Quote:
Originally Posted by SIKSUKR
The other way I tell from far below is shown pretty good in your photos. The Eagles feathers on the end of the wing point out. The vultures point back. I believe APS has more info on that.
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We've been having
daily sightings of eagles this month. They can cover such areas as Round Island, Diamond Island, Sandy Island, and the 'Boro Necks easily within five minutes. Perhaps we are seeing the same Bald Eagle each day, but another—
without the white head and tail of the adult Bald Eagle—has us confused, as it could be a female Golden Eagle. (Females being the larger sex in the Eagle clan).
Two days ago, I watched a huge dark bird approach only 50' above the water, and covered the half-mile from the opposite shore before I could get my camera ready. She saw me fiddling—
banked sharply away—only to return a minute later in the opposite direction.
(A "hat-tip", thanks to an observant chipmunk's warning call).
I managed to get two pictures, but the contrast of a
dark brown bird against a
dark gray sky took any chance of a positive identification away. 'Course, dropping my camera in the lake hasn't helped its optical-zoom sharpness!
Ospreys are too often robbed of their fish by eagles, so Osprey sightings were forgetful this season: but even Turkey Vulture sightings have been much reduced.
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ETA, for Wednesday, 9/11:
We had about seven eagle sightings just yesterday—one directly overhead! The occasions may have been a "newly-dead" cormorant nearby. Family members had taken a mid-day boat ride, and said a black Jet-Ski struck the cormorant).
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As for confusing the Turkey Vulture and the Osprey with an Eagle, the easiest way is to observe how they hold their wings. While soaring, is your subject bird holding his wings "straight", in a "V", or an "M"—
an "M", like a seagull's?
This determination can be made—even from a mile away.
