juvenile Golden Eagle
After reading about the four Golden Eagles seen at the hawk watch yesterday while I was having only a so-so birding day here in Stoney Creek, I planned to get to the hawk watch early today on my way to doing some shopping in Waynesboro. Unfortunately, my computer started acting up , and I spent two hours this morning on-line with tech support, and still did not get the problem resolved this morning, so I got a late start.
When I fimally got to the hawk watch, there were a few hardy souls who had been braving the wind and cold. When I asked what they had seen, the response was not that much, but that they had seen another Golden Eagle earlier in the morning - just my luck. Over the next 1-1/2 hours all I saw were a few Red-tailed Hawks and a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and I was getting ready to pack it in when there was a call out of another Golden Eagle headed our way. It was a juvenile, and it passed fairly close to us. A few minutes later, a Red-tailed Hawk did a close flyover - it had the most transparent wing patches I have ever seen on a Red-tailed Hawk.
juvenile Golden Eagle
juvenile Golden Eagle
juvenile Golden Eagle
juvenile Golden Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk