A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Aquila chrysaetos
This is a tricky one. The body of the eagle looks like a juvenile Bald Eagle but the head shouts Golden Eagle. Probably Baldie but wishful thinking wants it to be a Golden. Hawk Jocks, what do you guys think?
Spotted on Mar 12, 2013
Submitted on Mar 12, 2013
13 Comments
Definitely a Bald Eagle immature about 2 1/2yr old. They are mottled like that. Head beginning to get some white in it. Beak getting more yellow, so will the eyes but hard to see in the photos. Can't see the legs but they would be bare if Bald eagle and if a golden eagle would have feathers all the way down to the feet.
I have taken a couple looks at it and the head made me agree
;P it's posted
Wha?! Joshua be hold'n out on us!
Christy, "Speckles", the Golden in the ICU had mottled coloring...but not as much as this guy. I know there is a lot of variation...Speckles' tail also looks very different to this guy...so I don't know!
Bring it on!! ;-)
Hey Christy, I don't think this is a leucistic. I have some pics of a leucistic Baldie I need to post and another i was just saying to Emily that's a real stumper. get ready...
lol i've 3rd and fourth guessed myself. Thanks for the help Emily! I have another doozie coming up. post it soon :)
Could this POSSIBLY be leucistic?? Doesn't really look it, but...??? Em, that's where I always go wrong...when I second-guess myself!! Liam has straightened me out a couple times!! I looked at pics of juvenile goldens and don't see any with the mottled coloring... I can't wait for the answer! ;-)
I know, I zoomed in too... If you don't get any good answers tonight or tomorrow I'll forward this to a friend that I work with at the Birds of Prey Foundation. He is the best when it comes to identification! ...now I'm second guessing myself...this is a tough one!
Yeah I wish I did. My homie was driving and didn't think it was important enough to stop so I was just getting shots as i was going along. I was really looking for exactly that, the feathered legs, but even magnified it wasn't good enough to tell.
Do you have any other pictures Joshua? I think it's a Golden, the beak isn't fat enough for a baldy, in my opinion. Do you have any pics that show the legs? Goldens have "pants" like roughies and ferrugenous hawks, as you know...
Word. Thank you Christy! :) Even the experts I know are still debating.
I agree with you Joshua...but I seem to get the youngsters wrong. It's got the golden feathers on the head...and the white band on the tail that screams Golden...but the mottled feathering on the body says otherwise. Do us a favor and edit your spotting - check the box that says you need help with identifying the spotting...you can leave all the information, but it puts it into a different spot in the system and people should respond. If you don't get a response in a week or so, make a comment here and I'll see what I can do to get some of our ID experts to help out.