Published on Sep 16, 2014 by 1998liberty
Thanks to Cathy Cook - here is the interview Judy did with 2UE Monday 15th September

Beautiful video from 1998liberty.

From EagleCam

A Preliminary Report on the Death of the young White-bellied Sea-Eagle SE-13

The White-bellied Sea-Eagle chick (SE-13) died prematurely on the nest on the afternoon of 12 September 2014 at the age of 30 days. After all appropriate approvals the body was recovered from the nest on the following morning and was transported to the Animal Referral Hospital (ARH) at Homebush NSW for a necropsy. The death of Sea-Eagle chick SE-13 was most likely due to an unfortunate set of natural circumstances.

The dead eaglet was very thin and dehydrated when removed from the nest. There were no signs of a fish hook or similar foreign body causing injury. A large lesion or growth was found obstructing the oesophagus and blocking the passage of food. We are waiting for confirmation from analysis of the lesion and other body parts, though the signs appear to indicate Trichomoniasis. This is a disease of birds caused by a protozoan parasite - and is a common disease of pigeons and other birds in the wild. This has possibly been passed to the chick in a pigeon brought as prey. Several pigeons were brought to the nest in the early stages, as well as a few other birds. Their main prey during these early weeks has been several species of fish as in the past.

Many days of heavy rain may also have contributed to the condition of the eaglet, leaving it in a weakened condition and more likely to succumb to disease.

Tissue samples have also been taken for toxicological analysis - this may take several weeks. It will be worth investigating to see if this shows similar levels of Persistent Organic Pesticides as found in the unhatched egg last year and in the bodies of adult birds tested in past years.

The unhatched egg was x-rayed and revealed an under-developed embryo, indicating that the egg had been fertilised, unlike the eggs from the previous breeding season.

The EagleCAM research team would like to thank all of our supporters for your continuing interest and generous support for our project. Our findings will contribute to knowledge vital for the conservation of this magnificent species as well as other raptors in the wild.