Trackers reveal where eagles dare

A Perth environmental biologist will share his pioneering research on Australia’s largest bird of prey during a popular bird festival next week.

Simon Cherriman is a keynote speaker at the South Coast Festival of Birds symposium in Albany on March 11.

The festival runs throughout March and aims to promote an appreciation of the region’s unique avian life.

In June 2013, Mr Cherriman fulfilled a long-held dream of fitting a wedge-tailed eagle with a solar-powered GPS satellite transmitter.

“No one has ever done that before,” he said.

“I started dreaming about it as a kid … people were doing it with other large species of eagles in other parts of the world.”

Mr Cherriman has tracked the five-year-old adult male, nicknamed Wallu, and other tagged wedge-tailed eagles across part of the Western Desert, about 950km north-east of Perth, and the Perth hills.

He said daily data on the birds’ location, height, speed and direction provided valuable insights into the species’ biology and dispersal between leaving their nests as juveniles and breeding.

Winthrop Professor Steve Hopper and Emeritus Professor John Pate will also speak at the symposium.

Festival co-ordinator Basil Schur said the festival’s program and popularity had grown since its inception and it was not just for bird lovers.

Visit www.birdfestival.greenskills.org.au for more information.