It's a young bald eagle, young golden eagles never have whitish feathers in the axillary area of the wing and the tarsus of the golden eagle is feathered to the toes.
Posted by David Graham on February 1, 2010 at 10:00 AM
One more observation on the juvenile bald eagle vs. golden eagle differentiation "quandary".
In photos that show the questionable eagle in sillhouette with feather pigmentation thereby not evident and in which the naked or feathered tarsus-metatarsus cannot be seen, one other feature can be crucual to the ID. IF... the head is in profile the shape of the beak is diagnostic of the species; to wit:
The beak of the bald eagle is considerably more massive than that of the golden eagle. The upper surface of the cere, that portion at the base of the beak from which the nares (nostrils) open, is essentially horizontal and parallel with the lower contour of the closed gnathotheca (mandible/lower bill). The rhamphotheca (upper bill) continues briefly "straight ahead" before entering its massive curve/hook downwards.
The beak of the golden eagle is shorter and clearly less massive than that of its fish-eating cousin; "more refined" as I've heard it described. The topline of the cere and ramphotheca are slanted somewhat downwards toward the shorter final curve to the point. And nowhere is the topline of the ramphotheca parallel with the bottom line of the gnathotheca. From the very base of the beak the upper and lower outlines clearly are on the path of convergence.
I hope that this feature of differentiation might be found helpful,
Discussion
4 repliesIn photos that show the questionable eagle in sillhouette with feather pigmentation thereby not evident and in which the naked or feathered tarsus-metatarsus cannot be seen, one other feature can be crucual to the ID. IF... the head is in profile the shape of the beak is diagnostic of the species; to wit:
The beak of the bald eagle is considerably more massive than that of the golden eagle. The upper surface of the cere, that portion at the base of the beak from which the nares (nostrils) open, is essentially horizontal and parallel with the lower contour of the closed gnathotheca (mandible/lower bill). The rhamphotheca (upper bill) continues briefly "straight ahead" before entering its massive curve/hook downwards.
The beak of the golden eagle is shorter and clearly less massive than that of its fish-eating cousin; "more refined" as I've heard it described. The topline of the cere and ramphotheca are slanted somewhat downwards toward the shorter final curve to the point. And nowhere is the topline of the ramphotheca parallel with the bottom line of the gnathotheca. From the very base of the beak the upper and lower outlines clearly are on the path of convergence.
I hope that this feature of differentiation might be found helpful,
David Graham
Estelline, SD