Golden Eagle

[MuleySniper]

Great pics!! Those are really cool, great setup you got there.
MS

[jackelope]

. My question is, how do I determine the difference between a Golden Eagle and an immature Baldy

i think the baldies start out white and turn the almost black color you see them as when mature. so the juveys bodies are more white and black thn the brown color of a golden. check out the pics on this site...you can see what i mean better.
http://www.alaskanalpinetreks.com/ImageGallery/Eagles_2/Index.html

[Coasthunterjay]

Great pictures. would of loved to have been there to see it in real, But those pictures...Man! great!!!

[cohoho]

Like Jackelope was stating, here are some that show it as a close up the differences between Immature and Mature Adult... Plus the beaks of the mature are yellow and the others are blackish, not sure when they change, at what age???

[10Key]

On the fly, I still think I will have trouble ID'ing, but thanks for the info. Those goldies sure are sweet.

[catwithboost]

Great photos. Would l also like to see info on making one.

[Dman]

 Very cool!

[Alchase]

Jackalope, he have it backwards, look again at your link.
Bald eagles do not get their white head until they reach maturity (two or more years old) When you watch Bald eagles in the nest the babies actually look bigger then the parents do with their dark heads.

[Slider]

I thought they had to be 5 to get a white head?

[M_ray]

Great pics! 
And they are mean too! I can't remember where I got these I think a freind emailed them to me. I'm sure you guys have seen these before, but here is a pretty impressive display of a eagle running a yote off the carcass. I was told it was a Golden but it looks darker than your pictures  oh well cool pics none the less!



 

[WAcoyotehunter]

I thought they had to be 5 to get a white head?

That's Right.

[DeKuma]

can't tell whether they are immature balds or goldens, but that is a fox and not a coyote........... Unless I am really screwed up today!

[Idabooner]

They kill a lot of deer also, people don't realize that.  Two times I have watched a golden eagle take down and kill a healthy deer. Both times the attack was similar. 6-8 deer feeding on a steep hillside, the eagle just started diving at them until the deer start moving up hill at a fast pace, soon he will get one separated a little and that's the one he will concentrate on.  Of course the deer is trying to go up hill with the bunch, but the eagle just keeps hitting him and when the deer gets exhausted and gets jerked clear down the bird starts eating on it's eyes, the deer will get up a few times until it gets to tired and gets eaten alive.  

I was cutting hay one time, there was a doe and fawn by the edge of the field when I went to lunch, when I come back a hour later the doe was still there and her fawn was almost all eaten by a bold eagle, the eagle was so full it almost could not get air borne.  I'm sure the eagle killed that fawn.

There's lots of both kinds of eagles in the Methow Valley, they mostly stay on the river getting steelhead and spawning salmon also a lot of ducks, then when the fish are gone the eagles move to the hills and eat deer.  You can always tell if there's fish in the river by the way the big birds ack.

[M_ray]

You're right on second look it's a fox ...sorry  but I don't think it would matter if it were a yote the result would be the same, that eagle would still have it's way!

[Backstraps]

Sweet pics guys! Those eagles are bad asses!