I have just driven Wentworth – Broken Hill – Adelaide. Between Wentworth & Broken Hill, I recorded one Wedge-tailed Eagle despite an enormous number of road kill (mostly kangaroo/wallaby plus a few emu and goat). In a 20km section towards the Broken Hill end I counted 165 road kill (I then stopped counting as it was too depressing). Today, on the road from Broken Hill to Adelaide I recorded one (+ one dead) Wedge-tailed Eagle; this compares with 35 I recorded in the same area in July 2016. There was an enormous number of road kill on the road which attracted many hundreds of corvids (by far the most numerous bird of the trip), several dozen Black Kite, a few Whistling Kite but very few Wedge-tailed. Has anyone else noticed this apparent dramatic Wedge-tailed Eagle decline in the wider Broken Hill area (or elsewhere) and if so why?
Also, I wonder what our overseas tourists think when they experience so much blood and guts all over the road – but I guess that is a separate issue.
Bob Sothman Adelaide
