Saturday 6 March 2010

White-bellied Sea-Eagle & Flying Foxes

This juvenile White-bellied Sea-Eagle was soaring over our local Flying Fox colony while we were undertaking a count recently. Three other raptor species have been observed at this roost site over the years - Whistling Kite, Grey Goshawk & Pacific Baza.

Have included a little about our Flying Fox colony for general information.

Click on photos to enlarge

White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)

Black Flying Fox (Pteropus alecto)
The Black Flying Fox undertakes seasonal movements from one camp site to another in search of food (native and exotic fruit). No long distance movements have been recorded in this Flying Fox.

Little Red Flying Fox (Pteropus scapulatus)

Grey-headed Flying Fox can travel further than the Black up to 40km a night in search of food (fruit). They range from Victoria to Bundaberg in Queensland.

Little Red Flying Fox (Pteropus scapulatus)
Little Red Flying Fox are nectar feeders, their movements determined by food supply.

Little Red Flying Fox (typical roosting behaviour)

Part of the Flying Fox colony. With the Little Reds in residence the numbers can be up to and above 300,000. Some colonies to the north of us can reach up to 2 million.

18 comments:

mick said...

Great photo of the Sea Eagle.

Johnny Nutcase said...

that's sooo cool! I love the bats, hope to see that species some day, great pictures! the flight shot of the eagle is pretty nice too :) great post!

Neil said...

Thanks Mick & Johnny

Bob Kaufman said...

Neil, we have these creatures (sea eagle and flying foxes) in the Philippines. Hopefully I will be able to photograph them as well. Awesome shots, by the way.

Neil said...

Thanks Bob

Lana Gramlich said...

That eagle shot's spectacular! Thanks for sharing your bats, too.

eileeninmd said...

Cool shot of the Sea Eagle! Would love to see it some day. Neat shots of the bats.

Phil Slade said...

Those bats are a bit spooky but nice to see. Love the eagle too.

Neil said...

Thanks Lana, Eileen and Phil.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love the bats, too! But I'm curious - are the raptors there because they prey on the bats? or for some other reason?

Larry said...

Beautiful shot of the Sea Eagle Neil but those bats are truly magnificent! Wow! I would love to see those roosting sites. Thanks for sharing those along with the eagle.

Unknown said...

Lucky you to catch the Sea eagle, he looks majestic!
And those Flying Foxes must be a great sight to see as well!

NatureFootstep said...

eagles is always great to see. But the flyiong foxes was cool. Nice of you to share. :)

Neil said...

Thanks Wren, Larry, Nicole & Nature Footstep for your comments
The Sea-Eagle sometimes take the Flying Foxes we have seen this on one occasion and the Mary River is not far from this camp.

Maria Berg said...

I have only seen one flying fox and that was in Utha 17 yeas ago..
MB

Neil said...

Thanks Maria.

Unknown said...

Lovely photos, well done, it's nice to see more bat photos on the web!I think the shot that's tagged as grey-headed flying-foxes are actually little reds. The legs are a giveaway, greys have hair all the way down to their ankles.

Neil said...

Thanks Nick will fix it up.