ML48225011

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

Golden Eagle Gardiner Beach field plucking and eating gull

Observation details

I viewed the eagle through my spotting scope at a distance of 90 yards in late evening light. It was plucking and eating what I believe to be a gull as I only saw white feathers on the ground and in the air. This may have been the same eagle that I viewed from my yard flying along the edge of the bay earlier this same evening. The most obvious thing I saw on this bird was the golden nape that was easy to see even in the poor light of dusk. The gold was on the back of the neck and spread out wrapping out at the lower neck. The gold on the crown was seen and it seemed to be darker on the fore crown of the head. The bird's bill looked less massive (shorter) than that of a Bald Eagle and was a horn yellow throughout not have the dark tip that is typical of an immature Bald Eagle. Only the nail appeared dark. The head did not appear to be as large as a Bald Eagle particularly when compared to the large and long looking body of the bird. The lengthy look of the bird was due in part to the long tail. It looked longer that that of a Bald Eagle and the wing projection was lengthy as well, giving the bird that longer look of a Golden Eagle. Also in my scope view the tail appeared to have some very faint barring. Somewhat more difficult to view was the feather extension down the leg to the foot. I believe I saw this, but it was a bit hard to discern in the grass, The wing coverts showed a white feather pattern that I have noted in some Golden Eagles. The bird lacked the white triangle at the base of the neck, on the upper back, that is often seen in immature Bald Eagle. I will attach a very poor picture of this bird.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

ISO

3200

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

0.04 sec

Dimensions

2317 pixels x 1543 pixels

Original file size

2 MB