[TN-Bird] Bald Eagles in Jefferson County

Morristown, TN
Hamblen County

June 17, 2008

After seeing Ben's post, I drove to Cherokee Dam yesterday after work. I had
no trouble finding the eagles - two of which where on limbs very near the
nest and the third one in another tree just a little farther away. My only
problem is that none of the birds really seemed to have a white head. They
were a little hard to see - my closest look from the road in front of the
houses was toward the west so the birds were back-lighted giving more of a
silhouette-look. I moved to another road, which gave me a view looking
toward the east resulting in better color but the birds were farther away.
The light was terrible for both views and the birds near the nest were
somewhat obscured by pine needles, but I did see a white tail on one of the
birds, but not on the other two. I know my binoculars don't always give me
all the details I would like, but I've never had trouble seeing an Eagle's
white head before...usually it shines no matter what. 

I'm really confused because what information I can find indicates that
American Eagles don't mate until they are about 4 years old and by that time
they should have adult plumage. The one bird in the tree by itself, was very
dark but had a white spot on it's breast; both the head and tail appeared
dark. The other two birds did not appear to be as dark, in fact the one that
I saw with the white tail had a somewhat "mottled" look but no white head.
No doubt in my mind that they were American Eagles; just am very confused
about their plumage considering they had already nested this year??

Can anyone give me further information? I just can't believe I could have
missed seeing the white heads!

 

Ginger Goolsby

PCCSC
2335 W. Andrew Johnson Hwy.
PO Box 727
Morristown, TN 37815
Phone:(423)586-4850
Fax:(423)581-8873


 



=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
you report were seen.  The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
appear in the first paragraph.
_____________________________________________________________
      To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
                    tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_____________________________________________________________ 
                To unsubscribe, send email to:
                 tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
            with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
______________________________________________________________
  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                ------------------------------
                Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
                         Cleveland, OH
                -------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
                          Rosedale, VA
__________________________________________________________
         
          Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
              web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                          ARCHIVES
 TN-Bird Net Archives at http://www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/

                       MAP RESOURCES
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com

_____________________________________________________________

Other related posts: