Brian K. Wheeler to the rescue. I had ordered his latest edition of* Birds
of Prey of the West* and by coincidence it just arrived today.
(I previously had a public library copy) He has extensive discussion and
illustrations of the many and varied subadult plumages of Bald Eagle. (52
images overall of all plumages) And, as Lars said, even these are unlikely
to cover the entire gamut. Many of the subadult plagues feature a
large white area in the 'lores' (area between eye and bill) as shown by
Lars image. And 2nd-3rd years show a bicolored bill as Lars' eagle does.
as well. The breast does not show well in his profiles which are from the
side, but from what I can tell, nothing looks exactgly like the breast of
Lars' bird. Nevertheless, along with Bob Archer I'm pretty confident now
that this is a Bald Eagle.
As Tim Janzen said, White-tailed Eagle always shows extensive white in the
tail, even as a juvenile, although it is often inconspicuous in the folded
tail. So an all-dark spread tail would surely eliminate White-tailed
Eagle. However the presence or absence of white in such an eagle's tail
are both likely for bald Eagle, although never so extensive as in
White-tailed Eagle...Bob OBrien Carver OR
PS Maybe it's not too late to order a 'stocking stuffer'. This
outstanding book will fit into a large stocking OK. Seems like there's
still time for Santa to stuff one into yours tomorrow night? And, FYI, I
don't get a comission.
On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 9:22 AM larspernorgren <larspernorgren@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
The White-tailed Eagle, or Erne, is said to have the greatest wingspan of
all the fish eagles. But it has an unusually short tail, much shorter than
our Bald Eagle, which in turn is shorter than a Golden Eagle's tail. The
one photo l posted may not show primary extension, but the folded primary
tips were well short of the tail's edge.
Evidently eagles are highly variable, even as adults among Golden
Eagles. Field guides can't begin to convey the full extent. The McCauley
library links from Robert are much appreciated, and l assume are correct
IDs. Some on line material is misID'd, which obviously muddies the water
even more.
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: Christine Maack <cmaackster@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 12/22/21 8:40 AM (GMT-08:00)
To: rabican1@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [obol] Re: What species of eagle?
Belatedly commenting on your eagle. The feathers on a golden eagle come
down far enough to lap a bit onto the top of the foot. I took it to be a
bald but the discussion of possible white-tailed has me intrigued.
Chris
On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 7:43 AM Bob Archer <rabican1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This post is being commented on today, I thought I would send it out
again. I took this as a young Bald Eagle.
1) Golden Eagles have a tri-colored bill. Bald Eagles USUALLY have a
one colored bill.
2) Young Bald Eagles can develop a wide buffy superciliary line with a
dark area behind eye
3) Hard to see but I do not think feathers come far enough down leg for
Golden
4) Younger Bald Eagles do have that darker chest compared to paler belly
on front.
I would call this a first-winter bird molting into what is called White
Belly 1.
Bob Archer
PDX
On Sat, Dec 18, 2021 at 4:59 AM larspernorgren <larspernorgren@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I took a great many photos of this bird at Hood River Delta on Thursday
12/16 because l thought it might be a GOEA. How much of the tarsi are
covered in feathers? This shot shows half of the tarsus bare. I presume the
whole deal should be feathered? There was absolutely no white in the tail.
An adult BAEA left the dead salmon as soon as the brown headed bird
appeared.
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
