The wedge-tailed eagle (''Aquila audax'') also known as the eaglehawk, is the largest

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

in the

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is also found in southern

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

to the north and is distributed as far south as the state of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. Adults of the species have long, broad wings, fully feathered legs, an unmistakable wedge-shaped tail, an elongated upper mandible, a strong beak and powerful feet. The wedge-tailed eagle is one of 12 species of large, predominantly dark-coloured booted eagles in the genus ''

Aquila Aquila may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Aquila'', a series of books by S.P. Somtow * ''Aquila'', a 1997 book by Andrew Norriss * ''Aquila'' (children's magazine), a UK-based children's magazine * ''Aquila'' (journal), an orni ...

'' found worldwide. Genetic research has clearly indicated that the wedge-tailed eagle is fairly closely related to other, generally large members of the ''Aquila'' genus.Lerner, H., Christidis, L., Gamauf, A., Griffiths, C., Haring, E., Huddleston, C.J., Kabra, S., Kocum, A., Krosby, M., Kvaloy, K., Mindell, D., Rasmussen, P., Rov, N., Wadleigh, R., Wink, M. & Gjershaug, J.O. (2017). ''Phylogeny and new taxonomy of the Booted Eagles (Accipitriformes: Aquilinae)''. Zootaxa, 4216(4), 301–320. A large brown-to-black bird of prey, it has a maximum reported

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

of and a length of up to . The wedge-tailed eagle is one of its native continent's most generalised birds of prey.Debus, S. (2017). ''Australasian Eagles and Eagle-like Birds''. CSIRO Publishing. They reside in most habitats present in Australia, ranging from

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

and

semi-desert A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

plains In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, an ...

to mountainous areas to

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

, even sometimes

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

s. Preferred habitats, however, tend towards those that have a fairly varied topography including rocky areas, some

open terrain Open terrain, open country or open ground is terrain which is mostly flat and free of obstructions such as trees and buildings. Examples include farmland, grassland and specially cleared areas such as an airport. Such terrain is significant in ...

and native

woodlot A woodlot is a parcel of a woodland or forest capable of small-scale production of forest products (such as wood fuel, sap for maple syrup, sawlogs, and pulpwood) as well as recreational uses like bird watching, bushwalking, and wildflower appre ...

s such as ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

'' stands.Olsen, P. (2005). ''Wedge-tailed Eagle''. Australian Natural History Series. CSIRO Publishing. The wedge-tailed eagle is one of the world's most powerful avian predators. Although a true generalist, which hunts a wide range of prey, including

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s and, rarely, other taxa, the species is, by and large, a

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

predator.Olsen, J. (2014). ''Australian High Country Raptors''. CSIRO Publishing. The introduction of the

European rabbit The European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus'') or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal and Andorra) and southwestern France. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Oryctolagus''. The European rab ...

(''Oryctolagus cuniculus'') has been a boon to the wedge-tailed eagle and they hunt these and other

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

in large volume, although the wedge-tailed eagle otherwise generally lives off of

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

s, including many surprisingly large

macropods Macropod may refer to: * Macropodidae, a marsupial family which includes kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, pademelons, and several others * Macropodiformes The Macropodiformes , also known as macropods, are one of the three suborders of the ...

. Additionally, wedge-tailed eagles often eat

carrion Carrion (), also known as a carcass, is the decaying flesh of dead animals. Overview Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...

, especially while young.Brown, L, & Amadon, D. (1986) ''Eagles, Hawks and Falcons of the World''. The Wellfleet Press. . The species tends to pair for several years, possibly mating for life. Wedge-tailed eagles usually construct a large stick nest in an ample tree, normally the largest in a stand, and lay one to four eggs, though typically only two. Usually, breeding efforts manage to produce one or two fledglings which, after a few months more, tend to disperse widely. Nesting failures are usually attributable to human interference, such as

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks Bekessy, S. A., Wintle, B. A., Gordon, A., Fox, J. C., Chisholm, R., Brown, B., Regan, T., Mooney, N., Read, S. & Burgman, M. A. (2009). ''Modelling human impacts on the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax fleayi)''. Biological conservation, 142(11), 2438–2448. Although historically heavily

persecuted Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms ...

by humans through

poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

ing and

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

, mostly for alleged predation on

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

, wedge-tailed eagles have proved to be exceptionally resilient, and their numbers have quickly rebounded to being similar or even higher numbers than before

European colonisation The phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by various civilizations such as the Phoenicians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Han Chinese, and Ar ...

, thanks in part to humans inadvertently providing several food sources, such as rabbits and a large volume of

roadkill Roadkill is a wild animal that has been killed by collision with motor vehicles. Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) have increasingly been the topic of academic research to understand the causes, and how they can be mitigated. History Essenti ...

.Knobel, J. (2015). ''The conservation status of the Wedge-tailed Eagle in Australian law and thoughts on the value of early legal intervention in the conservation of a species''. De Jure Law Journal, 48(2), 293–311.

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1801 by the English ornithologist John Latham, under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

Vultur ''Vultur'' is a genus of New World vulture that contains two species, an extant species, the Andean condor (''Vultur gryphus'') and the fossil species '' Vultur messii'' from the early Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoc ...

audax''. At one time, the wedge-tailed eagle was classified in it is own monotypical genus ''Uroaetus'', perhaps due to its unique form. Today, the genus ''Vultur'' is used only for a completely unrelated bird of the

New World vulture Cathartidae, known commonly as New World vultures or condors, are a family (biology), family of birds of prey consisting of seven extant species in five genus, genera. It includes five extant vultures and two extant condors found in the Americas. ...

family, the

Andean condor The Andean condor (''Vultur gryphus'') is a South American New World vulture and is the only member of the genus ''Vultur''. It is found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America. With a maximum wingspan of and ...

(''Vultur gryphus'').Mindell, D. P., Fuchs, J., & Johnson, J. A. (2018). ''Phylogeny, taxonomy, and geographic diversity of diurnal raptors: Falconiformes, Accipitriformes, and Cathartiformes''. In Birds of prey (pp. 3–32). Springer, Cham. The specific scientific name for the species, ''audax'', is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''audax'', meaning "bold", indicative of their perceived disposition, perhaps when hunting, although the species is, in general, highly wary, and even timid, around humans. However, the species is quite similar in many aspects of its morphology, appearance, behaviour and life history, to other species in the ''Aquila'' genus.Global Raptor Information Network. 2021. Species account: ''Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax''. Downloaded from http://www.globalraptors.org on 4 November 2021 The eagles of the ''Aquila'' genus are part of the subfamily

Aquilinae The Aquilinae are a subfamily of eagles of the family Accipitridae. The general common name used for members of this subfamily is "booted eagle", although this is also the common name of a member of the subfamily.Lerner, H., Christidis, L., Gamau ...

, within the larger

Accipitridae The Accipitridae () is one of the four families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds of prey with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects ...

family. The subfamily is commonly referred to as booted eagles or sometimes as true eagles. Those species may be distinguished from most other accipitrids by the feathering covering their legs, regardless of distribution. With some 39 or so species, the Aquilinae is present on every continent except

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. By a variety of

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

testing, largely via

Mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

and

Nuclear DNA Nuclear DNA (nDNA), or nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid, is the DNA contained within each cell nucleus of a eukaryotic organism. It encodes for the majority of the genome in eukaryotes, with mitochondrial DNA and plastid DNA coding for the rest. ...

genes, it has been determined that the wedge-tailed eagle clusters with certain other ''Aquila'' eagles. The species found to share the most genetic similarities is the

Verreaux's eagle Verreaux's eagle (''Aquila verreauxii'') is a large, mostly African, bird of prey. It is also called the black eagle, especially in southern Africa, not to be confused with the black eagle (''Ictinaetus malayensis'') of south and southeast Asia. ...

(''Aquila verreauxii'') of Africa. However, the

Gurney's eagle Gurney's eagle (''Aquila gurneyi'') is a large eagle in the family Accipitridae. It is found in New Guinea and Wallacea, and is an occasional vagrant to Australia. The common name and Latin binomial commemorate the British banker and amateur orn ...

(''Aquila gurneyi''), a mostly

allopatric Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

but outwardly fairly similar eagle, is clearly a very close relation of the wedge-tailed eagle and the two are likely

sister species In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

, most probably originating from the same radiation across the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region.Lerner, H. R., & Mindell, D. P. (2005). ''Phylogeny of eagles, Old World vultures, and other Accipitridae based on Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA''. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 37(2), 327–346. The wedge-tailed, Gurney's and Verreaux's eagles form a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

or a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

with the well-known

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of pr ...

(''Aquila chrysaetos''), the most widely distributed species in the entire accipitrid family, as well as outwardly dissimilar (smaller and paler-bellied yet also powerful) eagles like the

Bonelli's eagle Bonelli's eagle (''Aquila fasciata'') is a large bird of prey. The common name of the bird commemorates the Italian ornithologist and collector Franco Andrea Bonelli. Bonelli is credited with gathering the type specimen, most likely from an expl ...

(''Aquila fasciata''), the

African hawk-eagle The African hawk-eagle (''Aquila spilogaster'') is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family ''Accipitridae''. This species' feathered legs mark it as a member of the Aquilinae subfamily. The African hawk-eagle breeds in tr ...

(''Aquila spilogaster'') and the Cassin's hawk-eagle (''Aquila africanus''), the latter three having once been considered members of a different genus. Beyond the aforementioned species, based on genetic testing, the four other ''Aquila'' species, although outwardly similar to golden and wedge-tailed eagles, being large, dark and brownish, with long wings, are thought to form a separate clade, and are

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

from the members of what can be called the golden eagle clade.Helbig, A. J., Kocum, A., Seibold, I., & Braun, M. J. (2005). ''A multi-gene phylogeny of aquiline eagles (Aves: Accipitriformes) reveals extensive paraphyly at the genus level''. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 35(1), 147–164. Other related outliers from outside the ''Aquila'' genus, are the small-to-mid-sized '' Clanga'' or spotted eagle species, and the widely found and quite small ''

Hieraeetus The genus ''Hieraaetus'', sometimes known as small eagles or hawk-eagles, denotes a group of smallish eagles usually placed in the accipitrid subfamilies Buteoninae or Aquilinae. They are generally medium-sized birds of prey inhabiting Europe, A ...

'' eagles. One member of the latter genus contains the only other widely found Aquilinae eagle in Australia, the

little eagle The little eagle (''Hieraaetus morphnoides'') is a very small eagle endemic to Australia. Taxonomy John Gould Species description, described the little eagle in 1841. The distinctive pygmy eagle has long been considered a subspecies, but a 2009 ...

(''Hieraaetus morphnoides'').

Subspecies

Two subspecies of wedge-tailed eagle are recognised. However, the separation of the two subspecies has been called into question, largely because the reported differences in both

size Size in general is the Magnitude (mathematics), magnitude or dimensions of a thing. More specifically, ''geometrical size'' (or ''spatial size'') can refer to three geometrical measures: length, area, or volume. Length can be generalized ...

and coloration can be attributed to

clinal variation In biology, a cline is a measurable gradient in a single characteristic (or biological trait) of a species across its geographical range. Clines usually have a genetic (e.g. allele frequency, blood type), or phenotypic (e.g. body size, skin pig ...

, and some of the insular populations may still be at an intermediate stage of subspecific formation.Austin, J. J., Olivier, L., Nankervis, D., Brown, W. E., Gardner, M. G., & Burridge, C. P. (2014). ''Twenty microsatellite loci for population and conservation genetic studies of the wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax)''. Australian Journal of Zoology, 62(3), 235–237. * ''A. a. audax'' (Latham, 1801) – This subspecies resides in the entire continent of Australia as well as in southern New Guinea. It is the typical wedge-tailed eagle as subsequently described. * '' A. a. fleayi'' ( Condon & Amadon, 1954) – This race is endemic to

. The subspecies is named in honour of

David Fleay David Howells Fleay (; 6 January 1907 – 7 August 1993) was an Australian scientist and natural history, biologist who pioneered the captive breeding of endangered species, and was the first person to breed the platypus (''Ornithorhynchu ...

, an Australian naturalist who was the first to propose the difference of the insular race. ''A. a. fleayi'' differs from mainland wedge-tailed eagles mainly via size and colouring. It is larger than the mainland eagle and is said to have particularly outsized talon dimensions compared to mainland eagles.Pay, J. M., Katzner, T. E., Wiersma, J. M., Brown, W. E., Hawkins, C. E., Proft, K. M., & Cameron, E. Z. (2021). ''Morphometric Sex Identification of Nestling and Free-Flying Tasmanian Wedge-Tailed Eagles (Aquila audax fleayi)''. Journal of Raptor Research. Furthermore, it has a deep chocolate brown overall colour rather than blackish, with a whitish buff colouring to the nape rather than tawny-rufous feathers there. The juvenile is altogether paler and sandier than an equivalent-aged wedge-tailed eagle on mainland Australia. : Although the validity of the subspecies has been questioned, genetic studies have determined that there is no

gene flow In population genetics, gene flow (also known as migration and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic variation, genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent ...

introgression Introgression, also known as introgressive hybridization, in genetics is the transfer of genetic material from one species into the gene pool of another by the repeated backcrossing of an interspecific hybrid with one of its parent species. Introg ...

between Tasmanian and other wedge-tailed eagles. Furthermore, the insular race was likely formed by marine dispersals, a process wedge-tailed eagles may continue to engage in despite usually avoiding large bodies of water, albeit usually in narrower

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

s.Burridge, C. P., Brown, W. E., Wadley, J., Nankervis, D. L., Olivier, L., Gardner, M. G., Barbour, R. & Austin, J. J. (2013). ''Did postglacial sea-level changes initiate the evolutionary divergence of a Tasmanian endemic raptor from its mainland relative?'' Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280(1773), 20132448.

Description

Wedge-tailed eagle Diamantina Developmental Road Boulia Shire Queensland P1060464

Wedge-tailed eagles are very large and quite lanky birds. They are characteristically black but can appear

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

brown, depending on lighting and individual variation. They have a massive bill but possess a relatively small and rather flat head, with a long, almost vulturine neck. Furthermore, they are distinctive for their prominent carpals and baggy feathered trousers. The species tends to perch conspicuously on dead trees, telegraph poles, rocks or, at times, the open ground. Between the bill size, elongated shape and prominent shoulders, the species is highly distinctive. While perched, their long wings extend down to a long and markedly wedge-tipped tail. They have a large proportion of bare facial skin, which is thought to be an adaptation to the warm climate rather than carrion eating, because the non-carrion-eating

has similar facial feathering and the golden eagle eats carrion too. Against the blackish plumage, the tawny-rufous hackles on the neck, forming a lanceolated shape, as well as the pale brown to rufous crissum, and narrow mottled grey-brown band across the greater wing coverts, all stand out well. The sexes are indistinguishable by plumage. The juvenile is mainly darkish brown, with extensive rufous feather edging, and a paler, fairly streaky head. Furthermore, the juvenile has a lighter-brown crissum, and a light reddish-brown to golden nape, with similar colouring extending sometimes to the back and wing band. The wing band is considerably more prominent than those of adults, extending to the median and sometimes the lesser coverts. Rarely, a juvenile may be all dull black, lacking rufous edges or a wing band. Young eagles are much the same by the second through to the fourth years though they may be almost invariably visibly in

moult In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is a process by which an animal casts off parts of its body to serve some beneficial purpose, either at ...

and with a narrowing wing band. They become darker around the fifth year, with a red-brown nape and a still narrowing wing band. Full mature plumage is not attained until the seventh or eighth year, although sexual maturity can be considered as early as five. Adults have dark brown eyes, while juveniles usually have similar but slightly darker eyes. Wedge-tailed eagles are typically creamy white on the cere and feet, although those can be dull yellow, more so in juveniles than adults. The wedge-tailed eagle has a unique moult process in that they moult almost continuously and very slowly, and it might take three or more years for an eagle of the species to complete a moult. Moults are arrested only at times of famine, and happen gradually, so that they do not impede the bird's flight or hunting capacities. In flight, wedge-tailed eagles appear as a very large, dark raptor, with a protruding head, long and relatively narrow-looking wings, more or less parallel edged when soaring and, most distinctly, a long diamond-shaped tail. The shape is dissimilar to any other raptor in the world.Recher, H. F. (2020). ''The Australian Bird Guide: Revised Edition''. CSIRO Publishing. Juveniles tend to be broader winged by comparison. The wingspan is around 2.2 times greater than the bird's total length. They tend to fly with rather loose but deep and powerful beats. Wedge-tailed eagles spend much time sailing along, looking quite stable and controlled even in strong winds. The species glides and soars on upswept wings with long splayed primaries. The ample tail may be upcurved, or "dished", at the edges.Debus, S. (2019). ''Birds of Prey of Australia: a Field Guide''. CSIRO Publishing. The eagle often spreads its deep wing emarginations to reduce drag in high winds. Contrary to their superlative and controlled appearance once on the wing, flight for wedge-tailed eagles can be a struggle even in normal circumstances, unless it is from a pinnacle or it is somewhat windy and, within the forest, they may clamber about, with a "lack of grace", to reach the canopy. Gorged birds on the ground can be vulnerable, being practically grounded, which was an advantage historically to Aboriginal hunters. Human gliders have encountered wedge-tailed eagles at more than . The adult is all blackish on the wing but for the tawny-rufous nape and greyish wing band (running less than a quarter of the way down the wing's width). Little relieves the dark coloration below but the pale brown to rufous crissum and the pale greyish bases to their

flight feather Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...

s. Juvenile wedge-tailed eagles appear much browner although in general are not dissimilar in pattern below though the body and wings relative to adult. However, juveniles may show some paler mottling, of an off-rufous colour. Meanwhile, the juvenile's tail and most flight feathers are barred greyish which in turn contrast against the pale based primaries with black tips. Above, the juvenile bears much paler and more sandy rufous colour from the head to at least upper mantle and along broad wing band (as well as more than half the wing width). The lighter dorsal colour sometimes extends to much of the back and scapulars. Rare individual juvenile eagles are dull black, without a wing band or paler edges. With much variation in individuals, generally as the young eagles age, the signature wing band shrinks incrementally and, after the fifth year, the plumage darkens.

Size

The female wedge-tailed eagle is one of the world's largest eagles.Unwin, M., & Tipling, D. (2018). ''The Empire of the Eagle: An Illustrated Natural History''. Yale University Press. Its nearest

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

in Australia for size is some 15 per cent smaller linearly and 25 per cent lighter in weight. As is typical in birds of prey, the female is larger than the male. Although a few individual females are larger by only a small amount, they average up to 33 per cent larger. A full-grown female weighs between , while the smaller males weigh . Total length varies between and the wingspan typically is between . In 1930, the average weight and wingspans of 43 birds were and . The same average figures for a survey of 126 eagles in 1932 were and , respectively. According to one guide, the mean body mass of male wedge-tailed eagles is while that of females is listed as , which, if accurate, is one of the most extreme examples of size sexual dimorphism known in any bird of prey.Cherriman, S. C. (2007). ''Territory size and diet throughout the year of the Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax in the Perth region, Western Australia''. B. Sc.(Hons) Thesis, Curtin University, Western Australia. However, another sample showed far less stark size differences, with 29 males weighing an average of and 29 females an average of . In the same sample, from the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...

, males averaged wingspan of (sample of 26) and body length of (sample 5) while females had an average wingspan of (sample 23) and body length of .Brooker, M. (1996). ''Morphometrics of the Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax''. Corella, 20, 129–134. However, the Nullarbor Plain eagles appear slightly smaller than wedge-tailed eagle sizes from other surveys, based on body mass and wing chord sizes. An average length for males of and was described for wedge-tailed eagles in Queensland. Another source claimed an average male weight of and average female body mass of . Yet another book lists males as averaging and females as averaging . A sample of 10 males averaged while 19 females weighed .Parry, S. J. (2001). ''The booted eagles (Aves: Accipitridae): perspectives in evolutionary biology''. University of London, University College London (United Kingdom).Baker-Gabb, D. J. (1984). ''Morphometric data and dimorphism indices of some Australian raptors''. Corella, 8, 61–63. The mean body mass of males in Tasmania was while that for females was . The largest wingspan ever verified for an eagle was for this species. A female killed in Tasmania in 1931 had a wingspan of , and another female measured barely smaller at . Similar claims, however, have been made for the

Steller's sea eagle Steller's sea eagle (''Haliaeetus pelagicus''), also known as the Pacific sea eagle or white-shouldered eagle, is a very large Diurnality, diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It was described first by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. No ...

(''Haliaeetus pelagicus''), which has been said to reach or exceed in wingspan. Reported claims of wedge-tailed eagles spanning and were unverified and deemed to be unreliable per

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

. This eagle's great length and wingspan place it among the largest eagles in the world, but its

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

, at more than , and

tail The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolution, evolved to los ...

, at up to , are unusually elongated for its body weight, and nine or ten other eagle species regularly outweigh it. It is around the third heaviest ''Aquila'' species, outsized only somewhat by the

and slightly by the

, although it only slightly exceeds the weight of the

Spanish imperial eagle The Spanish imperial eagle (''Aquila adalberti''), also known as the Iberian imperial eagle, the Spanish eagle or Adalbert's eagle, is a species of eagle native to the Iberian Peninsula. The binomial commemorates Prince Adalbert of Bavaria. Due ...

(''Aquila adalberti'').''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses, 2nd Edition'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (2008), . Among the entire booted eagle subfamily, in addition to the two heavier ''Aquila'', it is outsized in bulk by the

martial eagle The martial eagle (''Polemaetus bellicosus'') is a large eagle native to sub-Saharan Africa.Ferguson-Lees & Christie, ''Raptors of the World''. Houghton Mifflin Company (2001), . It is the only member of the genus ''Polemaetus''. A species of t ...

(''Polemaetus bellicosus''), while the also long-tailed

crowned eagle The crowned eagle, also known as the African crowned eagle or the crowned hawk-eagle (''Stephanoaetus coronatus''), is a large bird of prey found in sub-Saharan Africa; in Southern Africa, it is restricted to more easterly areas.Sinclair & Ryan ...

(''Stephanoaetus coronatus'') can average of a roughly similar body mass to the wedge-tailed eagle, although the latter is marginally the heavier bird. The wedge-tailed is exceeded in body mass by only a few eagles, especially the Steller's sea eagle and

harpy eagle The harpy eagle (''Harpia harpyja'') is a large Neotropical realm, neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea Harpy Eagle, New Guin ...

