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The wedge-tailed eagle (''Aquila audax''), sometimes known as the eaglehawk, is the largest bird of prey in Australia, and is also found in southern New Guinea, part of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. It has long, fairly broad wings, fully feathered legs, and an unmistakable wedge-shaped tail. Because of both its tail and its size—it is one of the largest birds of prey in the world—it can be identified at a glance as a "wedgie" even by the nonexpert. The wedge-tailed eagle is one of 12 species of large, predominantly dark-coloured booted eagles in the genus ''Aquila'' found worldwide. A large brown bird of prey, it has a wingspan up to and a length up to . ==Description== The female wedge-tailed eagle weighs between , while the smaller males weigh .〔 Length varies between and the wingspan typically is between .〔〔 In 1930, the average weight and wingspans of 43 birds was and . The same average figures for a survey of 126 eagles in 1932 were and , respectively. The largest wingspan ever verified for an eagle was for this species. A female killed in Tasmania in 1931 had a wingspan of , another female measured barely smaller at .〔 Reported claims of eagles spanning and were deemed to be unreliable.〔 This eagle's great length and wingspan place it among the largest eagles in the world, but its wings, at more than , and tail, at , are both unusually elongated for its body weight, and eight or nine other eagle species regularly outweigh it.〔 Young eagles are a mid-brown colour with slightly lighter and reddish-brown wings and head. As they grow older, their colour becomes darker, reaching a dark blackish-brown shade after about 10 years (birds in Tasmania are usually darker than those on the mainland). Adult females tend to be slightly paler than males. Although it rarely needs to be distinguished from other ''Aquila'' eagles, its long, wedge-shaped tail is unique to this species. Its range and habitat sometimes overlap with the white-bellied sea eagle, which is similar in size and shape, and also has a somewhat wedge-shaped tail, although rather smaller and less distinctive. In silhouette and poor light, the two can look somewhat similar. Closer examination reveals the belly colour or tail size to distinguish the two. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wedge-tailed eagle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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