Me and my big mouth

Juvenile Golden? Classic eagle pose! Tree

Last night I was doing some research into eagles in Maine,and was suprised to find, or rather, not find, "my" goldens' area not noted on the Fish and Wildlife map. At the end of the web page was a phone number to call to report sitings of endangered species, (which includes Golden Eagles)

This all came about following yesterday's siting, and discovering that local educators had been saying the birds were Turkey Vultures, or Buzzards. There are Turkey Vultures in this area, also a rarity. I have seen them a few times, as whenever I see a large brown bird I look for the red head, and if I find one, I think, "yuk". Carrion eaters. LOL.

Today I called the number provided on the web site, and was re-directed to the Eagle Specialist, who happened to be in his office. (this is a major suprise if you have ever tried to reach anyone in gov't...ha)

I had a nice long chat with him, which began with me detailing locations and my length of encounters overtime, as I was trying to assert this is a local nesting pair and not travellers south. I learned over the phone how to distinguish the difference in flight between balds(horizontal wing profile when soaring), turkey vultures(upright V wing pattern causes a wobble in the soar) and goldens in-between the two.

I described what I had previously thought to be a hawk I now think to be an immature Golden, and those suspicions were nearly confirmed by my learning that they have a very prominent white tail band. In fact, the eagle feathers in Indian headresses, brown and white, were from juvenile goldens.

The specialist supposed the juveniles could have been ones released from Canada and en route south, but the one(s) I sighted were within the range that leads me to believe they could be last year's fledge-meaning a successful nest. I learned they would still be in juvenile feather .

I asked, "do they have a call?"

He answered, "yes, one. An alert call."

I asked, "what does it sound like?"

He said," a whistle, sort of like a red-tailed (hawk)."

Turning my mouth away from the telephone mouthpiece, I softly give the whistle.

"Yes, that's it!"

"That is the most powerful bit of evidence you could give to support your claim."

So, we wrapped up the call exchanging numbers and email addresses and my promise to email my photos.

A few hours later I was checking my inbox, and saw out the window behind the computer,(most probably) an eagle, large brown, and a flash of white, heading low, hard and fast to the south from over the house. I announced to the house what I had seen, and a few seconds later a small plane flew over in the same direction at a higher altitude.

Later I was doing some more research into the eagle surveys etc, and was sort of dismayed to discover that most of the the eagle surveys are done by air.

That guy probably RAN right over to the airport and hopped in his plane and flew down here after he got off the phone with me!!!

Hopefully good for the birds will come from this.

I am concerned because they seemed to be doing just fine when no one knew they were there.

Me and my big mouth :(