Hola Birders,
Yesterday produced a nice flight on Southeast winds. This is peak season
and nothings going to stop Raptors from moving across the Eastern Shore. On
top of another great Kestrel Flight (270) the big excitement of yesterday
was seeing an AHY Golden Eagle the rarest bird on the Shore.
At around 1230 Daylight time a large Eagle showed up in the viewable
distance to our West. I initially tried to age it as I assumed it "must" be
a Bald Eagle. The Dark plumage hinted at Juv, but the wing shape and yellow
bill color just weren't agreeing. When it banked I thought to myself "wow
the sun sure is reflecting off the nape nicely." That's when Keith G. called
over "Sam are you on this bird?" ---Click--- It was a brilliant After
Hatching Year Golden Eagle! I did a little jig.
This bird had a few broken or worn feather tips on the inner portion of the
left wing. As for ageing it: There are around 5 or 6 diagnosable age classes
of GOEA thanks to Jerry Ligouri's great work with the species. However, most
older age-classes are only assessed with a close look at one or two of the
outer tail feathers. We didn't have that good of a look. However, this bird
had no white in the basal portion of the tail or inner primaries. Now there
are some dark Juv's out there but pale or "tawny" secondary upper wing
coverts were seen by another observer which I believe rules out a Hatching
Year bird (the only plumage stage for GOEA not too have this mark).
This was a very exciting sighting for Kiptopeke and I was glad to have many
observers present to verify this bird. Harry Armistead remarked that adult
GOEA is about the rarest bird here on the Shore. More so than Swainson's
Hawk, a near annual Species.
Happy birding,
Sam Stuart
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