(''Harpia harpyja'') and somewhat by the

Philippine eagle The Philippine eagle (''Pithecophaga jefferyi''), also known as the monkey-eating eagle or great Philippine eagle, is a critically endangered species of eagle of the family Accipitridae which is Endemism, endemic to forests in the Geography of ...

(''Pithecophaga jefferyi''), the

white-tailed eagle The white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), sometimes known as the 'sea eagle', is a large bird of prey, widely distributed across temperate Eurasia. Like all eagles, it is a member of the family Accipitridae (or accipitrids) which also ...

(''Haliaeetus albicilla'') and the

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

(''Haliaeetus leucocephalus''). However, it rivals the Steller's and harpy eagles and is known to be exceeded only by the Philippine eagle in total length. The wedge-tailed eagle's wingspan is the largest of any ''Aquila'', and is exceeded amongst all eagles probably only by the white-tailed and Steller's sea eagles in average spread though its average (not maximum) wingspan is rivaled by that of the martial eagle.Mendelsohn, J.M., Kemp, A.C., Biggs, H.C., Biggs, R., & Brown, C.J. (1989). ''Wing areas, wing loadings and wing spans of 66 species of African raptors''. Ostrich, 60(1), 35–42. Among standard measurements, within the nominate subspecies, the wing chord of males may range from while that of the female is from . In Tasmania, the wing chord measured from in males and in females. In Nullarbor Plain, males averaged in wing chord while females averaged . Other Australian wedge-tailed eagles averaged in wing chord among males and among females. In Tasmania, the wing chord averaged in males and in females. The extreme tail length, slightly to greatly exceeding that of other ''Aquila'', is in males from , averaging in the Nullarbor eagles and in Tasmania, and from , averaging in Nullarbor and in Tasmania. Although they only slightly exceed in tail length the heavier two ''Aquila'' and crowned eagles and they can rival the tail lengths of the Philippine and the

Harpiinae The Harpiinae is a bird of prey subfamily which consists of large broad-winged species native to tropical forests. There are 4 Genus, genera in the subfamily, all Monotypic taxon, monotypic. The cladogram of the Harpiinae shown below is based on ...

eagles, Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles are quite likely to be the longest-tailed of all modern eagles. The length of the tarsus may be from . The tarsus of 7 males averaged while that of 7 females averaged . In terms of

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pl ...

measurements, the exposed culmen may range from in males and in females while total bill length (from the

gape The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and ca ...

) is from and , in the sexes respectively. It is likely to be the largest billed ''Aquila'', a bit ahead of the imperial eagles and the Verreaux's eagle, behind only the larger ''

Haliaeetus ''Haliaeetus'' is a genus of four species of eagles, closely related to the sea eagles in the genus '' Ichthyophaga''. Taxonomy The genus ''Haliaeetus'' was introduced in 1809 by the French zoologist Marie Jules César Savigny to accommodate a ...

'' and Philippine eagles amongst all eagles. In Tasmania, culmen lengths averaged in males and in females while the total length of the bill averaged and . The hallux claw, the enlarged rear talon on the hind toe, is slightly smaller than that of a golden or Verreaux's eagle, even proportionately, but is extremely sharp. According to one study, wedge-tailed eagles had a hallux claw of , ranging from , in males , ranging from in a sample of 10, in females. Another source listed the hallux claw of mainland Australian eagles as averaging in males and in females. Meanwhile, in Tasmanian eagles, the hallux claw averaged , ranging from in males while in females, the hallux claw averaged , ranging from . In terms of

osteological Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practiced by osteologists . A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, archaeology and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morp ...

structure and size, the wedge-tailed eagle is said to be proportional to other eagles, being notably smaller and less robust than the heaviest eagles, such as Steller's and harpies, but fairly similar in osteology, in both structure and proportions, to the golden eagle.

Identification

Their unique combination of large size, lanky build, long, diamond-shaped tail (though can be round-ended when both central feathers are moulted together), mainly black or rather dark plumage, and long wings seen when soaring or gliding make all ages of the wedge-tailed eagle fairly unmistakable in the majority of their range. The only main confusion species is often the black-breasted kite (''Hamirostra melanosternon''), which is surprisingly similar in colouring but is much smaller with a relatively short, squared tail and extensive clear white windows covering a good part of their wings. Juveniles of the

white-bellied sea eagle The white-bellied sea eagle (''Icthyophaga leucogaster''), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related ...

(''Haliaeetus leucogaster''), at times mentioned as potentially confusable with a young wedge-tailed eagle, are much paler below with a rather different flight pattern: a short pale tail, bare legs, shorter, broader wings held in stiff dihedral. In New Guinea, the

is more similar than those species in form and build but the Gurney's is somewhat smaller and more compact than the wedge-tailed eagle with rich yellow feet, a rather shorter rounded or faintly wedge-tipped tail, shorter and relatively broader wings (in adaptation to more forest-living).Beehler, B. M., & Pratt, T. K. (2016). ''Birds of New Guinea''. Princeton University Press. Furthermore, the Gurney's eagle has a much paler immature plumage. Although usually considered an island endemic, the Gurney's eagle is possibly capable of marine dispersals, as is the wedge-tailed eagle, that may lead to them to turn up in the forests of northern Australia and historical reports show that a rare vagrant of the species may indeed appear there. The

Papuan eagle The Papuan eagle (''Harpyopsis novaeguineae'') is a large bird of prey.Ferguson-Lees, J., & Christie, D. A. (2001). ''Raptors of the World''. Christopher Helm, London, UK. It is also known by several other names, including Papuan harpy eagle, New ...

(''Harpyopsis novaeguineae''), the only other island raptor in New Guinea that approaches the wedge-tailed in size, is a highly distinct and forest-restricted species, being much paler, particularly below, with long, bare legs and different proportions, more like a giant ''

Accipiter ''Accipiter'' () is a genus of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae. Some species are called sparrowhawks, but there are many sparrowhawks in other genera such as '' Tachyspiza''. These birds are slender with short, broad, rounded wings and ...

'' with short rounded wings, a long, somewhat rounded tipped tail, and a large, rounded head.

Vocalizations

Wedge-tailed eagles are not well known for its vocalization nor are they often heard. They may be silent for long stretches of time, possibly months, at least outside of breeding season. When vocalizations have been documented, it usually only near the nest and in aerial display, and can be hard to hear unless at close range. The commonest calls for wedge-tailed eagles are high, rather thin whistles, sometimes transcribed as ''I-see, I-see'' followed by a short descending ''see-tya''. Also documented during the breeding season are various other whistles, yelps and squeals and an often rolling series. Characteristically, all their calls are surprisingly weak, though the main call is sometimes considered to have a "melancholy" quality. The opinion on their call is not dissimilar to the golden eagle, whose voice is similarly considered unimpressive. Female calls in wedge-tailed eagles are similar but are generally lower and harsher than males.

Range and habitat

Wedge-tailed eagles are found throughout Australia (including Tasmania), as well as southern New Guinea, in almost all habitats, though they tend to be more common in favourable habitat in southern and eastern Australia. In Australia, they may be found almost all the way from the

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

in the north down to

Wilsons Promontory National Park The Wilsons Promontory National Park, commonly known as Wilsons Prom or The Prom, is a national park in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia, located approximately southeast of Melbourne. The national park is the southernmost national ...

and

Great Otway National Park The Great Otway National Park is a national park located in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated approximately southwest of Melbourne, in the Otway Ranges, a low coastal mountain range. It conta ...

s in the southern tips of the continent, and from

Shark Bay Shark Bay () is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The area is located approximately north of Perth, on the westernmost point of the Australian continent. UNESCO's listing of Shark Bay as a World Heritage S ...

in the western side of the continent to

Great Sandy National Park Great Sandy National Park is a coastal national park in the Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. Geography The park features untouched beaches, large sand dunes, heathlands, rainforests, swamps, creeks, freshwater lakes and mangrove fo ...

and

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah'') is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of New South Wales, Australia (in Bundjalung Country). It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjac ...

in the east. They are widespread throughout the desert interior of Australia, but are rare in low densities in the most arid parts of the continent, such as the

Lake Eyre Basin The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large port ...

. Offshore, the wedge-tailed eagle may be distributed in several of the larger Australian islands and some of the smaller ones. Those include a majority of the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...

Albany Island Albany Island or Pabaju is an island off the north-eastern coast of Cape York Peninsula in the Adolphus Channel of Queensland, Australia. It is within the locality of Somerset in the Shire of Torres. Geography Albany Island is off the no ...

, Pipon Island, the isles of

Bathurst Bay Bathurst Bay is a bay in the localities of Lakefield and Starcke in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. In the 19th century it was the base for the pearling fleet. It is now a tourist attraction for Cape York Peninsula in northern Queen ...

, many small isles in Queensland, from Night Island down to the South Cumberland Islands,

Fraser Island K'gari ( , ), also known by its former name Fraser Island, is a World Heritage-listed sand island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. The island lies approximately north of the state capi ...

Moreton Island Moreton Island (Mulgumpin) is an island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay on the coast of South East Queensland, Australia. The Coral Sea lies on the east coast of the island. Moreton Island lies northeast of the Queensland capital, Brisbane. ...

North Stradbroke Island North Stradbroke Island (Janday language, Jandai: ''Minjerribah''), colloquially ''Straddie'' or ''North Straddie'', is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, southeast of the centre of Brisbane. Original ...

, Montague Island,

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island (, ) is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. Its closest point to the mainland is Snapper Poi ...

, the

Nuyts Archipelago The Nuyts Archipelago is an island group in South Australia in the Great Australian Bight, to the south of the town of Ceduna on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula. It consists of mostly granitic islands and reefs that provide breedin ...

Groote Eylandt Groote Eylandt ( Anindilyakwa: ''Ayangkidarrba''; meaning "island" ) is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the fourth largest island in Australia. It was named by the explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 and is Dutch for "large island" ...

and the

Tiwi Islands The Tiwi Islands ( meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island, Bathurst I ...

. In Tasmania, they may be found essentially throughout as well as some isles of the

Kent Group The Kent Group are a grouping of six granite islands located in Bass Strait, north-west of the Furneaux Group in Tasmania, Australia. Collectively, the group is comprised within the Kent Group National Park. The islands were named Kent's Grou ...

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...

Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Today Flinders Island is part of the state of Tasmania, Australia. It is from Cape Portland, Tasmania, Cape Portl ...

and

Cape Barren Island Cape Barren Island, officially truwana / Cape Barren Island, is a island in Bass Strait, off the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the second-largest island of the Furneaux Group, with the larger Flinders Island to the north, and ...

.Fielding, M. W., Buettel, J. C., & Brook, B. W. (2020). ''Trophic rewilding of native extirpated predators on Bass Strait Islands could benefit woodland birds''. Emu - Austral Ornithology, 120(3), 260–262. In New Guinea, the wedge-tailed eagle is highly range restricted and can be found predominantly in the

Trans-Fly savanna and grasslands The Trans Fly savanna and grasslands are a lowland ecoregion on the south coast of the island of New Guinea in both the Indonesian and Papua New Guinean sides of the island. With their monsoon and dry season climate these grasslands are quite di ...

and the general area around the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

, as well as in Indonesia

Merauke Regency Merauke Regency is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency in the far south of the Indonesian province of South Papua. It covers an area of 45,013.35 km2, and had a population of 195,716 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 2 ...

