A wedge-tailed eagle is expected to make a full recovery after it was rescued from the ocean by a diver off the coast of Victoria.
Professional diver Johno Rudge was diving in the South Gippsland region when he came across the bird of prey struggling to stay afloat.
"It was a dead still, glassy day. At first I thought it was a dog swimming from Port Welshpool to Snake Island and it was being swooped by birds," he said.
Mr Rudge helped the eagle climb onto the boat, where it perched "like a figurehead" until he completed the rest of his dive.
Can eagles swim?
Eagles are generally more comfortable surfing air streams than ocean waves.
But Mr Rudge suspects the bird had been in there for a long time because it was "waterlogged, a bit distressed" and couldn't fly.
"This time of year they get quite territorial and it may have had a fight with another bird," he said.
Things took another turn when Mr Rudge returned to shore to hand the bird over to wildlife carers.
"We tried to corner him and catch him but he wasn't letting us get close to him," he said.
The carer, Mr Rudge, and another diver tried to put a hood over the bird but it flew a short distance into some shallow water.
"So I stripped off, walked out there with the boat hook, he climbed up the boat hook, and I started walking him back in," he said.
Recovery and release expected
Wildlife carer Linda Cunningham has been looking after the bird since it was rescued.
"This bird was only immature, their feathers aren't quite oiled up enough, so once they get waterlogged they can't get out at all," she said.
Over 30 years working with birds of prey, Ms Cunningham said she had never rescued a wet wedge-tailed eagle before.
"[We'll release her] once she's put on a little bit of weight and she's looking a bit more spritely," she said.
"She's starting to look a bit better this morning, so within two or three days, once this weather is done, she'll be back up in the sky again."
