Five Goldens Eagles

Golden Eagle Pair Maine

Tree51809

Sharp eyed Willow spotted the Golden pair and I pulled over and started wildly grabbing pics.

The goldens have been very skittish this year-I suspect the small plane that has been flying low over their range has stirred them up. I am fairly sure it is F & W trying to confirm my report from last year.

Finally the last week or two we have seen them in their regular old haunts-but I don't think they nested this year, since we have always spotted them in pairs, and frequently in a group of four. Two pairs, or previous offspring?

Today we spotted the senior pair-because they are more familiar with us and stayed closer, although still out of rifle shot, I expect, although I am not a hunter, so I wouldn't know.

As I started to pull away, Willow rolled down her window and started giving the alarm call. I asked her why, and she said she felt they were at risk where they were cruising along the road, and wanted to warn them to move back. Gotta love that girl. :-X

A Golden Day

We saw the Golden Eagles today! It was a perfect day for flying; great visibility and clear air.
We had just pulled back into the laundrymat, and a fellow laundry washer pulled in right after to see me shading my eyes staring up at the sky.

He looked a bit puzzled and looked up, and I explained that I had just been watching a pair of Goldens. We struck up a conversation and I was suprised to see that the insignia on his shirt said, "Alaska Raptor Center" with a picture of a Bald Eagle on it.

While we were chatting away discovering mutual aquaintences, the Goldens returned a bit higher up, and my new friend started ransacking his Land Rover for his binocs, at which point the Goldens soared off again.

We exchanged phone numbers with plans to share some favorite hiking trails in the future. He chastised me for using the dryers (hey, I had six dryers full-way too much to hang up at home) and then I told him we took advantage of the drying time to go for a hike. We said goodbye, and the saplings and I took the upper power line trail across the highway, which was a new one for us.

One of the Goldens flew over us to cross the road, and after a bit uphill hike, we saw the other Golden come out of the treeline and head away from us. Apparently they decided to split up and hunt solo.

We saw moosetrack as large as my hand, and some feline track that might have been Lynx, although it looked rather small.

Once we crested the hill, the view to the West was amazing-we could see Mountains that must be part of the White Mountain range in New Hampshire.

The wildflowers were still blooming;wild morning glory, hawkweed, New England Asters. And the local butterfly population was enjoying them more than we were.

We are actually starting to enjoy laundry day now with our educational hikes. Peko saw me loading the laundry up this morning, and jumped in the back seat, waiting expectently.

NO way was he missing his nature hike! ;)

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 :(

I could wait a lifetime for a moment like this

Golden Eagles Tree