On
my way down to Margaret River today, I was driving through the Jandakot
area when a shape caught my attention. It was a dark shape, high in a
power pylon a few hundred metres from the road. I pulled over to look,
and noticed another similar shape in the next pylon along. After
inspecting the shapes with binoculars, I realised they were large bird
nests, and my gut told me the culprit was an Osprey. These marine
raptors readily habituate and nest on man-made structures, and I had
seen this many times before. But there was no water nearby - the nests
were in the middle of Banksia woodland! Could it be a wedge-tailed
eagle?
In
other parts of Australia there have been records of wedgies nesting on
pylons, windmills and other artificial structures, but it is a rare
occurrence. During my studies of eagles in Perth for the last 10+ years,
I had always known wedgies to nest only in trees, well away from any
road or building. But these nests certainly looked like eagle to me.
