Wedge-tailed Eagle – Russell Jenkins Stoop Files

Hall of the Mountain King

September 1, 2019August 17, 2023 by Russell Jenkins, posted in Australian Birds

Imagine standing high up on a mountain’s edge surrounded by giant old Bunya Pine trees. The wind gently bending the grass at your feet as you stare out into unending distant dream. No voices or traffic sounds, no vibrating phones. From far away you see something large and black cutting through the vast blue without effort. Thank you to Grieg for inspiring the name of the post.

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Aquila audax

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Aquila audax

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Aquila audax

Bunya Mountains

National Park

Bunya Mountains

National Park

On the Road

August 13, 2016 by Russell Jenkins, posted in Uncategorized

“Maisy”

Black-striped Wallaby

In the care of Judith and Brendon Gray

Jarowair, Queensland, Australia

Check their blogs Beyond Our Patch and Jarowair Our Patch

August 10, 2016

This spectacular little joey is a Black-striped Wallaby. Sadly, her mum was killed on the road, but she was rescued from her pouch and handed into care.

If you ever hit any kind of animal in Australia, it is good to check their condition. Of course, you mustn’t panic and only pull over when and where it is safe to do so. In the case of many marsupials, there is often young in their pouch so please try to check.

If you find anything injured or orphaned please hand it in to the nearest vet. They will be able to give it any medical care and hand it over to a trusted wildlife carer. Don’t try to look after wild animals yourself.

Black-striped Wallabies have a limited range and are only found in thick undergrowth of the western sides of the Great Dividing Range on eastern Australia.

Hopefully beautiful, little Maisy will be raised successfully and released back into suitable habitat.

Thank you to Judith Gray for introducing me to Maisy.

“Spirit”

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Queensland, Australia

Link: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

August 9, 2016

“Spirit” is a male Wedge-tailed Eagle in the care of Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. He is about 12 years old now but he has spent most of his life in the care of Lone Pine. Spirit is also a road victim. He is one of the stars of the raptor flight show but he is unable to fly due to a badly broken wing.

If you find any dead animals on the road it is good to remove them completely from the road. Pull them well to the side if you can. Eagles and other raptors are often hit when scavenging on the roads.

Recently, I have found other stories about wildlife victims on Australian roads. Check out this and read about Apollo.

Drive safely and care about the lives around you.

I hope you will thrill at seeing such animals roaming and flying free.

Wedgetail

May 10, 2016 by Russell Jenkins, posted in Uncategorized

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Lockyer Valley, Queensland, Australia

December 28, 2015

Here are some wedgetail pics from the Lockyer Valley at the end of last year. I often seem to get good wedgtail encounters when birding with Rod Hobson.

The photos were with my D800 and are only lightly cropped then massively reduced for web. I like the large results for my full-frame master. I’m very interested in the new D500 though. I can get 10 frames per second compared to just 4 with this camera and be even closer with the same lens. I wonder how the results will compare?

Bold Eagle

November 3, 2014 by Russell Jenkins, posted in Uncategorized

Wedge-tailed Eagle

and Australian Magpie

I think near Goombungee, Queensland, Australia

August 31, 2014

Well, dare I say; today is my 50th, so to celebrate here is one of my most favouritest subjects. These pics were taken on a drive with Rod Hobson back on August 31. They were taken at 7am and my iso was too low, so I messed up a little. Actually we met up with two young “wedgies”, a male and his sister. This is the male. It was still a wonderful encounter.

Thank you, Rod.

coffee, cake, and eagle

May 25, 2014 by Russell Jenkins, posted in Uncategorized

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Preston Peak Wines, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

January 8, 2014

We enjoyed coffee and cake at Preston Peak Wines on the last day of my last visit to Australia and this was the flight show just outside the window of the cafe.

Sad to hear the cafe is now closed. It was a nice farewell.

Gabrielle of Healesville

April 29, 2014 by Russell Jenkins, posted in Uncategorized

Gabrielle

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria, Australia

1992

April, 29 2014 Russell wrote:

This Wedge-tailed Eagle was the star of the “flight show” at Healesville Sanctuary, in Victoria in 1992. I believe her name was Gabrielle. I recall she was just a couple of years old in this photo. She was found as a chick playing with children in a city park in Melbourne. It seemed that someone had collected her from a nest and tried to make a pet of her but had let her go.

I remember she was magnificent in the flight show and she really loved her handler, almost seen in the photo. I studied her combing his hair in her mighty bill and she was quite protective of him.

