While walking on the C&O canal Saturday afternoon about 4;30,  I noticed a
large raptor flying alone in the distance.
It was a ways off, but could see the bird clearly. It was clearly an eagle.
I see lots of immature Bald Eagles there, and thought this a was probably
one of those.
 But, it just did not look right. The bird had no white on the body or in
the under-wing axillaries as many, or most, immature Balds have.
  It did have white patches on the middle of the under-wing, about half way
out from the body. It  also had just a bit of white part way up the tail on
the top side.
Both unusual for a Bald, and common for a golden.   The head also did not
look right for an immature bald eagle.
 It was neither adult white, nor mostly immature brown.   The bird was
circling in the sun  and the head appeared as I have seen
many times on Golden eagles, with the golden hackles on the back of the neck
sort of glowing in the sunshine.
It also did not fly as I have seen immature Bald eagles do in that area. It
made a few slow ascending circles and then slowly glided off to the south,
 across the Potomac into Virginia, as a  migrating eagle would do.
I have checked the plumage field marks in both volumes of Brian
Wheeler: *Raptors
of Eastern ( *and Western) *North America.*  I also looked at Jerry Ligouri:
"How to Age Golden Eagles," in* Birding* magazine ( June 2004), and Bill
Clark: "Aging Bald Eagles" , in *Birding* (Feb. 2001).
I also looked at Ligouri's new *Hawks From Every Angle*." ( Princeton,
2005).
I am convinced that the bird I saw was an immature or sub-adult golden
eagle.
This is the first Golden eagle I have seen in the D.C., area, although I
have seen many
 at the hawk watches, including three in Pa.on Thursday of last week.
 It was quite a treat to see one so close to home.
-- 
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Va.