The raptor whisperer

From the moment Phil starts talking about his lifelong passion – birds of prey – his enthusiasm is palpable. He’s whip-smart, wry, a disruptor at his core, and still laughs at his misadventures with relish, especially those involving his beloved wedge-tailed eagle. “I once chased a wedgie down the Swan River,” he recalls with a laugh, describing the rescue of an injured eagle that had crash-landed in the water.  “I had to dive in and swim out about 50 metres to where he landed. When I got back to shore, there was a big line of cars parked up watching the show.”

With his buoyant larrikin spirit, Phil’s humour is infectious. He barely contains his laughter when describing the antics he’s witnessed, having worked with a range of animals from lions and tigers to some especially violent hippos, who, he tells me, tried to kill him every single morning while he fed them breakfast.

But for all he’s seen, it’s the ‘Wedgie’ that has his heart. Phil puts his allegiance with the eagle down to an affection for the underdog and a widely accepted sentiment among ornithologists that the Wedge-tailed eagle could be the most persecuted bird of prey on the planet. While their population has recovered somewhat from the 1.1 million bounties paid on their shooting deaths during the period between 1923 and 1973, many are still culled illegally today.

Phil explains that wedge-tailed eagles are often misunderstood. While they may occasionally scavenge sick, dead, or dying lambs – helping to reduce the spread of diseases like flystrike – they play a far more significant role in maintaining ecological balance. By preying on rabbits and other pest species that would otherwise devastate pastures, they help preserve the grass essential for sustaining livestock. Phil has spent a lifetime lobbying the government and educating the public about the importance of protecting these misjudged cleaners and caretakers of the environment, and highlighting their usefulness to farmers in the face of a bad reputation.

After a colourful decade at Taronga Zoo in the 1970s, Phil moved to Perth Zoo, which at the time had the biggest collection of birds of prey in captivity in Australia. By the mid-1980s, Phil had fallen in love with the winged wonders and married his wife, Kathy. Together, they commenced the search for an appropriate site to care for and rehabilitate a portion of the numerous birds of prey that required assistance. The Shire of Augusta Margaret River was quick to jump on board, and Eagles Heritage, now Capes Raptor Centre was officially opened on a tranquil bush block in Margaret River in 1987.

Once up and running, Phil trialled exercising rehab eagles on neighbouring vineyards, their presence scaring the silvereyes and twenty-eights from attacking grapes, saving the wineries thousands in losses. Despite these setbacks, Phil and Kathy persevered, working seven days a week and taking less than 20 days of holidays in the decades they managed the centre. Sick and injured birds were released back into the wild once primed to hunt again, though a few have been known to return of their own volition – just to say hello.

Meet Molly and Kallina, a pair of barking owls defending their plot like incensed guard dogs or be mesmerised by a trio of black kites stretching their feathers in one of the centre’s fascinating flight displays. What started as the humble Eagle’s Heritage now boasts a spot on TripAdvisor as one of the top 100 tourist destinations in the world after Phil’s years of nurturing care and tenacity.

Phil calls the endurance of the centre a gift that he still can’t believe. He still stays close to the action and is of immense value for the Capes Foundation as a kind of spiritual leader, his legacy thriving. “We were ready to retire, but would have been devastated if we had to close. We were on the verge of making that decision, but somehow everything has worked out.”

After the “too good to be true” handover to the Capes Foundation, it was only a matter of days before Phil and Kathy discovered that she was unwell. Having lost their dear son only a month prior, Kathy’s passing was a brutal blow, but somehow, with the help of his faith, Phil remains filled with gratitude. In his logic, passion and wisdom, Phil is just like the wedgie: the anti-hero, the underdog. He has the same deadly efficiency and one-eyed determination as his majestic mascot and is unafraid to do exactly what he was born to do.