, with some isolated reports in

Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly Dutch and granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region ...

, the

Bensbach River The Bensbach River is a river in southwestern Papua New Guinea. It is located just to the east of the Maro River in Merauke Regency, Indonesia, and just to the west of the Morehead River in Papua New Guinea. The mouth of the river, Torasi Estuar ...

and the

Oriomo River The Oriomo River is located in southern Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands ...

Habitat

The wedge-tailed eagle lives in an extremely wide range of habitats. Although range is restricted relative to the golden eagle, it likely occupies a wider range of habitat types than likely any other ''Aquila'' eagle, and may outrival any booted eagle species in their use of diverse habitats, being somewhat more akin to habitat generalist raptors such as ''

Buteo ''Buteo'' is a genus of medium to fairly large, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings. In the Old World, members of this genus are called " buzzards", but "hawk" is used in the New World (Etymology: ''Buteo'' is the Latin name ...

'' buzzards. Assorted habitats known to host wedge-tailed eagles includes open

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

land,

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s, desert edge and

subalpine forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

s, montane grasslands and

mountain peaks A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a ...

, not-too-dense

s, monsoon forests, dwarf conifer forests, some

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s as well as regularly forays to

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

al areas, though normally along the coasts they occur around

somewhat away from the water. Favored habitat tends to be remote or rough country, at least partially wooded and not uncommonly varied with some rocky spots as well as in

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

. Wedge-tailed eagles seem to prefer some

dead trees ''Dead Trees'' is the fifth studio album by post-hardcore band From First to Last, released April 23, 2015, via Sumerian Records. It is the first and only release to feature vocalist Spencer Sotelo (singer of progressive metal band Periphery), Ta ...

to be present. They may occur around ''

'' woodland quite regularly, as well as ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

'' woodland and mixed woodlands of ''

Casuarina cristata ''Casuarina cristata'', commonly known as belah or muurrgu, is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to inland eastern Australia. It is a tree with fissured or scaly bark, sometimes drooping branchlets, the lea ...

Flindersia maculosa ''Flindersia maculosa'', commonly known as leopardwood or leopard tree, is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to inland areas of eastern Australia. It has mottled bark, simple leaves arranged in opposite pairs, white to cre ...

Callitris ''Callitris'' is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are 16 recognized species in the genus, of which 13 are native to Australia and the other three (''C. neocaledonica, C. sulcata'' and ''C. p ...

'' cypresses and also stands of ''

Casuarina cunninghamiana ''Casuarina cunninghamiana'', commonly known as river oak, river sheoak or creek oak, is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is native to Australia and New Guinea. It is a tree with fissured and scaly bark, sometimes dr ...

''.Sharp, A., Norton, M., & Marks, A. (2001). ''Breeding activity, nest site selection and nest spacing of wedge-tailed eagles, Aquila audax, in western New South Wales''. Emu, 101(4), 323–328.Collins, L.., & Croft, D. B. (2007). ''Factors influencing chick survival in the Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax''. Corella, 31, 32–40.Silva, L. M., & Croft, D. B. (2007). ''Nest-site selection, diet and parental care of the wedge-tailed eagle Aquila audax in western New South Wales''. Corella, 31(2), 23–31. A strong preference was detected for ''C. cunninghamiana'' alternatively with several ''Eucalyptus'' species was detected in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

, sloping ground allowing good access and access to tall, mature trees being paramount to the eagles in the study.Hatton, F., Mickan, P. H., Gruber, B., & Olsen, J. (2014). ''Modelling the nesting habitat requirements of the wedge-tailed eagle Aquila audax in the Australian Capital Territory using nest site characteristics''. Corella, 38, 63–70. Quite often they will be seen soaring over

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

s or

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

s as well as over flat plains, especially spinex grassland. Dense forest is typically avoided with glades and

edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

often sought out in forested areas. While they do occur in rich

riparian woodland A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, sink, or reservoir. Due to the broad nature of the definition, riparian woodla ...

s, it is with relative scarcity despite this being where many other raptors of the nation concentrate.Aumann, T. (2001). ''An intraspecific and interspecific comparison of raptor diets in the south-west of the Northern Territory, Australia''. Wildlife Research, 28(4), 379–393. In the deserts of the

Lake Eyre basin The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large port ...

, they are often seen in gibber plains along treed

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s and

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s, here often concentrated around ''Eucalyptus'' in stony creek beds. In the

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

y desert areas of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, wedge-tailed eagles were once reasonably common but have largely vacated the region after the macropod prey they live off of there were all but hunted to extinction.Johnstone, R. E., & Storr, G. M. (1998). ''Handbook of Western Australian Birds (Vol. 2)''. Western Australian Museum. Wedge-tailed eagles commonly occur from sea level up to about with seemingly no preference based on altitudinal level. A fairly pronounced liking for mountainous localities such as

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

s has been detected in a few studies of wedge-tailed eagle. One of the few habitat types considered to be strongly avoided by wedge-tailed eagles are areas intensively

settled A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among the first settli ...

or cultivated areas. A slightly fading tendency to avoid human areas has been detected, perhaps as persecution rates have gone far down, and the wedge-tailed eagle may be seen near

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

s and

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

s in

exurb An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburbs, suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing-density, and rela ...

an and even

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

an areas largely within

bushland In Australia, bushland is a blanket term for land which supports remnant natural area, remnant vegetation or land which is disturbed but still retains a predominance of the original floristics and structure. Human survival in bushland has a wh ...

. However, the species is seldom seen other than as a flyover in more developed towns and cities. Additionally, it is not uncommon to see these eagles in man-made spots such as

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

areas, forestry clearings, and rolling

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

areas.

Behaviour

This impressive bird of prey spends much of the day perching in trees, on rocks as well as similar exposed lookout sites such as cliffs from which it has a good view of its surroundings. Alternatively, they may sit on the ground for long periods of time or watch from a lower point, such as on termite mounds or anthills. Now and then, it takes off from its perch to fly low over its territory. Especially whilst not breeding, wedge-tailed eagles spends a considerable amount of the day on the wing. Wedge-tailed eagles are highly aerial, soaring for hours on end without wingbeat and seemingly without effort, regularly reaching and sometimes considerably higher. The purpose of soaring has received little specific study in wedge-tailed eagles, but it is likely, as in other accipitrids, in large part for surveying the territory and advertising their presence to other eagles. During the intense heat of the middle part of the day, it often soars high in the air, circling up on the thermal currents that rise from the ground below. Often when on the wing, it is scarcely visible to the human's naked eye. Their keen eyesight extends into

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

bands. With a

visual perception Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

some three times more acute than those of humans, one of the largest

pecten oculi The pecten or pecten oculi is a comb-like structure of blood vessels belonging to the choroid in the eye of a bird. It is a non- sensory, pigmented structure that projects into the vitreous humor from the point where the optic nerve enters the ...

of any bird and an eye roughly as big as a small human's, they may be one of the most sharp-eyed birds in the world. The wedge-tailed eagle is largely sedentary as expected of a raptor dwelling in the

subtropics The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately ...

, although they also dwell in the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

(far northern Australia and New Guinea) as well as in the

temperate zone In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ra ...

(Tasmania). However, juveniles of the species can be quite dispersive. In some cases, they have moved to a recorded distance of some . These extreme movements have been completed within 7 to 8 months after dispersal. More typically they move no farther than or so. The adult eagles can also be nomadic, though only in circumstances such as

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

conditions. In turn this explains the species presence in places they don't breed, even adults. In addition to moving for drought in arid zone, also moves in highest part of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, e.g. the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range, a cordillera syste ...

, the species often apparently vacates snow-covered alpine zone in winter. The small New Guinea population is apparently indistinguishable from the mainland race and so possibly result of recent colonization, although no records exist of migrating wedge-tailed eagles islands past the Torres Straits. However, it can be projected from its presence in various offshore islands its capacity for crossing straits ranging up to as far as apart. One post dispersal young eagle was observed to distribute from

to the mainland, possibly a regular occurrence.Debus, S. J. (2015). ''Assessment of band recoveries for three Australian eagle species''. Corella. Due to their tendency for wandering, some authors class the wedge-tailed eagles as a " partial or irruptive migrant". However, while they are arguably irruptive, it does not fit the mould of a true migrant well since under normal circumstances adults are rather sedentary unless environmental changes force them to move. The wedge-tailed eagle is the only bird that has a reputation for not infrequently attacking

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

s and

paragliders Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched Glider (aircraft), glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a :wikt:harness, harness or in ...

, although other eagles including the golden eagle have also been recorded to behave thusly. Based on the response the eagles show to the gliders, they presumably are defending their territory and treating the perceived intruder like another eagle. Cases are recorded of the birds damaging the fabric of these gliders with their talons as well as some other parts of the gliding apparatus, but not the humans themselves, has been reported.Meredith, P. (1990). ''Encounters between Wedge-tailed Eagles and Hang-gliders''. Australian Bird Watcher, 13(5), 153–155. They have also been reported to attack and destroy

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

s used for mining survey operations in Australia. The presence of a wedge-tailed eagle often causes panic among smaller birds and, as a result, aggressive species such as

magpies Magpies are birds of various species of the family Corvidae. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent cr ...

(one of the most vulnerable types of

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

to eagle attacks),

butcherbird Butcherbirds are songbirds closely related to the Australian magpie. Most are found in the genus ''Cracticus'', but the black butcherbird is placed in the monotypic genus ''Melloria''. They are native to Australasia. Taxonomy Together with thr ...

wagtails Wagtails are a group of passerine birds that form the genus ''Motacilla'' in the family Motacillidae. The common name and genus name are derived from their characteristic tail pumping behaviour. Together with the pipits and longclaws they form ...

, monarch flycatchers,

lapwing Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (Family (biology), family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, ...

s, and

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

s as well as smaller

birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

, including both accipitrids and

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

s, any of which may aggressively mob eagles (see video). Multiple species may join the kerfuffle and mob them, especially while the eagles perched, often engaging in noisy calling, presumably meant to disorient the predator, and occasionally in physical attacks against the eagle, typically focused where the big, relatively lumbering eagles could not grasp the attacking birds. The wedge-tailed eagle usually does not engage its tormentors but sometimes rolls in the air to present talons whether perched or not. Sometimes wedge-tailed eagles appear to fight but this and other behaviours, especially between young eagles, may be interpreted as playful. Some such behaviours have included fetching sticks tossed by others, athletic flipping between juvenile eagles and even playing games with

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

s, via floating above them until the dogs bark or leap then floating up until the dog settles and then repeating the "game". Flocking behaviour has been noted, similar to that of vultures (

Cathartidae Cathartidae, known commonly as New World vultures or condors, are a family of birds of prey consisting of seven extant species in five genera. It includes five extant vultures and two extant condors found in the Americas. They are known as "New W ...

and

) in other countries, when

is available.Bird watcher's Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle photo shows group's vulture-like behaviour
Georgie Burgess,

ABC News Online ABC News, also known as ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The service covers both local and world affairs, broadcasting both nationally as ABC News, and across the Asia- ...

