Tasmanian researchers have been tracing the movements of 25 young wedge-tailed eagles to gain insights into the endangered species. They have found many stick closer to home for longer than they first thought. Including one, dubbed ‘Ernie’, who simply did not want to leave the nest.
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00:00When it comes to flying the nest, everyone goes at their own pace.
00:08And then there's Ernie the Eagle.
00:10We have other birds that are travelling 8,000 kilometres in a year, or even 200 kilometres
00:16in a day, and Ernie just stayed on Maraira Island.
00:19Since 2017, a team of researchers from the University of Tasmania has been using GPS
00:25tracking to monitor the behaviours of 25 wedgies, starting shortly after their birth.
00:31Previously it was thought that the birds left their parents' territory about five months
00:36after fledging.
00:37Turns out it's much longer than that, normally around a year.
00:40But a bird dubbed Ernie, who was born on Maraira Island, took that to another level.
00:46He stayed in his parents' territory for more than 19 months, and then on Maraira for
00:51another two and a half years.
00:54Researchers think there's a pretty key factor coming into play here.
00:57Ernie is the only bird in the study born on Maraira Island, and the only bird that had
01:01to cross a large body of water to fly the coop, which they don't like to do.
01:07So that four to five kilometre gap between Maraira Island and mainland Tasmania was a
01:11bit daunting for him probably.
01:12The team says the research isn't about shaming Ernie for being a homebody.
01:17They say the study's insights are crucial in helping protect the endangered species.
01:22They've got a number of different threats that they're subject to, so a lot of our work
01:26here at UTAS is studying their flight behaviour so that we can predict where they're likely
01:31to go and then come up with ideas to try and mitigate these causes of death.
01:37Ernie, now six years old, is currently stretching his wings on the Tasman Peninsula.
01:42But since his maiden voyage, he's returned to Maraira Island three times, proving there's
01:48no place like home.