The Wedge-tailed Eagle is a very large type of raptor found in Australia and New Guinea. The species is the largest bird of prey found in Australia. It is also known as the Eaglehawk.
The Wedge-tailed Eagle is named for its uniquely-shaped wedge tail. It can be recognized by this feature, its very large size, and by its fully-feathered legs.
Wedge-tailed Eagles are opportunistic predators, with a wide variety of prey items. They have been known to hunt rabbits and other introduced species of mammal, as well as wallabies, kangaroos, koalas, bandicoots, and more. Wedge-tailed Eagles will also readily feed on carrion when it is available.
Conservation
The Wedge-tailed Eagle is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.