Haliaeetus leucogaster

White-bellied Sea-Eagle at Cleveland, QLD

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Identification history

	Haliaeetus leucogaster	28 Jul 2023	MatthewFrawley
	Haliaeetus leucogaster	28 Jul 2023	TimL

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User's notes

The sequence of images in this and previous sighting 4501864 are an observation of the behaviour of two White-bellied Sea Eagles seen as the tide receded across the bay. The images are not the best as this occurred some distance away on an overcast day. One smaller eagle had caught a fish and was with it on the mud flat at the water’s edge. A second larger eagle was seen circling in a thermal above adjacent houses at least 1km away. The second eagle entered a long and very fast gliding dive towards the shoreline and the first eagle and suddenly turned and swooped the first eagle, sending it into the air but failing to pick up the fish. The second larger eagle did a tight turn in the air, landed on the shoreline and retrieved the fish. It then took off with the fish to be harassed constantly by the smaller eagle, with many aerial attacks from above the larger eagle. This carried on until the eagles flew over the adjacent houses and we lost sight of them. The sequence of images in this sighting shows the second part of this observation. The first part is shown in previous sighting 4501864. Thanks to Barbara for the initial sighting of the larger eagle.