The Above the Eagles Project is a private study by Ned Makim of nesting Wedgetail Eagles not far from Inverell in northern NSW. There are two sites and cameras are carried in and out each time with filming lasting only about 15 minutes every 10 days to a fortnight to minimise disruption. It is run purely for the joy of learning about Wedgetail behaviour in the nest. It is shared here because wild things are always appreciated by those who hunt, who love wild places and wild creatures and those who choose to live life outdoors. For them and for myself, this whole thing is a labour of love...
Filming this year has been delayed because of Covid restrictions. I visited the site on August 11 and found two eggs in the nest but wasn't able to come back until September 28. In this upload, this season's eaglet craps over the edge of the nest, stretches and preens ahead of a series of showers and storms. You can see the blowflies buzzing around a wild pig leg in the nest (black object right of centre in the foreground of the eaglet's head). The sibling was kicked from the nest long ago.
The eaglet has grown in the past two weeks and is showing much more adult plumage. the young bird is showing much more of an adult posture as well. In this video, the eaglet gets up from an afternoon rest to have a crap, a walk around and an inspection of the lump of kid goat in the nest before lying back down.
The eaglet is almost ready to leave the nest. Significant winds gusts during this shoot made camera stability an issue. About about an hour's filming with nothing much to show the decision was made to pack-up. Once the camera was shut off and back in its bag, the eaglet showed signs of wanting to get up. A hasty reset captured some feeding on a wallaroo leg, crapping out of the nest and test flapping of the now large wings. Doubting this eaglet will be in the nest next time I visit.
Very surprised to see the eaglet still in the nest after a three week break. Very well grown now and first flight must be imminent. Much bigger, fully fledged and looking every bit the adult bird, the young eagle preens, changes position and looks to the sky for its parents. Surely this is the last time we see this one in the nest this season...