, 27 April 2022 File:Wedge-tailed Eagle dayboro.ogv, In flight, 'mobbed' by Australian magpie,

Dayboro Dayboro is a rural town and locality in the City of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Dayboro had a population of 2,376 people. Geography Dayboro is approximately north-northwest of Brisbane, the state capital. ...

, SE Queensland File:Wedge-tailed Eagle sam95.ogg, Samsonvale, SE Queensland, Australia

Dietary biology

The wedge-tailed eagle is one of the world's most powerful avian predators. Due to its formidable and dominating nature, it is sometimes nicknamed "King of Birds", along with golden eagles. Prey is usually grabbed via a pounce or snatch during a gliding flight or a tail-chase from low quartering or transect flights.Cowell, G. (2006). ''Wedge-tailed Eagle takes juvenile Kangaroo''. Boobook 24, 46. Prey is not infrequently spotted from a soaring flight and they may undertake a long, slanting stoop towards it. They may be able to spot prey from farther than a kilometre given their keen vision. Its typical hunting style is not all-together dissimilar from that of golden or Verreaux's eagles. Occasionally, a wedge-tailed eagle still hunts from a perch. Unsuccessful hunts typically exceed in number successful ones. Hunting habitat can be highly variably and can manage to capture prey in both open country and quite thick woodland or forest, though typically require an open understory in the latter. Almost all its prey is taken on the ground but to a lesser extent it may be taken from the tree

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

. They've been known to take birds such as

currawong Currawongs are three species of medium-sized passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Strepera'' in the family Artamidae native to Australia. These are the grey currawong (''Strepera versicolor''), pied currawong (''S. graculina''), and black ...

s and

cockatoo A cockatoo is any of the 21 species of parrots belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea ( true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up t ...

s by coming around them by surprise around a tree or by darting out in flight at close range for a brief tail-chase.Whelan, D. (2009) Eagle takes cockatoo. Boobook 27, 16. Sometimes, an eagle may pull

brushtail possum The brushtail possums are the members of the genus ''Trichosurus'' in the Phalangeridae, a family of marsupials. They are native to Australia (including Tasmania) and some small nearby islands. Unique among marsupials, they have shifted the hyp ...

s and other mammals from tree cavities, as well as young birds from a

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...

.Olsen, J., Fuentes, E., Rose, A. B., & Trost, S. (2006). ''Food and hunting of eight breeding raptors near Canberra, 1990–1994''. Australian Field Ornithology, 23(2), 77–95. They've been known to follow

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

s to search for fleeing animals or alternately

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

s and other farm equipment for the same purpose. Wedge-tailed eagles occasionally

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

food from other predators. An eagle of the species can carry prey of at least . Large animals may be attacked by pairs or, occasionally, by groups acting

cooperatively Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English and, with a varied usage along time, coöperation) takes place when a group of organisms works or acts together for a collective benefit to the group as opposed to working in competition ...

. One record shows 15 wedge-tailed eagles hunting

kangaroos Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey ...

, two actively chasing at a time, then repeatedly being replaced by two more from the circling group overhead.McGregor, B. (2007). ''Wedge-tailed Eagle hunting behaviour''. Boobook 25, 14.Aumann, T. (2001). ''Habitat use, temporal activity patterns and foraging behaviour of raptors in the south-west of the Northern Territory, Australia''. Wildlife Research, 28(4), 365–378. Regardless of prey size and season, tandem hunts, mainly by breeding adult pairs or sometimes loosely associated young eagles, are not uncommon. Of 89 observed hunts in

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and ...

around one-third were cooperative ones. As in other tandem hunting raptors, one eagle typically lies in wait generally unseen while the other eagle distracts and drives the prey towards it. When hunting domesticated prey, they've been seen to land near

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

mothers to intimidate them and separate their young, so they can attack the latter. Sometimes, wedge-tailed eagles may use

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or net (textile), netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its ...

s to limit a prey's escape routes. In some cases, these eagles will attempt to force large prey such as kangaroos and dingos to fall off steep hillsides and injure themselves. At times, wedge-tailed eagles appear to hunt at earliest light or late twilight in order to come upon

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

prey such as hare-wallaby and

bettong Bettongs, species of the genus ''Bettongia'', are potoroine marsupials once common in Australia. They are important ecosystem engineers displaced during the colonisation of the continent, and are vulnerable to threatening factors such as alter ...

s. These eagles have been seen removing rabbits from traps and eating carrion in bright moonlight as well. At times, remarkably, wedge-tailed eagles have been covering large prey with vegetation, apparently to

cache Cache, caching, or caché may refer to: Science and technology * Cache (computing), a technique used in computer storage for easier data access * Cache (biology) or hoarding, a food storing behavior of animals * Cache (archaeology), artifacts p ...

food too heavy to carry. Carrion is a major diet item, also; wedge-tails can spot the activity of

raven A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...

s around a carcass from a great distance, and glide down to appropriate it. Carrion consumption is recorded in all season and contexts, although generally non-breeding birds are more likely to

scavenge Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding be ...

and young wedge-tailed eagles, even more so shortly post-dispersal, are thought to be far more likely to scavenge on carrion than adults generally. Wedge-tailed eagles are often seen by the roadside in rural Australia, feeding on animals that have been killed in collisions with vehicles. The importance of carrion relative to live prey has not been greatly studied but away from human development, especially roads, carrion is less likely to be encountered and eagles of all ages must presumably hunt to survive. In general, Australian

accipitrids The Accipitridae () is one of the four families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds of prey with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to ...

of many species not infrequently come to carrion and they along with large

s like ''

Corvus ''Corvus'' is a widely distributed genus of passerine birds ranging from medium-sized to large-sized in the family Corvidae. It includes species commonly known as crows, ravens, and rooks. The species commonly encountered in Europe are the car ...

'' species and

s probably fulfill the

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development and growth *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ec ...

that

vultures A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

do in other continents to some extent, albeit with considerably less specialization. Aggregations of wedge-tailed eagles may occur not infrequently at large carcasses, with up to 5–12 eagles or sometimes 20 gathering. A wedge-tailed eagle can gorge up to at a sitting and, when fulfilled, can lasts for an unusual amount of time, for up to weeks or even a month, before needing to hunt again, apparently due to the warmth of the environment. After feeding they may disgorge a relatively small pellet, long by wide and weighing some . Usually the diet is determined from a combination of reviewing these pellets along with loose prey remains.

Prey spectrum

Pogona vitticeps (32494027291).jpg, Regular wedge-tailed eagle prey can vary in size down to small

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

s such as

bearded dragons ''Pogona'' is a genus of reptiles containing eight lizard species, which are often known by the common name bearded dragons or informally (especially in Australia) beardies. The name "bearded dragon" refers to the underside of the throat (or "b ...

, their favourite variety of reptilian prey. CSIRO ScienceImage 1147 European rabbit.jpg, The introduction of rabbits to Australia has been greatly harmful to the Australian environs but a boon to opportunistic wedge-tailed eagles, which often take them in great numbers. Large Eastern Grey male kangaroo (9645655070).jpg, Regular prey can range up to the size of large adult

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

s such as

eastern grey kangaroo The eastern grey kangaroo (''Macropus giganteus'': gigantic large-foot; also great grey kangaroo or forester kangaroo) is a marsupial found in the eastern third of Australia, with a population of several million. Although a large ''M. giganteus ...

s, usually attacked in hunting pairs. Galahs.jpg, A diversity of birds may be taken with medium-sized, common birds such as

galah The galah (; ''Eolophus roseicapilla''), less commonly known as the pink and grey cockatoo or rose-breasted cockatoo, is an Australian species of cockatoo and the only member of the genus ''Eolophus''. The galah is adapted to a wide variety of m ...

s taken relatively frequently due to the conspicuousness. The wedge-tailed eagle is a dietary generalist, opportunistically capturing a wide range of prey species. Its prey spectrum is quite broad, with well over 200 prey species documented to be taken and even this includes very few prey only from secondary accounts from Tasmania and New Guinea.Olsen, J., Judge, D., Fuentes, E., Rose, A. B., & Debus, S. J. (2010). ''Diets of wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax) and little eagles (Hieraaetus morphnoides) breeding near Canberra, Australia''. Journal of Raptor Research, 44(1), 50–61. The wedge-tailed eagles tends to prefer smallish to fairly large

s as prey. However, they not infrequently take ample numbers of both

s and

s, along with scarcely other prey taxon. Out of 21 accrued dietary studies, 61.3% of prey items by number in the foods during nesting efforts were mammals, 21.6% were birds, 13.2% were reptiles, 2.1% by

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s, principally

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s, 1.5% by

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

, and almost no

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

s by number. Meanwhile, out of the 21, 13 studies calculated estimated

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

, and found that just shy of 90% of prey biomass was made of by mammals, 6.2% by birds and 3.4% by reptiles. Out of the ''Aquila'' genus, it is one of a few generalist species, however the wedge-tailed eagle is the ''Aquila'' most likely to typically attack the largest prey. Generally, this species prefers to attack birds and reptiles weighing over and mammals weighing over , although prey taken at times has varied from a few grams to more than sixteen times the weight of an individual eagle. A comparison estimate posited that around 2% of wedge-tailed eagle prey weighs less than , 4% of their prey weighs , 7% of their prey weighs , 10% weighs , 20% weighs , 25% weighs , 18% weighs and 14% weighs over . Projected from this comparison, the mean prey size for wedge-tailed eagles is estimated at , similar but just slightly ahead of the Verreaux's eagle and some 14% ahead of the golden eagle global mean prey size. Further studies estimated mean prey weight, showing the mean prey weigh in the

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

region in three different studies was estimated to be , and , changing likely due to the shifting significances of leporids and larger macropods.Olsen, J., Fuentes, E., & Rose, A. B. (2006). ''Trophic relationships between neighbouring White-bellied Sea-Eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster) and Wedge-tailed Eagles (Aquila audax) breeding on rivers and dams near Canberra''. Emu - Austral Ornithology, 106(3), 193–201.Debus, S. J. S., Olsen, J., Trost, S., & Fuentes, E. (2021). ''Breeding diets of the little eagle Hieraaetus morphnoides and wedge-tailed eagle Aquila audax in the Australian capital territory in 2011–2019''. Australian Field Ornithology, 38, 19–28. In a small study from

Armidale, New South Wales Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 23,967 as of the 2021 census. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands, New ...

, it was estimated that mean prey weight was .Debus, S. J., Hatfield, T. S., Ley, A. J., & Rose, A. B. (2007). ''Breeding biology and diet of the Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax in the New England region of New South Wales''. Australian Field Ornithology, 24(3), 93–120. It only ranks behind the crowned eagle and harpy eagle and rivals the martial eagle as the eagle likely to attack the largest prey on average.

Mammals

=Introduced mammals

= While the introduction of

to Australia has been generally having a negative to devastating effect on native animals and ecosystems, the wedge-tailed eagle is one of a few native species to largely benefit from these introductions. This is especially due to the introduction of the

, which were deliberately introduced repeatedly (abortively in 1859 and then via a concerted effect from 1937 to 1950), largely so the wealthy could hunt them.Fenner, F. (2010). ''Deliberate introduction of the European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, into Australia''. Revue Scientifique et Technique, 29(1), 103. The wedge-tailed eagles quickly took to the rabbits as prey along with another introduced leporid, the

European hare The European hare (''Lepus europaeus''), also known as the brown hare, is a species of hare native to Europe and parts of Asia. It is among the largest hare species and is adapted to temperate, open country. Hares are herbivorous and feed mainly ...

