Rapt(or) fascination

On the south side of Bare Bluff, the next beach down which is part of the Moonee Beach Nature Reserve, three White-bellied sea eagles were in no way uncertain who are the masters of the beach, and who the visitor.

Haliaeetus leucogaster (that's the ten-buck name for this beauty), ranges wide in coastal areas. You can find them in other places, like South-East Asia, China and India, and they're still a common sight in coastal and hinterland areas of Australia where they command territories of up to about 150 square kilometres. Often you'll watch them soaring overhead on a propitious breeze, when they will wheel off at high speed inland.

I was beneath these three, watching with rapt (or should that be raptor?) attention as they sat motionless on the wind, a feat only superseded in wonderment by their ability to fly into the strong sou'-easter. Then, as one, they wheeled off to the crags of Bare Bluff.

Having been standing in awe, head directed upwards, for some minutes, I continued on my flaneur along the deserted beach, stopping here to observe a Ghost crab nest, and there to roll a driftwood tree trunk with my foot, when what looked like the Mother of All Sea Eagles came into view from the south-east, and flew onto the bluff. The pure whiteness of its underbelly and contrasting blackness of its wings was a beautiful sight as such close quarters.

I don't know where their nest is, but I imagine it would be a sight to behold. These birds make nests of sticks that can be wider than I am tall. It's probably on a tall tree somewhere (less likely, on a rocky crag), and not necessarily anywhere near Sandy, such is the range of these magnificent masters of the sky.

In my last two posts I mentioned John Gould, after whom I have named my pet Gouldian finch. The painting here today is one by the Great English naturalist. And here's a photo by the eminent Australian wildlife photographer, Greg Holland (g'day Greg ... long time), of a White-bellied sea eagle carrying a sea snake.

By the way, North American readers might be interested to know that H leucogaster has a few cousins, one of whom is none other than H leucocephalus, the Bald eagle of USA iconography fame, a magnificent creature that people are helping to bring back from the brink of extinction.