Eagle-eyed supporters sought for large scale survey of Tasmania’s birds of prey

A NEW crowd-funding campaign is aiming to raise money for the biggest ever survey of Tasmania’s birds of prey.

A NEW crowd-funding campaign is aiming to raise money for the biggest ever survey of Tasmania’s birds of prey.

The Bookend Trust’s “Where Where Wedgie” campaign aims to share the joy and science of Tasmania’s birds of prey — with a special focus on the state’s wedge-tailed eagles — with the public.

It will culminate in a survey of the species involving people of all ages across Tasmania at the end of May to obtain baseline data on how the endangered species is tracking.

The Bookend Trust is hoping to raise $20,000 on crowd-funding website Pozible by March 8, which would enable it to deliver at least 18 workshops across the state.

A wedge-tailed eagle which was rescued from a rabbit trap on a property at Margate.

The workshops will explain to adults what is required from survey participants and how to do it, while the Department of Education is funding the schools component of the campaign.

Assessments in previous decades have indicated the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle population is declining and made up of fewer than 1000 adult birds.

Bookend Trust citizen science co-ordinator Clare Hawkins said the current number was a mystery, but the survey would paint a clearer picture.

“Nothing like this has ever been done for birds of prey in Tasmania,” Dr Hawkins said.

“We’ve had a few specialists driving along roads, but this is something that will involve a great many more people and we hope we will get really high quality data.

“The quality of the survey completely depends on the number of people we get doing the work. The more people we get out scattered across Tasmania, the better impression we have about what is happening across the whole state.”

Dr Hawkins hopes the survey will become an annual event.

To donate, visit pozible.com/project/where-where-wedgie-for-grown-ups.

Raptor Refuge founder Craig Webb ready to release a wedge-tailed eagle, fully rehabilitated after sustaining soft tissue damage caused by hitting overhead power lines Picture: KIM EISZELE