On Friday, Dec 24, my girlfriend and I went to Little Seneca Lake in Black
Hill Regional Park near Boyds, MD, to see what varieties of ducks were in
view. There were Canvasbacks, Buffleheads, lots of Ruddys, and a few
mergansers, but we were startled when a large, dark bird flew over the
tree-line. At first I thought "vulture" and was about to turn away, but
then I realized the shape was wrong. The head and neck were larger than a
vulture and tail was too long for a black vulture.
When I realized that it had to be an eagle, I was surprised to see that it
was uniformly dark underneath. I did not see the mottled white and brown
of a juvenile bald eagle. I did see yellow talons and a lighter, brownish
patch behind the talons around the vent. I also tried to look at the beak,
but it did not seem as massive as the beak I associate with Goldens.
When we first saw it, the bird was about thirty feet directly overhead,
but it quickly moved away and was backlit by bright, hazy sky. The bird
flew from a point on the north side of the lake by the Route 121 bridge and
landed in a tree on the south side of the lake. When we tried to drive
over to that side, the bird had flown.
I don't have any experience with Golden Eagles except from a great
distance, but I have seen lots of Bald Eagles and this did not match
those. My guess is that this was an adult, male Golden, though I cannot be
positive of the ID when I observed it for such a brief period. Has anyone
else spotted a similar bird working the fields of Montgomery County?
Doren Burrell
|