched each other for about 5 minutes before he twitch his tail and climb to about 200 meters above the dump and didn’t flap once, I only wish I had a camera with me that day I can still see those piercing eyes looking at me
We have are two wedge tails on site and over the years we watch them breed and teach their young to fly that something else to watch

Ian C

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Originally Posted by Ian Law

It was a beautiful site to see it just cruzing the thermals without a flap of its wings for about 6 minutes.
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What I wouldn't give to be a bird for a day!

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

What I wouldn't give to be a bird for a day!

They reckon that is one of the most common dreams in children, being able to fly! I remember once, when I was about 8 or 9, I dreamt I could fly by moving my legs like a swimmer does. Of course, the next day at breakfast I gave it a try...didn't work so I am still grounded

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Years ago my wife and I were doing the ridge-top walk at Ormiston Gauge (west of Alice Springs) when a wedgie came along riding the updraft. It circled us three time pretty close before continuing along the ridge. It was probably thinking to itself "Gee, don't see many of them up here". I was glad I'm not a rabbit.

One way to identify soaring birds is the way they hold their wings. Both wedgies and sea-eagles soar on up-swept wings and the 'fingers' at the wing-tips are very prominent. Little Eagles soar on flat horizontal wings while kites have a down-curved wings.

[GrahamL]

We had a couple of wedgetails living neabye to the farm i was working on .
Funny as time goes by you get really used to there presence.. You could be
out working and not seen the eagles above but you notice the differance
with the other birds .. they have an urgency in there movements and do not stay out in the open for long..probably with good reason !!
And not an ibis to ever be seen as the wedgies eat them .

I know a local guys who hang glides aroung byron and has had this pair attack his glider more than once .. he told me you never see them just hear the screech as they close in .. once one landed on the outer edge of his kite and proceeded to tear at the fabric ..nice huh

[IanL]

Ian