Stuart Rae

Old Suit



One of the highlights of my wildlife week has been meeting this wedge-tailed eagle high on a ridge. I was out for a walk on one of the many hills in Canberra, many of which are within suburbia, like this one. The bird was quite happy to sit on its branch while I walked past less than fifty metres away, so I grabbed a few shots. Once I looked through the long lens, I saw how scruffy he was - it was a male - not only his flight feathers of his tail and wings, but even his body feathers were tatty. It was an old suit and time he grew a new one. That would probably not be long now as the eagle chicks in the area are several weeks old now and will soon be fledging. When they are about 11 or 12 weeks old. This bird has probably worn his feathers down while hunting for his family, but he will have the whole of summer to regrow a new suit, while his fledglings learn to fend for themselves.

Once he had sussed me out and judged that I was no threat to him, he carried on preening. He tried hard to straighten and smooth those feathers. First those on his back.

Then he grabbed a primary that needed a good bit of maintenance.

He gave the whole lot a good shake.

Stretched out his wings - showing the chips on the edges of the primaries and his wayward tail feathers.

Meanwhile a pied currawong was determined to make life noisy and uncomfortable for its predatory neighbour. The wedgie couldn't care. He knew what he could do if he wanted to. And I moved on leaving them to it.