Month: October 2013

In a previous post, Eagle Quiz, I asked readers to try to identify a photo of an eagle, immature.

Thank you all for your replies, some of which were right, some of which were wrong – don’t worry if you got it wrong – it was just a little quiz.

Here’s the picture again with some of the key factors on identifying these birds.

 

Keys:

1: The size of the beak; larger beak for the Bald, smaller for the Golden.

2: The amount of white on the under wing; the Bald has more, especially noticeable being the white wingpits.

3: The amount of feathers on its legs: as showed in the picture below, the Bald Eagle has lightly feathered ankles whereas the Golden has heavy plumage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4: The size of the head; as with the beak, Bald Eagles have larger heads, Golden tend to have smaller.

If you haven’t already guessed, the photo is of… a Bald Eagle!

Here’s an excellent article that goes into some more detail:
“The Field Identification of North American Eagles”

The difference between  Bald and Golden eagle immatures can be frustrating.
Can you tell the difference?

To see if you can, I’m asking you to comment on this photo of an eagle my mum took a couple years ago. It’s already identified but all answers are OK.

If you decide to comment, please put your identification of this bird, and how you got it in the comment.
Feel free to guess, but if you are, please say so.

Soon, I’ll post the actual ID, along with some guidance and answers to any questions.