Golden Eagle

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On Friday, December 27th, I was participating in the Okefenokee Christmas Bird Count covering the area that included about ten miles of the Suwannee Canal west from the Okefenokee Adventures concession and also included Chesser and Chase Prairies. These areas are only accessible by boat, canoe, or kayak and I was fortunate to be able to go by boat with the proprietors of Okefenokee Adventures, Chip and Joy Campbell.

At about 11:00AM we were half way between the six and seven mile markers along the canal, when I spotted a large long winged bird just above the trees in front of us. My initial thought was that it was just another Turkey Vulture, which were around us continually at this point of the day. However, once I got the binoculars on it I saw that it had a tan colored nape, white areas around the base of the inner primaries on the underside of the wing, and a lot of white in the underside of the tail with a wide dark band at the tip. At this point I knew it was an eagle and noted the lack of any white on the underside wing coverts and belly. I also made a quick check of the head to at least try to assess its relative size compared to the length of the tail and it appeared to be relatively small. I was not able to get a look at the upper side of the bird as it usually made its banking turns out of sight, behind the trees.

Chip immediately called out Golden Eagle and everything that I had seen so far certainly pointed to that conclusion. Immature/sub-adult eagles can be a difficult ID, especially with my limited experience with them, so I wanted to try to get pictures for later review and documentation to be certain. While Chip tried to maneuver the boat back and forth to keep the eagle in view as much as possible as it soared in widening circles, disappearing and reappearing over the canal, I tried to take as many pictures as I could before it disappeared for the final time out over the swamp.

I used a Canon D60 digital camera with a 100-400mm zoom lens and was lucky enough to get some decent pictures. Reviewing the pictures, you can see the white at the base of the inner primaries as well as some of the secondaries, but it is not uniform or as extensive as on a typical immature Golden Eagle. The flight feathers also look to be worn and uneven with some molting. The base of the tail has an uneven amount of white, which does not go all the way to the edge and the dark subterminal band is also uneven. What should be a thin light terminal tail band was not noticeable through binoculars and was not captured in the pictures either. I did not notice the color of the under tail coverts at the time, but the pictures show them to be a buffy tan. I also noticed in the pictures what appears to be a full crop.

The pictures confirm the impression I had originally of a large, long winged, long tailed bird with a smallish head and bill which along with the tan colored nape and white limited to the specific locations of the wings and tail, eliminate any age of Bald Eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, however, they also show that my original impression of an immature Golden Eagle to be incorrect and that it appears to be a sub adult Golden Eagle.

Chip reported an immature Golden Eagle from the swamp last year during the CBC and it was seen infrequently the rest of the winter. Perhaps this is the same bird returning, however there is no way to know for sure. The Annotated Checklist Of Georgia Birds lists Golden Eagle, in part, to be “Rare transient and winter resident throughout the state.” In Birding Georgia, Giff Beaton describes Golden Eagle as “Rare permanent resident in the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain WMA (Site 1), where this species was reintroduced during the 1980s. Casual migrant throughout state in fall and winter.”

References used in analysis and identification:

Beaton, Giff, 2000, Birding Georgia.
Haney, Christopher J., et. al., 1986, Annotated Checklist of Georgia Birds.
National Geographic Society, 1999, Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Third edition.
Sibley, David A., 2000, National Audubon Society The Sibley Guide to Birds.

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