Wedge-tailed eagles on roadkill.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Wedge-tailed eagles on roadkill.

Happy Camper · Senior Member

GD: - I've noticed the wedge tails will usually stay with the road kill unless you slow down or stop to take a picture, then they get flustered and take off.
If the drivers who hit the road kill animal (if possible) could drag it off over to the side of the road it would help save a lot of wedge tails.
Crows & kites seem fairly traffic wise.
I always find the worst birds to deal with are emu's.
They don't use logic & your never sure which direction there going to turn next.
Cheers, -John

MOLLUSCAN · Senior Member

Really agree with you Happy Camper.

We are just back from a 2 week trip to try some gravel roads and free camps with our new van. Sydney, Molong CP, Nyngan Riverside, Carrs Rest Area (Barrier Hwy), White Cliffs, Tiboorburra, Broken Hill then home via Meadow Glen rest area and Narromine CP.

Lots of road kill mostly kangaroo but emu, pigs, eagles, goats, sheep and even a cow.

There were also lots of live emu and they caused us the most worry, they are completely unpredictable, I am temped to say they are stupid. They will run towards cars more often than away from them. We had a few close shaves.

We loved the 2 free camps and hope to do that more often. Our children are not happy and worry about us but I felt no nervousness at all. After a lovely night at Meadow Glen we booked into Narromine next to the airstrip where we have stayed before. Terrible! $40 for a powered site in a paddock!

Can't wait now for September when we are off again, this time to 1770 and home via central Queensland.

Cheers,

Margaret

roadtourer · Senior Member

Gerty i hope your other half is ok i know how upset i would be to kill such a majestic bird!
Good advice i must say from John will have to remember that when we travel too.
Best of luck on your journey tho.

The Hats · Senior Member

Here is a tip about wedgtailes.

As they are a huge bird they more often than not they will take off into the wind the same as a plane when in Wedgtail country be aware of the wind direction.

EG let use the Eyre highway as an example the road is basically east west.So if you have a head wind or tail wind the is a better than 90% chance that the old

wegie will take off directly towards you or directly away from you but in the same line. So be vigilant Likewise if you have a side wind he will most likely takeoff At a right angle to the road or close to it. but also be aware the if you are traveling west and the road kill is on the right hand verge and there is a southerly blowing he has a better that even chance of flying south straight across your bow, I have seen more than a few cleaned up flying across the road. I have also lost a few mates over the years that have the wedgie come through the windscreen not pretty.

If there is no wind well best of luck biggrin

Cheers

The HAts

-- Edited by The Hats on Tuesday 19th of August 2014 10:14:39 AM

Vic41 · Guru

Thanks for the tips Hats, I was reading about them on Wiki and saw these comments;

Snip..... "The wedge-tailed eagle is the only bird that has a reputation for attacking hang gliders and paragliders (presumably defending its territory). There are recorded cases of the birds damaging the fabric of these gliders with their talons.".....snip...

Travelling into Uluru one took off from road kill and flew into the front of my vehicle, bouncing off the top of the windscreen, up and over.

I stopped but it was nowhere to be seen, presumably it had survived or fell into the surrounding bush.

On another occasion I was in the Roadhouse driveway at Eucla and a large tourist bus pulled in with a wedge-tail wedged in behind the bull bar on the bus. The driver got out and was trying to get it out when it came to and flew off into the distance.

On a recent trip on the road between Carnarvon and Gascoyne Junction there were quite a number either at the side of the road eating roadkill or perched in trees near the road (now two way bitumen - 171 kms between the two towns).

Someone once told me that the reason some are so slow to take off is they sink their talons into the road kill and can't release their claws quickly, don't know if that is true though.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Thanks for all the replies, and yes we will keep an eye on wind direction in future as we still have a developmental road or two to travel. And yes, having also hit an emu, they are very unpredictable too.
Even worse than hitting an eagle is having it come through the windscreen ... scary!

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Snapped this close shave a few years back.

It is never worth risking an accident to miss wildlife.

Slow down, but don't brake hard or swerve.

Cheers,
Peter

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Tuesday 19th of August 2014 06:18:44 PM

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Tuesday 19th of August 2014 06:20:35 PM

GaryKelly · Guru

I uploaded a wonderful short story about an injured eagle rescued by a volunteer wildlife carer. Click here for the page.

delapan · Senior Member

The reason that they take off late from road kill is the fact that once on the kill the talons lock into place and they can't simply let go, they have to disengage the "lock" before they can take flight, so us travelling towards them at a great rate of knots can have an unhappy ending for both....

Dunmowin · Guru

We recently attended the birds of prey show at Territory Wildlife Park at Berry Springs, near Darwin. Whilst talking about kites and eagles, and asked that if we see them feeding on the road as we approach, that we toot our horn to give them more notice that we are "arriving" Since doing that, we have noticed that the distance between us and them when they take off has increased.

Santa · Guru

Hit the horn and slow down, have driven in the outback most of my working life and have yet to hit a Wedgey, there are certainly plenty of them South of Longreach now feeding on road kill. smile

Philw · Senior Member

Yes. Agree. Hit the horn, slow down and you have longer approach time. Plus if possible, pulling a dead animal off the road, means that the feeding is occurring out of danger. Too many drivers hit a roo and just drive on and leave it on the road. Plus if it has a joey unharmed in the pouch then it suffers a horrible death as crows etc pick out eyes and disembowl it. Sorry. But these are the facts. Check the anumal and if it has a joey, place it in a pillow case and find a carer. There are plenty around.

Legendts · Senior Member

The northern end of the Goldfields Highway was very bad for road kill and Wedge Tailed eagles when I drove that road several years ago. I well remember coming around a slow bend withe three eagles on a road kill right in the middle of my lane and just managed to slow down enough and only just missed the last one taking off. We were eye balling each other out my windscreen and then the side window, bloody hell they are BIG and I was in a 100 series cruiser that day. Do not want a repeat of that!

Blue · Senior Member

I have a couple of rules to increase my chances of not hitting animals on the roads...

1: Toot the horn whenever approaching RK with birds on them, in fact, if there's animals on the road full stop I toot the horn and move them on.. sometimes it takes a few beeps

2: only travel during daylight hours..

simples :)

-- Edited by Blue on Monday 25th of August 2014 07:49:04 PM

Santa · Guru

Blue wrote:
I have a couple of rules to increase my chances of not hitting animals on the roads...

1: Toot the horn whenever approaching RK with birds on them, in fact, if there's animals on the road full stop I toot the horn and move them on.. sometimes it takes a few beeps

2: only travel during daylight hours..

simples :)

-- Edited by Blue on Monday 25th of August 2014 07:49:04 PM

I would suggest making slow down rule number one followed by the other two. wink

Blue · Senior Member

Santa wrote:
Blue wrote:
I have a couple of rules to increase my chances of not hitting animals on the roads...

1: Toot the horn whenever approaching RK with birds on them, in fact, if there's animals on the road full stop I toot the horn and move them on.. sometimes it takes a few beeps

2: only travel during daylight hours..

simples :)

-- Edited by Blue on Monday 25th of August 2014 07:49:04 PM
I would suggest making slow down rule number one followed by the other two.

most of the time they are gone before we get to them..

otherwise they get my Angry Toot... furious

biggrin