A white-breasted sea eagle in Tasmania

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While in Tasmania we were lucky enough to go on several boat trips. One was out of Port Arthur, a former penal settlement on the east coast. We were fortunate enough to see a white-breasted sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) sitting near its nest. The skipper, who was West Australian and came from a small country town that we knew well, said the pair nested there each year. These birds can be found from India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to Australia. It breeds and hunts near water. It is not globally endangered but is classed as ‘vulnerable' in South Australia and Tasmania. The adult has a white head breast, tail and under-wing coverts. They have a short, wedge-shaped tail. Young birds have brown feathering which gradually becomes white over five or six years.