(''Lepus europaeus''). In almost every part of Australia, these eagles take

rabbits Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated form ...

in some numbers and they usually constitute the bulk of the prey species in most, if not all, Australian food studies. In some dietary studies rabbits have accounted for up to 89.2% of the diet by number and 86% by biomass, as in

Bacchus Marsh Bacchus Marsh ( Wathawurrung: ''Pullerbopulloke'') is a town in Victoria, Australia, located approximately north-west of the state capital Melbourne, at a near equidistance to the major cities of Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong. As of the ...

, however they more typically range from 16% to 49% of the diet by number in various studies.Foster, A., & Wallis, R. (2010). ''Breeding diet of the wedge-tailed eagle Aquila audax in southern Victoria''. Corella, 34, 45–48.Hull, C. (1986). ''The diet of the Wedge-tailed Eagle, Aquila audax, breeding near Melbourne''. Corella, 10, 21 (4). One Canberra study found that 98.5% of the rabbits taken were adults. In the largest study near Canberra, over 5.5 years, 19.3% of the diet of wedge-tailed eagles was rabbits (12.7% of prey biomass) among 1421 prey items, so the eagles took a total of some 275 rabbits in the 11 to 17 studied territories of the area. A study estimated that mean weight of wild rabbits in Australia was , lower than estimated in the past.Sharp, A., Gibson, L., Norton, M., Ryan, B., Marks, A., & Semeraro, L. (2002). ''The breeding season diet of wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax) in western New South Wales and the influence of rabbit calicivirus disease''. Wildlife Research, 29(2), 175–184. However, other studies estimated the mean weights of rabbits taken by wedge-tailed eagles as variously from or "usually over ", infrequently reported to , size of the rabbits being perhaps limited the poorly-suited soil and environs of the Australian wilderness.Parker, B. D., Hume, I. D., & Boles, W. E. (2007). ''Diet of breeding Wedge-tailed Eagles Aquila audax in south-central Queensland''. Corella, 31, 50–62. Meanwhile, the European hare is neither as widely established nor as prolifically taken as rabbits by wedge-tailed eagles but are by no means neglected and a substantial meal. With a mean body mass of , hares have been as much as nearly 10% of the local diet and up to 14% of prey biomass in studies.

Rabbit haemorrhagic disease Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD), also known as viral hemorrhagic disease (VHD), is a highly infectious and lethal form of viral hepatitis that affects European rabbits. Some viral strains also affect hares and cottontail rabbits. Mortality rate ...

was deliberately introduced to control the population of rabbits subsequent to 1995, followed more effectively by introduction of

myxoma virus Myxoma virus is a poxvirus in the genus '' Leporipoxvirus''. The two broad geographic types of Myxoma virus are Californian and South American. Californian myxoma virus is found on the West Coast of the United States, the Baja Peninsula of Mexi ...

to limit the damage rabbits have inflicted on native vegetation and resultingly have competed native mammals like

wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

out of parts of their range. Ultimately, the rabbit population may have more than halved and locally have been some 90% reduced. As a matter of consensus, the wedge-tailed eagles do not appear to be adversely affected in major ways by the biological control of rabbits since they can revert to primarily taking native prey species quite readily.Olsen, J., Cooke, B., Trost, S., & Judge, D. (2014). ''Is wedge-tailed eagle, Aquila audax, survival and breeding success closely linked to the abundance of European rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus?'' Wildlife Research, 41(2), 95–105. In the region of

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

, White Cliffs and

Cunnamulla Cunnamulla () is a town and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Charleville, Queensland, Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane. In the 2021 Au ...

, rabbits have gone down from accounting for 56–69% of the diet to 16–31% of it. Furthermore, wedge-tailed eagles have been known to successfully maintain population in the absence of any rabbits in a few areas.Fitzsimons, J. A., Carlyon, K., Thomas, J. L., & Rose, A. B. (2014). ''The breeding diet of Wedge-tailed Eagles Aquila audax in the absence of rabbits: Kangaroo Island, South Australia''. Corella 38, 18, 21. Much more controversial at one time than hunting introduced rabbits and hares is the wedge-tailed eagle's occasional tendency to feed on and sometimes kill domesticated

animals.Batey, I. (1907). ''Wedge-Tailed Eagle and Lambs''. Emu - Austral Ornithology, 7(1), 43–45.Winkel, P. (2007). F''eeding ecology of the Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax in north-west Queensland: Interactions with lambs''. Corella, 31, 41–49. The predation of wedge-tailed eagles on young farm animals has been the primary historic driver for the persecution of the species.Thirgood, S., Woodroffe, R., & Rabinowitz, A. (2005). ''The impact of human-wildlife conflict on human lives and livelihoods''. Conservation Biology Series-Cambridge-, 9, 13. However, in no known study have domestic livestock been known to be primary prey. The closest association with them was in northwestern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

where lambs (''Ovis aries'') made up 32.7% of prey in pellets and 17.1% in remains, accounting for 15–21% of the prey biomass, while juvenile

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

s (''Sus scrofa domesticus'') made up 7.3% of pellet remains and 22% of the biomass. Although it can be highly difficult, attempts have been made at parsing out whether the eagles had indeed killed the lambs rather than just lifting or dismantling them after finding them dead, as this eagle quite readily comes to carrion. The findings were that of 29 diagnosable lamb deaths in northwest Queensland, only 34.5% were due to eagle attacks. The wedge-tailed eagle is at times capable of taking very substantial livestock animals, lambs taken have been estimated to weigh a mean of or up to while fully grown sheep weighing some are infrequently vulnerable, presumably in large part to hunting pairs of eagles. In the largest study of the Canberra area, 82.5% of diagnosable sheep specimens were adults but probably were by and large scavenged. Meanwhile, young pigs included in the diet were estimated to weigh around , and sometimes

feral pig A feral pig is a domestic pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the g ...

lets are included in the diet. When attacking lambs, the wedge-tailed eagles are apparently capable of driving their talons into the skull of the victim, although more typically they land along the back and grip the lamb along the spine until it weakens and collapses while flapping the wings for balance. This species will also land between a ewe or female pig and their respective lambs or piglets in order to separate the latter for attack. Wedge-tailed eagles are also known to at times prey on another animal introduced for human hunting purposes, the

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

(''Vulpes vulpes''), which can form up to about 4% of an eagle's breeding diet and 5% of the biomass, weighing up to . In Canberra, about 59% of the foxes found in the diet were adults. Additionally,

feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

s, mainly juveniles, can be part of their prey.

=Native mammals

= Presumably, the primary native prey of wedge-tailed eagles is

s, particularly

, which is also in accord with studies involving places where rabbits have declined or never occurred.Richards, J. D., & Short, J. (1998). ''Wedge-tailed eagle Aquila audax predation on endangered mammals and rabbits at Shark Bay, Western Australia''. Emu, 98(1), 23–31. Many wallabies, kangaroos, and associated animals are included in the diet, with over 50 marsupials known to be in the species’ prey spectrum. When selecting marsupials, wedge-tailed eagles tend to ignore smaller species and focus on larger-sized ones. However, they generally most often take alive the young, small and sickly of large macropod marsupials. Findings were that juvenile macropods were taken out of proportion to their numbers in the environment, unlike rabbits which were taken roughly in proportion to their abundance. In recent times, they have been known to eat marsupials, such as kangaroos killed by cars. There is little evidence that macropods delivered to nests are usually roadkills or from carrion, but the source of prey is difficult to determine because, to minimize disturbance, examinations are usually done after breeding is complete. As well, the attendance at carrion by wedge-tailed eagles is disproportionately done by juvenile eagles. In one study of roadkills in Australia, the species ranked around fourth in frequency and capacity for carcass breakdown of scavengers at roadkills, behind feral pigs, red foxes, and ravens. A video surveillance study at the nest determined that seemingly freshly killed, albeit usually quite young macropods were delivered to nests near

. As much as 20% to 30% of the diet can be made up of by macropods. Large and prominent species are known including the grey kangaroos and the

red kangaroo The red kangaroo (''Osphranter rufus'') is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest terrestrial mammal native to Australia, and the Largest mammals#Marsupials (Marsupialia), largest extant marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, exce ...

(''Osphranter rufus''). Generally, juveniles are targeted of these large species with

s (''Macropus giganteus'') estimated to weigh when taken by wedge-tailed eagles, in Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales, while the weight of young

western grey kangaroo The western grey kangaroo (''Macropus fuliginosus''), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, sooty kangaroo and (when referring to the Kangaroo Island subspecies) Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo, i ...

s (''Macropus fuliginosus'') was said to be in one study in Western Australia. The estimated weight of juvenile red kangaroos taken was in northwestern Queensland where they were the primary prey species ahead of lambs. However, wedge-tailed eagles do not shy away from attacking large, adult macropods. Similarly large adult macropods killed by these eagles can include

common wallaroo The common wallaroo (''Osphranter robustus''), also known as the euro, hill wallaroo, or simply wallaroo, is a species of macropod. The word ''euro'' is particularly applied to one subspecies (''O. r. erubescens'').WE Poole and JC Merchant (198 ...

s (''Osphranter robustus'') (mean adult weight around ),

antilopine kangaroo The antilopine kangaroo (''Osphranter antilopinus''), also known as the antilopine wallaroo or the antilopine wallaby, is a species of Macropodidae, macropod found in northern Australia: in Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, the Top End of the N ...

(''Osphranter antilopinus'') (mean adult weight around ),

agile wallaby The agile wallaby (''Notamacropus agilis''), also known as the sandy wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It is the most common wallaby in north Australia. The agile wallaby is a sandy colour, beco ...

(''Notamacropus agilis'') (median adult weight around ),

black-striped wallaby The black-striped wallaby (''Notamacropus dorsalis''), also known as the scrub wallaby or eastern brush wallaby, is a medium-sized wallaby found in Australia, from Townsville in Queensland to Narrabri in New South Wales. In New South Wales, it i ...

(''Notamacropus dorsalis'') (median adult weight around ),

red-necked wallaby The red-necked wallaby or Bennett's wallaby (''Notamacropus rufogriseus'') is a medium-sized macropod marsupial (wallaby), common in the more temperate and fertile parts of eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Red-necked wallabies have been i ...

(''Notamacropus rufogriseus'') estimated to weigh around when taken,

swamp wallaby The swamp wallaby (''Wallabia bicolor'') is a small macropod marsupial of eastern Australia. This wallaby is also commonly known as the black wallaby, with other names including black-tailed wallaby, fern wallaby, black pademelon, stinker (in Qu ...

