Wedge-tailed Eagle Research Fund

Background

Despite sharing the same name, Tasmania’s Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax fleayi) is considered to be a separate sub-species to Australia’s mainland population. While their situation is relatively secure in mainland Australia, the state of Tasmania’s population is more precarious. Listed as Endangered under both the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, current population estimates are around 1,000 adult birds.

Threats to Wedge-tailed Eagles include loss of habitat (particularly nesting habitat) and mortalities from interacting with the human world – including their active removal by shooting, trapping or poisoning; collisions with powerlines, vehicles, fences and wind turbines; electrocution on powerlines; secondary poisoning from lead and rodenticides, entanglement and pollution.

There is a lot that is still not understood about Tasmania’s Wedge-tailed Eagles in Tasmania, and NRM South is addressing some of these knowledge gaps via the Wedge-Tailed Eagle (WTE) Offset Fund for Cattle Hill Wind Farm. This fund is supporting high quality ecological or other relevant scientific research on Tasmania’s Wedge-tailed Eagles, the results of which will assist with the management and protection of the sub-species.

This Research Fund was established as an offset requirement for the Cattle Hill Wind Farm, formerly owned by the Power China Group/ Goldwind Group and now owned by Atmos Renewables (as of 2025).

Research Projects

Projects funded and now complete:

• 2020: Investigating the spatial ecology and habitat use of the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle in unmodified landscapes using high-frequency GPS telemetry (Cameron, Pay, Katzner, Koch, Wiersma).
• 2021: Estimating the population size of the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax fleayi) using modern genetic techniques (Stojanovic, Cistern, Pay, Burridge, Young, Clarke and Butler).
• 2021: Monitoring wedge-tailed eagle population trends (Hawkins and Potts). Analysis of the Where Where Wedgie data
• 2022: Investigating the spatial ecology and habitat use of Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles in the Tasmanian Midlands using high-frequency GPS telemetry (Pay, Koch, Cameron, Wiersma, Katzner)
• 2023: Comprehensive analysis of the ecotoxin threat to Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagles (Aquila audax fleayi) (Stojanovic)
• 2025: Characterising the demographic history and evolutionary trajectory of Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles using whole genomic sequencing (Ahrrens, Miller, Burridge, Weeks).

Projects underway:

• 2024: How is TWTE habitat selection affected by human activities and land-use intensity? PhD stipend University of Tasmania (Pay et al).
• 2025: Making the surveys count: an innovative approach to convert relative abundance data to a population estimate for the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle, through direct measurement of detectability (Pay, Johnson, Zhang, Hawkins, Potts). Underway.

As of end 2025, a total of $614,337 has been awarded for Tas WTE research by the Fund.

Independent Technical Advisory Committee

An independent Technical Advisory Committee has been appointed to oversee the Fund. They will decide which projects are supported by the Fund and monitor progress of the projects that have been supported. This committee is comprised of the following members:

• Dr Sarah Munks (independent member)
• Dr Phil Bell (independent member)
• Dr Ivan Lawler (Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment)
• Dr Davina Gregory-Dunsmuir (NRE Tas)
• Dr Cindy Hull, Chair (NRM South)

Achievements to Date

• Produce an Annual report and provide 6 monthly updates to the funding body.
• Provide a grant round each year, the next is expected during 2026.

As of early 2025, a total of $614,337 has been awarded for Tas WTE research by the Fund.