Question for Iowa Birdwatchers

[Acylum]

Am I crazy for thinking I’ve seen Golden Eagles around the Iowa River Greenbelt area in Hardin County? I’m not a novice when it comes to Iowa birds but I am extremely colorblind but on the other hand they aren’t all that colorful anyway. These would be mature adults based on the size of the 3 I’ve seen over the last two years.

 

[cybychoice]

Am I crazy for thinking I’ve seen Golden Eagles around the Iowa River Greenbelt area in Hardin County? I’m not a novice when it comes to Iowa birds but I am extremely colorblind but on the other hand they aren’t all that colorful anyway. These would be mature adults based on the size of the 3 I’ve seen over the last two years.

Could just be seeing multiple generations of immature bald eagles.

 

[Turn2]

Am I crazy for thinking I’ve seen Golden Eagles around the Iowa River Greenbelt area in Hardin County? I’m not a novice when it comes to Iowa birds but I am extremely colorblind but on the other hand they aren’t all that colorful anyway. These would be mature adults based on the size of the 3 I’ve seen over the last two years.

If that were the case you would likely see it reported here:

https://ebird.org/alert/summary?sid=SN35680&sortBy=obsDt&o=desc

I'm also not a novice but severely colorblind. It sucks. Could you be seeing immature bald eagles? FYI, the above link reports a GE in Woodbury County during the last week.

 

[Acylum]

Could just be seeing multiple generations of immature bald eagles.

Thought of this too. Probably what I’m seeing.

 

[BillyClone]

These pictures are from AllAboutBirds.org

Adult Golden Eagle on top, Juvenile Golden Eagle in the middle, and Juvenile Bald Eagle on the bottom.

In flight, key is to look for solid colored brown underneath for the adult and small, distinct white patches at the wing base for the juvenile vs the scattered white mottled feathers of the juvenile Bald Eagle.

There is one reported on the rare bird alert yesterday in Woodbury county.

I have no idea if this is helpful, but hopefully you've had a rare sighting!

 

[Acylum]

View attachment 112922View attachment 112924View attachment 112923These pictures are from AllAboutBirds.org

Adult Golden Eagle on top, Juvenile Golden Eagle in the middle, and Juvenile Bald Eagle on the bottom.

In flight, key is to look for solid colored brown underneath for the adult and small, distinct white patches at the wing base for the juvenile vs the scattered white mottled feathers of the juvenile Bald Eagle.

There is one reported on the rare bird alert yesterday in Woodbury county.

I have no idea if this is helpful, but hopefully you've had a rare sighting!

Well now I’m not sure what I saw. None were as multicolored as the middle and bottom pics. Definitely more like the top. The one I saw today I was close enough to see a copper colored iridescence.