(''Wallabia bicolor'') (mean adult weight around ), and even red kangaroo adults. They've been recorded attacking eastern grey kangaroos weighing over . In extreme cases, wedge-tailed eagles have killed kangaroos weighing approximately . In one case, a huge male eastern grey kangaroo, estimated to stand was successfully dispatched by a pair of wedge-tailed eagles.Fuentes, E., & Olsen, J. (2015). ''Observations of the killing of large macropods by Wedge-tailed Eagles Aquila audax''. Australian Field Ornithology, 32(3), 160–166. Furthermore, an adult female western grey kangaroo was witnessed to be killed "in a few minutes" by a hunting pair of wedge-tailed eagles, and the eagles are considered a serious predator of the western grey. In some unusual cases, wedge-tailed eagle hunting parties can form whilst hunting red kangaroos, sometimes including up to 15 eagles (more loose, opportunistic aggregations than well-organized

groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

), but usually only a pair is sufficient to kill such prey. Normally, the eagles repeatedly attack the kangaroo, sinking their talons into the back or nape and then fly up, when the second eagle starts doing the same. In some cases, as many as 123 attacks have been carried out against large kangaroos before they succumb. When attacking joeys, eagles may, in some cases, have intentionally caused a mother kangaroo to dislodge a joey from the pouch to capture and fly off with it. In addition, several smaller and more elusive macropods are taken including

tree-kangaroo Tree-kangaroos are marsupials of the genus ''Dendrolagus'', adapted for arboreal locomotion. They inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and far northeastern Queensland, Australia along with some of the islands in the region. All tree- ...

hare-wallabies ''Lagorchestes'' is a genus of small, rabbit-like mammals commonly known as hare-wallabies. It includes four species native to Australia and New Guinea, two of which are extinct. Hare-wallabies belong to the macropod family (Macropodidae) which i ...

nail-tail wallabies The nail-tail wallabies, of genus ''Onychogalea'', are three species of macropods, all found in Australia. Related to kangaroos and wallabies, they are smaller species distinguished by a horny spur at the end of their tail. The northern nail-ta ...

, rock-wallabies, dorcopsises and

pademelon Pademelons () are small marsupials in the genus ''Thylogale'', found in Australia, New Guinea, and surrounding islands. They are some of the smallest members of the macropod family, which includes the similar-looking but larger kangaroos and ...

s.Cherriman, S. C. (2013). ''Nest Sites, Breeding, Satellite Telemetry and Diet of the Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax at Lorna Glen, Western Australia''. Other marsupials are by no means neglected. In

, hare-wallabies and bettongs seem to form the central part of the diet. Another dietary favourite is the

common brushtail possum The common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula'', from the Ancient Greek, Greek for "furry tailed" and the Latin for "little fox", previously in the genus ''Phalangista'') is a nocturnal, semiarboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae ...

(''Trichosurus vulpecula''), weighing some , which was important supplemental prey in the

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

area and was the primary prey species on

, at 33% of the diet there. Around Perth, other small, nocturnal marsupials were taken in some numbers including

woylie The woylie or brush-tailed bettong (''Bettongia penicillata'') is a small, near threatened mammal native to forests and shrubland of Australia. A member of the rat-kangaroo family ( Potoroidae), it moves by hopping and is active at night, diggi ...

s (''Bettongia penicillata'') and

southern brown bandicoot The southern brown bandicoot (''Isoodon obesulus'') is a short-nosed bandicoot, a type of marsupial, found mostly in southern Australia. A subspecies in Western Australia is also known as the quenda in South Western Australia (from the Noongar ...

s (''Isoodon obesulus''). The

common ringtail possum The common ringtail possum (''Pseudocheirus peregrinus'', Greek for "false hand" and Latin for "pilgrim" or "alien") is an Australian marsupial. It lives in a variety of habitats and eats a variety of leaves of both native and introduced plants ...

(''Pseudocheirus peregrinus'') was the second most prominent prey species in the diet near

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, comprising 20.1% of the diet, with some numbers of common brushtails also taken there.

Long-nosed bandicoot The long-nosed bandicoot (''Perameles nasuta''), a marsupial, is a species of bandicoot found in eastern Australia, from north Queensland along the east coast to Victoria. Around long, it is sandy- or grey-brown with a long snouty nose. omnivor ...

s (''Perameles nasuta'') were regular supplemental prey in northeastern New South Wales.Harder, M. (2000). ''Diet and breeding biology of the Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax at three nests in northeastern New South Wales''. Corella, 24(1/2), 1–5. Other notable marsupials known to fall prey to wedge-tailed eagles include adults of the following:

koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...

s (''Phascolarctos cinereus''),

quokka The quokka (; ''Setonix brachyurus'') is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. It is the only member of the genus ''Setonix''. Like other marsupials in the macropod family (such as kangaroos and wallabies), the quokka is herbiv ...

s (''Setonix brachyurus''),

eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

(''Dasyurus viverrinus''),

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

(''Dasyurus geoffroii'') and

tiger quoll The tiger quoll (''Dasyurus maculatus''), also known as the spotted-tailed quoll, spotted quoll, spotted-tailed dasyure, or tiger cat, is a carnivorous marsupial of the quoll genus ''quoll, Dasyurus'' native to Australia. With males and female ...

s (''Dasyurus maculatus''),

Tasmanian devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii''; palawa kani: ''purinina'') is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now con ...

s (''Sarcophilus harrisii''), bilbies,

numbat The numbat (''Myrmecobius fasciatus''), also known as the noombat or walpurti, is an insectivorous marsupial. It is diurnal and its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. The species was once widespread across southern Australia, but i ...

s (''Myrmecobius fasciatus''),

common wombat The common wombat (''Vombatus ursinus''), also known as the bare-nosed wombat, is a marsupial, one of three extant species of wombats and the only one in the genus ''Vombatus''. It has three subspecies: ''Vombatus ursinus hirsutus'', found on the ...

s (''Vombatus ursinus''),

southern greater glider The southern greater glider (''Petauroides volans''), also known as the southern and central greater glider, is a species of large gliding marsupial native to the forests of southeastern Australia. It is a vulnerable species per the IUCN Red Li ...

s (''Petauroides volans'') and potoroos.O’Sullivan, T. (2014). ''Breeding behaviour and success of the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax fleayi)'' (Doctoral dissertation, University of Tasmania). With relative infrequency, other classes of mammals, beyond leporids and marsupials, may be taken opportunistically by wedge-tailed eagles. At least two species each of

flying foxes ''Pteropus'' (suborder Yinpterochiroptera) is a genus of megabats which are among the largest bats in the world. They are commonly known as fruit bats or flying foxes, among other colloquial names. They live in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Austr ...

and wattled bats are included in the prey spectrum. Occasionally, an eagle may take a

monotreme Monotremes () are mammals of the order Monotremata. They are the only group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live young. The extant monotreme species are the platypus and the four species of echidnas. Monotremes are typified ...

including both the

platypus The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypi ...

(''Ornithorhynchus anatinus'') and the

short-beaked echidna The short-beaked echidna (''Tachyglossus aculeatus''), also called the short-nosed echidna, is one of four living species of echidna, and the only member of the genus ''Tachyglossus'', from Ancient Greek (), meaning "fast", and (), meaning ...

(''Tachyglossus aculeatus''). Several species of

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

are readily taken and even the

house mouse The house mouse (''Mus musculus'') is a small mammal of the rodent family Muridae, characteristically having a pointed snout, large rounded ears, and a long and almost hairless tail. It is one of the most abundant species of the genus '' Mus''. A ...

(''Mus musculus''), likely the smallest mammalian prey known for wedge-tailed eagles at around in weight. Although rare, a

dingo The dingo (either included in the species ''Canis familiaris'', or considered one of the following independent taxa: ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage ...

(''Canis familiaris'') may be taken by a wedge-tailed eagle at times, mostly pups, or carrion but sometimes a pair of eagles can kill adults too. Beyond sheep, pigs, and infrequently young

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

s (''Capra hircus''), other ungulate prey, entirely introduced by man into the Australasian region, is eaten exclusively as carrion so far as is known, including

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

(''Bos taurus'' - despite claims that eagles have killed young calves, which is possible, they have only ever been witnessed feeding on afterbirths and not harming calves),

Javan rusa The Javan rusa or Sunda sambar (''Rusa timorensis'') is a large deer species native to Indonesia and East Timor. Introduced populations exist in a wide variety of locations in the Southern Hemisphere. ''Rusa'' is the Malay word for "deer" in ...

(''Rusa timorensis'') in New Guinea,

sambar deer The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent, South China and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe huntin ...

(''Rusa unicolor'') in northern

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

and

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also kept in Italy, the Balkans ...

(''Bubalus bubalis'') in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

.Corbett, L., Hertog, T., & Estbergs, J. (2014). ''Diet of 25 sympatric raptors at Kapalga, Northern Territory, Australia 1979–89, with data on prey availability''. Corella, 38, 81–94.Debus, S. J. S., & Rose, A. B. (1999). ''Notes on the diet of the wedge-tailed eagle Aquila audax''. Australian Bird Watcher, 18(1), 38–41. In one instance, a young girl was apparently subject to a brief attack by a wedge-tailed eagle, in what was likely an attempted act of predation, near her rural home but the attack was abandoned by the eagle. It has been noted that some different species of large eagles are thought to occasionally attack children as prey though, among extant species, only the

and

, both in Africa, are thought to have successfully carried out rare acts of predation on human children.

Birds

Birds take a clearly secondary position to mammals when importance and especially prey weight are concerned; however, the wedge-tailed eagle shows some fondness for avian prey. With more than 100 prey species included in the prey spectrum, birds are the most diverse class of prey taken by these eagles. Generally, the predation of birds seems to be highly opportunistic and no one type of bird reliably dominates the eagle's diet. However certain species, probably due to their commonality in eagle territories and perhaps vulnerability through their own behaviour that seem to be taken most often. These consist of ''

'' species, especially

little Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

(''Corvus mellori'') and

Australian raven The Australian raven (''Corvus coronoides'') is a passerine Corvidae, corvid bird native to Australia. Measuring in length, it has an all-black plumage, beak and mouth, as well as strong, greyish-black legs and feet. The upperparts of its body ...

s (''Corvus coronoides''), weighing a mean between species of around when taken,

Australian magpie The Australian magpie (''Gymnorhina tibicen'') is a black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea, and introduced to New Zealand, and the Fijian island of Taveuni. Although once considered to be three separate ...

s (''Gymnorhina tibicen''),

Australian wood duck The Australian wood duck, maned duck or maned goose (''Chenonetta jubata'') is a dabbling duck found throughout much of Australia. It is the only living species in the genus ''Chenonetta''. Traditionally placed in the subfamily Anatinae (dabbling ...

