At 3. 50 pm we climbed back into the warmth of the 4WDs and began the drive back down from the Stokes Hill lookout.
At 3. 51 pm we suddenly had very good reason to stop the vehicles, to brave the wintry gusts, and take careful aim with all available binoculars and cameras.
Elevated places are always the best vantage points for humans who like to observe raptors in flight.
The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia’s most massive raptor, and the most widespread.
An Individual wedge-tail can cover astonishingly huge distances – thousands of kilometres, across very different latitudes and climes – within a single year. (or a deal less than a full year)
No two “world‘s biggest eagles” lists agree with each other, and there are a whole lot of different measurement criteria. (mass/body length/wingspan/shoulder height…)
If wingspan is your preferred criterion, and you accept this list’s claims, the “wedgie” could be “numero uno”!
You can see more photos of our Stokes Hill wedge-tail encounter, here.
This memorable winter’s day had one remaining “key moment”, before our return to the cosy embrace of Wilpena Resort…
Comments