This photograph was taken with my Pentax K1000 and Sigma, I think 70-250mm lens, with Kodachrome 200. I found this file on a Kodak Photo CD that was created on May 13, 1999. I found the CD recently but couldn’t open the files until a remembered an old computer with and old version of photoshop. It worked well and opened an old chest of treasures for me. It’s worth keeping our old computers.

This photo also reminds me of my first ever computer ($3000+ with 6 Gigabyte hard-drive and 128mb RAM) and first efforts with photo editing software. The first thing I wanted to do was edit the human out of the picture. Interesting after 22 years, I am happy to leave it as is.

*I tried Googling Gabrielle to see where she ended up but found nothing. I also emailed Healesville Sanctuary but didn’t get a reply. If you know more about this eagle, I’d be most grateful to learn. Thank you. * PLEASE SEE UPDATE BELOW.

(Also my book “Big Eagles Japan” is now available at Russell’s Eagle Book at Amazon)

May 1, 2014: UPDATE:

Thank you to everyone who has visited and commented on this post. I’m very grateful to Healesville Sanctuary for replying to my recent email and confirming that the eagle’s name was “Gabrielle”.

Gabrielle was transferred from Healesville Sanctuary to Taronga Zoo where she passed away peacefully of natural causes.

I’m sure that in her time at both sanctuaries, she inspired many crowds to look up for eagles in their daily lives. I can imagine the “Oohs” and “Aahs” and amazed faces privileged to see her and her wild kin.

Thank you also to Jenelle for feedback which gave me good advice and led me to sending another email. I think my first one was to a wrong address.

For anyone interested in visiting Healesville Sanctuary, I recommend it and you can check out their webpage: Healesville Sanctuary

NEW (UPDATED May 6, 2014):

I received the following email, on May 2, 2014, from Brendan of Taronga Zoo:

Hi Russell,

I just read your blog after having your email forwarded to me this afternoon. Great stuff!

Since you’ve updated your April blog I see you’ve been given the correct information that Gabby was transferred to Taronga Zoo a number of years ago, and then did sadly pass away. I had the extreme pleasure of working with Gabrielle, along with the rest of our team for a number of years. Gabrielle flew in our 12PM Bird Show and was by far a highlight.

Seeing your photo from 1992 and reading your blog I have found to be very touching. It fills me with pride to think of how Gabrielle, and the other animals we work with, have the ability to touch the lives of so many.

If you have any specific questions please do not hesitate to contact me to ask.

Sincerely,

Brendan Mark Host

Bird Show Keeper

Thank you, Brendan and Taronga Zoo.

NEW May 12, Update:

Brendan kindly replied to some of my questions about Gabrielle:

Hi Russell,

….

Regarding your first question, Gabby sadly passed away in 2008 at approximately 20 years of age. Gabrielle arrived at Taronga in 2006, and flew in our show for just under two years. We thought very highly of her.

Regarding where she was found, to the best of our knowledge she was found in a park in Melbourne, at least this was the information passed onto us. She was thought to be 3-4 years of age when she was rescued. This was only a guess as she appeared to be young, but not first year. It was reasoned that she may have been a rehabbed bird that proved unsuccessful.

I know what you mean. I feel very privileged to work so closely to these birds, and value the relationships myself and my teammates get to build with them. It is very humbling. We are currently training some other eagles we hope to introduce to the show later in the year.

Sincerely,

Brendan Mark Host

Bird Show Keeper

Many Thanks, Brendan!

Mt Mowbullan

June 15, 2013 by Russell Jenkins, posted in Uncategorized

View from Mount Mowbullan

Bunya Mountains National Park, Queensland, Australia

April 2, 2013

I remember getting out of the car and running around here when I was a kid…. (On a cold, windy August afternoon) I seem to visit the same spot every couple of years or so. Maybe this time, it was four years in-between…

If you stop there, you have to get out and look at the horizon. After a few minutes, somebody else will stop and do the same.

It is the highest peak (About 1100 metres) of the Bunya Mountains National Park. A beautiful place boasting the world’s biggest collection of Bunya Pines.

young Wedge-tailed Eagle

I was very excited to see the Bunyas had gotten a new eagle.
I saw her about the place with two mature black adults but she was pale and very new.

Into the sun…

Above and below:
The same view photographed in March, 2006 with Pentax Optio

March, 2006

Grey Goshawk at Mt Mowbullan …

Maybe 2002! Old scan from slide film.

Camera: Pentax Z-1 with Pentax smc ED 400mm f5.6