(''Chenonetta jubata''),

(''Eolophus roseicapilla''), larger

s and smaller parakeets and parrots.Dennis, T. E. (2006). ''Status and distribution of the Wedge-tailed Eagle on the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia, in 2005''. South Australian Ornithologist, 35(1/2), 38.Fulton, G. R. (2019). ''Additions to prey taken by Wedge-tailed Eagles' Aquila audax'after release of Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus haemorrhagic disease (Rabbit Calicivirus) in 1996''. Australian Field Ornithology, 36, 11–12. On Kangaroo Island, Australian and little ravens together constituted 19% of the diet. In Canberra, fairly prominent numbers of magpies, wood ducks, galahs and

(''Platycercus eximius'') and

crimson rosella The crimson rosella (''Platycercus elegans'') is a parrot native to eastern and south eastern Australia which has been introduced to New Zealand and Norfolk Island. It is commonly found in, but not restricted to, mountain forests and gardens. The ...

s (''Platycercus elegans'') are known to be taken, these collectively forming up to about 25% of the diet by number. In the Perth region, birds were taken amply, especially the Australian raven at 12.6% of prey remains and 4.7% of the biomass, with birds constituting just shy of 25% of the diet. Elsewhere in

, a similar percentage of the diet is made up of by birds, mostly the same species with some number of

Australian ringneck The Australian ringneck (''Barnardius zonarius'') is a parrot native to Australia. Except for extreme tropical and highland areas, the species has adapted to all conditions. Treatments of genus ''Barnardius'' have previously recognised two sp ...

s (''Barnardius zonarius'') and

Baudin's black cockatoo Baudin's black cockatoo (''Zanda baudinii''), also known as Baudin's cockatoo or the long-billed black cockatoo, is a species of genus '' Zanda'' found in southwest Australia. The epithet commemorates the French explorer Nicolas Baudin. It has a ...

s (''Zanda baudinii'') as well. Peculiarly, one study found that among a large sample of 1826 prey items in the

that the most often identified prey species was the tiny

budgerigar The budgerigar ( ; ''Melopsittacus undulatus''), also known as the common parakeet, shell parakeet or budgie ( ), is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot native to Australia. Naturally the species is green and yellow with black, scallop ...

(''Melopsittacus undulatus''), at one of the smallest avian prey species for this eagle. In a single study from the

Fleurieu Peninsula The Fleurieu Peninsula ( ; locally mainly ) is a peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia located south of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide. History Before British colonisation of South Australia, the western s ...

, birds were the majority of prey for wedge-tailed eagles, at 62.5%, mostly ''Corvus'' followed by wood duck, galah and magpies. Other assorted avian prey include several species of

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

, including several ducks as well as

swans Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...

and

geese A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...

, and a fairly strong frequency of attacks on large

rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters * Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fi ...

, such as swamphens, moorhens, native-hens and

coot Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usual ...

s. Additionally, wedge-tailed eagles may take Australian brush turkeys (''Alectura lathami'') and

malleefowl The malleefowl (''Leipoa ocellata'') is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken (to which it is distantly related). It is notable for the large nesting mounds constructed by the males and lack of parental ca ...

(''Leipoa ocellata''),

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

pigeon Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

s and

dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

frogmouth The frogmouths (Podargidae) are a group of nocturnal birds related to owlet-nightjars, swifts, and hummingbirds. Species in the group are distributed in the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. Biology They are named for their large flattened ...

s and

owlet-nightjar Owlet-nightjars are small crepuscular birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. Most are native to New Guinea, but some species extend to Australia, the Moluccas, and New Caledonia. A flightless species from New Zealand is extinct. There is ...

cuckoos Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

buttonquail Buttonquail or hemipodes are members of a small family of birds, Turnicidae, which resemble, but are not closely related to, the quails of Phasianidae. They inhabit warm grasslands in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australia. There are 18 species in ...

stilts Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground. In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, wav ...

plains-wanderer The plains-wanderer (''Pedionomus torquatus'') is an atypical species of wading bird, the only representative of family Pedionomidae and genus ''Pedionomus''. It is endemic to Australia. Its historic range included much of eastern Australia, i ...

s (''Pedionomus torquatus''), thick-knees,

gulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and Skimmer (bird), skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gul ...

petrels Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the phylogenetic order Procellariiformes. Description Petrels are a monophyletic group of marine seabirds, sharing a characteristic of a nostril arrangement that results in the name "tubenoses". Petrels enco ...

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...

ibis The ibis () (collective plural ibises; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

es and

spoonbills Spoonbills are a genus, ''Platalea'', of large, long-legged wading birds. The spoonbills have a global distribution, being found on every continent except Antarctica. The genus name ''Platalea'' derives from Ancient Greek and means "broad", refe ...

, cranes, other

kingfishers Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

honeyeater The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Gui ...

s, quail-thrushes,

whistlers Whistler may refer to: * Someone who whistles Places Canada * Whistler, British Columbia, a resort town ** Whistler railway station ** Whistler Secondary School * Whistler Blackcomb, a ski resort in British Columbia * Whistler Mountain, Bri ...

, monarch flycatchers, mudnesters, artamids, true thrushes, grass warblers,

starlings Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine (perching) birds known for the often dark, glossy iridescent sheen of their plumage; their complex vocalizations including mimicking; and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behavior, known ...

and pipits. The smallest avian prey attributed to wedge-tailed eagles is the

zebra finch The zebra finches are two species of estrildid finch in the genus ''Taeniopygia'' found in Australia and Indonesia. They are seed-eaters that travel in large flocks. Species The species are: Previously, both species were classified as ...

(''Taeniopygia guttata''). Particularly large birds are sometimes taken of a few species. When it comes to the

emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

(''Dromaius novaehollandiae''), Australia's tallest and second heaviest bird, wedge-tailed eagles normally attack the small young but are capable of attacking adult emus more than 10 times their own weight.Davies, S. J., & Bamford, M. (2002). ''Ratites and Tinamous: Tinamidae, Rheidae, Dromaiidae, Casuariidae, Apterygidae, Struthionidae''. Oxford University Press. Two estimates estimated the typical body mass of emus attacked were merely , respectively, against an average of for adult emu. As much as 4% of the diet of wedge-tailed eagles can consist of emu chicks. Some of Australia's largest flying birds are also included in the wedge-tailed eagle's prey spectrum. These include the

black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...

(''Cygnus atratus''), estimated to weigh when taken,

black-necked stork The black-necked stork (''Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus'') is a tall long-necked wading bird in the stork family. It is a resident species across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia with a disjunct population in Australia. It lives in wetla ...

(''Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus''), which weighs at least , and

brolga The brolga (''Antigone rubicunda''), formerly known as the native companion, is a bird in the crane (bird), crane family. It has also been given the name Australian crane, a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithology, ornithologist John Gou ...

(''Antigone rubicunda''), arguably Australia's largest resident flying species of bird at a mean of . An unusually close feeding association with a very large bird is with the

Australian bustard The Australian bustard (''Ardeotis australis'') is a large ground-dwelling bird that is common in grassland, woodland and open agricultural country across northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It stands at about high, and its wingspan is a ...

(''Ardeotis australis'') in northwestern

, where bustards were found to account for 13.4% of the pellet contents and 23% of prey biomass. That study calculated the mean weight of bustards taken as , indicating that the eagles were selectively predating the much larger male bustards.

Reptiles and other prey

When selecting reptiles as prey, wedge-tailed eagles by far are most likely to pursue

s. The range of lizards they may prey upon is highly diverse in size and nature, with somewhere between 20 and 30 species known in the prey spectrum.Cook, W. E. (1987). ''Amphibians and reptiles: predators and prey. Amphibians and birds. Bibliography of Herptological References in Australian Ornithological Journals''. Smithsonian Herptological Information Service, No. 71. The most preferred reptilian prey by far is

. Despite the small size of this prey relative to most mammalian prey, they can be key to survivorship in more arid vicinities such as central and western Australia where there is less diverse prey to pick from. In video monitored prey deliveries at

Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station The Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station is teaching and research facility, established by the UNSW Australia (UNSW), which is located in the Australian state of New South Wales. in Fowlers Gap in the far north-west of the state. The statio ...

central bearded dragon The central bearded dragon (''Pogona vitticeps''), also known as the inland bearded dragon, is a species of Agamidae, agamid lizard found in a wide range of arid to semiarid regions of eastern and central Australia. Taxonomy ''Pogona vitticeps' ...

s (''Pogona vitticeps'') dominated the prey composition, making up 68.2% of 110 prey deliveries and the only known instance of reptiles forming the bulk of wedge-tailed eagle diet. A different study from prey remains and pellets found the central bearded dragon to comprise 28.6% of the diet among 192 prey items. In south-central Queensland, the bearded dragon was the leading prey species by number, making up 26.9% of 729 prey items. In northeastern New South Wales, the

eastern bearded dragon The eastern bearded dragon (''Pogona barbata''), also known as common bearded dragon or simply bearded lizard, is an Agamidae, agamid lizard found in wooded parts of Australia. It is one of a group of species known commonly as Pogona, bearded drag ...

(''Pogona barbata'') was the second most numerous prey species behind the rabbit, at 16.6% of the diet. The bearded dragons when taken by wedge-tailed eagles have had an estimated body mass ranging from . They also prey on

jacky dragon The jacky dragon (''Amphibolurus muricatus'') is a type of lizard native to south-eastern Australia. Other common names include blood-sucker, stonewalker, and tree dragon. It was one of the first Australian reptiles to be named by Europeans, or ...

s. Larger lizards are readily taken as well given the opportunity.

Skink Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...

s are occasional supplemental prey, common blue-tongued skink (''Tiliqua scincoides'') at around can make up around 5% of the diet (in northeast New South Wales), while the Centralian blue-tongued skink (''Tiliqua multifasciata'') was quite prominent in the diet in the Northern Territory.Meiri, S. (2010). ''Length–weight allometries in lizards''. Journal of Zoology, 281(3), 218–226. In Western Australia, shingleback skink (''Tiliqua rugosa'') and somewhat smaller western blue-tongued skink (''Tiliqua occipitalis'') collectively comprised about 7.5% of the diet. Much bigger lizards are sometimes taken, namely

monitor lizard Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and West African Nile monitor, one species is also found in south America as an invasive species. A ...

s. Around 20% of the 231 prey items of in a Western Australian study was found to be monitor lizards, mostly yellow-spotted monitors (''Varanus panoptes'') with some

sand goanna The sand goanna (''Varanus gouldii)'', also known commonly as Gould's monitor, the racehorse goanna, and the sand monitor, is a species of large Australian monitor lizard in the family Varanidae. Taxonomy John Edward Gray described the specie ...

s (''Varanus gouldii''). Adult

Rosenberg's monitor The Rosenberg's monitor (''Varanus rosenbergi'') is an Australian species of varanid reptile found in southern regions of the continent. They are large and fast predators with rugged bodies and long tails, having a combined length up to 1.5 metr ...

s (''Varanus rosenbergi''), weighing around can be also taken. Even lace monitors (''Varanus varius''), which weighs on average adults, can be a prey for this powerful eagle. Contrarily, lizards down to the size of a pygmy spiny-tailed skink (''Egernia depressa'') and a

thorny devil The thorny devil (''Moloch horridus''), also known commonly as the mountain devil, thorny lizard, thorny dragon, and moloch, is a species of lizard in the family Agamidae. The species is endemic to Australia. It is the sole species in the ge ...

(''Moloch horridus'') may be taken. Beyond lizards, wedge-tailed eagles seldom seem to hunt other types of reptiles. They hunt a few species of

s, mostly venomous species, because they are prevalent in Australia. Snakes known to be included in the diet including

s (''Notechis scutatus''),

(''Pseudonaja textilis''),

(''Pseudonaja modesta''),

(''Vermicella annulata''),

(''Demansia psammophis''),

(''Pseudechis porphyriacus'') and

(''Boiga irregularis'').

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Description

Size

Identification

Vocalizations

Range and habitat

Habitat

Behaviour

Dietary biology

Prey spectrum

Mammals

=Introduced mammals

=Native mammals

Birds

Reptiles and other prey

Interspecific predatory relationships

Breeding

Territories and home ranges

Nests

Development of young and parental behaviour

Breeding success

Conservation status

Status in Tasmania

Iconography

References

Further reading

External links