», Poll Question: Are You Participating in a Christmas Bird Count This Year? Lots of variability. I am so blessed to live here with these beautiful creatures! Art. We are truly blessed to have them here and appreciate your work very much. What you will not see either golden or bald eagle doing is teetering from side to side as turkey vultures so often do. And timely, too, as we’re seeing lots of eagles on the nest locally and every trip I’ve taken this year I’ve seen at least one immature Bald Eagle. Eyes gradually change from dark brown to yellow while the beak goes from blackish-gray to yellow. Your blog is fantastic! Federal Law. The face, crown, nape, and throat will go from mostly brown to mostly white. or BV?” Although it’s true that many people confuse our two eagles with black and turkey vultures, the only pair to choose between is turkey vulture and golden eagle. Fearless crow! A juvenile bald eagle has wings that are considerably wider and blunter than those of an adult. And your much better weather…, When I first saw the title of this entry, I thought, guide to old eagles? How does the eye color of the golden eagles change as they age? . Canada geese are moving in (unfortunately). Any way you could make it available in printable form? Instantly, I knew that they were unsure of what the bird was—an unsettling emotional state in which I’ve spent far too much time myself. Poll Question: Vote for the National Bird! », Poll Question: How Many Binoculars Do You Own? Naturally, if you have an eagle-sized bird with dark wingpits and a white or whitish head, it will be a bald. One thing that’s great about shape as a field mark is that it tends not to change much in birds, despite differences in age and sex, whereas plumages vary drastically. A side view of the same bird as in the previous image. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in. I know adults and young juveniles, but the intermediary, mottled plumage throws me in terms of aging the eagle. This bird is very nearly in full adult plumage. They can be anywhere from dark with some whitish mottling (as they often are on juveniles) to pure white (as they typically are on adults). Thanks for explaining and showing the stages of the juvenile bald eagles, and the awesome photos! One day you go bird watching, and as you watch a bald eager soar lazily through the sky, you see a feather fall off. Thanks Wally. I’m delighted to hear that some of this info might be helpful to you in your volunteer refuge work, Marilyn. Thanks so much for this post and great pictures. », Poll question: How comfortable are you with spotting scopes? Though a lot of birders struggle with identifications of all sorts, very few people hesitate to call an adult bald eagle just that, provided it was even reasonably close by. The eagle passed right over our heads, close enough that one might almost have felt the rush of air off its wings. Instead they were trying to make their observations fit their mental image of turkey vulture or black vulture, and it wasn’t working. We have a cabin on an island in a backwater bay at the very northern end of Georgian Bay (lake Huron). I recently learned of a guy on one of our river systems who does this, but I haven’t been up to his neighborhood. Finally, consult the U.S. An adult on the right, a first year bird on the left and an intermediate juvenile in the middle with some interesting mottling. Wait! This fantastic creature also had, as it raised itself above my car windshield, I was able to see a clearly outlined white horizontal line. Late one December I found myself among a loose aggregation of birders standing by a roadside in Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware. Patty, The eyes of juvenile Golden Eagles are dark brown while those of adults can be dark brown, light yellow with flecks of gold and brown, hazel and a few are almost white. Note: It’s possible that the last two images in this series were baited. Thank you for taking the time and explaining the various phases. Bald and Golden Eagle feathers are similar in size and their appearance changes dramatically with age in both species, with the feathers of subadult eagles particularly variable. I have grown accustomed to the sound of the geese “talking” to their young – sort of like background music. Welcome to the U.S. Graphic Illustration. We have been fortunate to watch this progression in Teasdale as the eagles that nested there for several years came back each season. Don’t apologize for the long post. Thank you, Ron. It’s getting to breading season here in the San Antonio and Corpus Christi areas, and I’m very much looking forward to the awesome waterbird and pelagic raptor plumage we’ll be getting. Hi Ron. I appreciate the offer but I don’t fly well and it’s too far to drive. Of course, share away Debbie. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, not baited, set up or called in. Thanks for tthe feedback. Identification of these feathers can be challenging. LOL! What a wonderful tutorial! Adult plumage, which everyone recognizes, is attained in the fourth year of a bald eagle’s life and replaced by identical feathers from then on. This is both wonderful in terms of both photos and commentary! Notice that the plumage is dark brown throughout, though they may have some white or pale mottling at this stage – especially on the underparts. What will they change to? Some 10,000 + species of birds have been the envy of people around the world as they help spread color through the sky. As I am not an experienced bird watcher, I could not identify the bird immediately, but my instincts told me it was a young eagle. Do you have any advice or suggestions? We often get them in for rehab here in Klamath Falls, OR, and I typically rely on the feathering on the legs to determine BAEA vs GOEA, but these pictures are a HUGE help with not only determining which it is, but with age. After their first year, the bodies of immature Bald Eagles start filling in with whitish feathers… Plumage stages are highly variable, depending on molt sequence, age and timing so other factors like iris and beak color are also taken into account when estimating age. The long wings flapped with unmistakable power, quickly halving the bird’s distance to us. I’m glad you find the info helpful, Blue. Home » BirdWire Features » How to Identify Bald Eagles, Young and Old, by Jeffrey A. Gordon | Contributor, Bird Watcher’s Digest. This, I suspect, is the source of many misidentifications—combined with wishful thinking. I was in Grand Junction yesterday and much of the river is solid ice on top. Saw a juvenile/subadult yesterday with really interesting mottling. », Today's poll question: Do you have water features in your yard? How wonderful to be able to see the different stages of the Eagle, your beautiful photos and your descriptions in one page. In year two, the belly is mostly whitish flecked with brown, but the entire head and breast are still dark, giving the bird a hooded look. You may briefly flirt with the idea of abandoning birding in favor of something less complicated and more easily grasped—particle physics, for example. Feathers consist of interlocking microscopic structures that are light, but very strong. . Enjoying this article? As we go into prime “eagle watching” season here in northern Utah I thought it might be timely to present a guide that would be helpful in aging Bald Eagles as they progress through the 5-6 year process of becoming adults. As a wildlife painter and nature lover, your photos and comments are priceless. There is more mottling and the beak and cere are becoming less dark. Explore. This is great. Early on in this year, bald eagle bellies will be predominantly white with brown flecks, but the brown will win out, replacing most or all of the white. You rush to find the feather where it lands. Thanks so much for sharing! This bird has fish blood on its beak and if you look closely you’ll see that it has a “blown eye” (misshapen pupil, possibly due to injury). N othing has captured the fascination of man quite like the ability to fly. The adult Bald Eagle is unmistakable with its distinctive bright white head and tail contrasting with the dark brown body and wings. Yes, I am fortunate indeed to have access to lots of eagles for part of the year. Thank you so much for the detailed chronology of the changes! How about some fresh-squeezed orange juice? The family moved across the channel and hung around for a while. If you do get a perched bird, or a low-flying one, you might also look for beak and eye color, which both go from dark to yellow as an eagle moves through its first four years.
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