Did we spot, and photograph, a Bald Eagle in Phoenix today?

We have both bald eagles and ospreys on Kentucky Lake and see them quite commonly. To my eye, that's an osprey.
Cool pix! It's always fun to behold the majesty of these critters.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


It's possible it is an immature Bald Eagle. We would see several mature eagles some time ago at Lake Pleasant. We used to find other large birds of prey somewhat more frequently in the valley, but it's still rare enough that you did well to take the time to enjoy the sighting.

SkepticOverlord
reply to post by CINY8

 

According to our "Birds of Arizona" book, Ospreys are only known to be near the lakes north and south (by quite a bit) from Phoenix… and some around Flagstaff. They'd need to fly over long stretches of desert to get to Phoenix.

It looks like an Osprey.

They can and do fly from North America to South America, so I don't see where flying a much smaller stretch would be any problem at all if it's traveling. If you found it had a nest in the area then that might cast doubt on it being an Osprey, but the pictures don't show any nest. They can get up to 32" which is pretty close to your 3' estimate.

100% sure it is not a bald or golden eagle, juvenile or otherwise. I am very familiar with both. I would have to go with red-tailed hawk, but pic isn't ideal for 100% confirmation. Osprey has more of a "mask" than full dark head.

Here is a good similar pic of a red-tail

On a side note, never use location as a limiting factor for what you may have seen. Birds are found outside of their habitat, even outside their continents, regularly. It is just best to start with what is likely.

SkepticOverlord
At first, you'd think Peregrine Falcon, but there are no known large falcons in Arizona

SkepticOverlord,

We do have falcons here. In fact not to long ago there was a mated pair of Peregrine Falcons nesting in the skyscrapers in downtown Phoenix.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord

I'm not familiar with 'new world' birds but this is definitely some kind of falcon.

The shape of the head, the smallish beak, the sleek body and the long legs are typical of falcon. The 'face' of the bird has a dark vertical streak beneath the eyes, this is similar to a kestrel's plumage.

Definitely a member of the falcon family.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


it doesnt look like a bald eagle. a few years back a few eagles nested near my cabin on Rainy Lake in Ontario. they nested there for 3-4 years, so i got alot of good looks at them over the years. even when they are young with dark gray feathers, they dont have a neck like that. it really looks like a falcon of some kind to me.

but im no expert on birds, so im just talking from personal experience.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I will put my neck on the line as a seasoned ornithologist and say that the bird in the picture is definatley an Osprey.

If you look closely at the first and second pic you can just make out the darker areas of its mask on its face.

It`s definately not a Golden or Bald Eagle imho

Not a bald eagle.
www.livescience.com...
Still looking but not having much luck. Can you zoom the pic. Bald eagles have white heads. This bird looks like it has a white neck and black head. Young bald eagles are black brown all over until the head turns white in adulthood. Maybe the white starts at the neck and moves upward? According to what I've seen on raptors of the southwest you do have a bald eagle population there and a golden eagle population but your bird doesn't look like a golden eagle at all.
We see bald eagles a lot here in Virginia. I saw one in my own back yard once. Up in a tall pine tree.

fenian8
reply to post by SkepticOverlord

 

I will put my neck on the line as a seasoned ornithologist and say that the bird in the picture is definatley an Osprey.

If you look closely at the first and second pic you can just make out the darker areas of its mask on its face.

It`s definately not a Golden or Bald Eagle imho

I thought osprey too but in the desert? I see them here but I live on the Atlantic coast and I always thought of them as sea birds.

My money is on a Prairie Falcon.

Prairie Falcon


Falcon's wing feathers do sometimes splay when they're flying:

I think it's a red tail hawk. We see them here in NM all the time and they are found in the desert and all over the US.

unb3k44n7
Cute bird you found there.
But unfortunately It's not a bald eagle, I've seen many where I live in the northwest -would be quite the find if it were though.
I can also say It's not a golden eagle because they don't sport a white chest.

So that narrows it down to It's some kind of hawk. A big hawk.
Looks you either found an adult Red-Tailed Hawk (most likely choice - white chest sporting full leg feathers, largest hawk in N-america right along side the Ferruginous Hawk); a Ferruginous Hawk, or an absolute freak of nature Osprey (unlikely).

If there were a better zoom in on the layout of the leg feathers which would be an important indicator along with the color scheme at the end of the tail feather we could then narrow it down further from there.

edit on 4/14/2014 by unb3k44n7 because: (no reason given)

I also see plenty of eagles up north of Seattle and some Osprey as well. I also see a lot of red-tailed hawk and I would agree with you that this is what they have seen.

tally me for a red-tailed hawk.

and the winner is



swainsons hawk

suicideeddie
and the winner is
swains
swainsons hawk

We see those a lot, and thought that when we first saw it. But then when it flew, and we realized its size, it seemed way too big to be swainsons hawk.

I'm leaning lost osprey, being far from bodies of water, getting a rodent for lunch.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


quite a difference between them thought, swains has a clearly defined hood, smooth feathers on the head, light weight feet, very light barring on breast feathers wingspan up to 4 1/2 ft. while an osprey has a light banded or speckled eyestripe, mostly white breast with few speckles, sodding big fish grabbing feet and wingspan up around 6ft. the size difference between them is like comparing a rook to a raven.
take mind that perceiving size is hard to judge with birds though.

heres a good feed of osprey explore.org...

suicideeddie
take mind that perceiving size is hard to judge with birds though.

Yes, except when you have a "ruler" of sorts in the picture such as an object of known length to which we can compare the bird, which we have in this case. SO said the object was 8-10 feet so it's not an exact ruler, however if that estimate is correct, it would tend to rule out some smaller birds.

That is a Golden Eagle.

I live more north near Payson and we have a few Bald Eagles up here.

Usually you can see one that hangs around Green Valley Park in town. He usually perched north of the lake in a big dead tree. He flies over the lake looking for fish, ducks or any other smallish animal. 2 years ago he swooped down and grabbed a Chihuahua somebody was walking off its leash. He has grabbed ducks from the lake on occasion.

They also have a couple that nest along the Rim East of Payson / North of Hwy. 260 if your looking to see one. There are some nice biking trails in that area.

I have never seen them but would not be surprised at all if there were some along the Bush Hwy area near Saguaro Lake area.
Great habitat for them there.

Doesn't look like a bald eagle. Near where I live, there is the Delaware River, Tullytown dump, and big stretches of woods. I can't drive 100 feet without seeing another bald eagle. They're making a huge comeback, at least where I am. They are a majestic sight in the wild.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


A buzzard? ...auger or buzzard-eagle? Doesn't look much like any Turkey Vultures I've seen.