While I was looking over Lake Ontario from a building just east of the Pickering Nuclear Station, around 10:00 am this morning, a very large dark bird flapped along the shore from west to east then turned back and landed in a tree a little way from the shore, near my building.
I am just returning to birding after years of inactivity, but I would bet it was an immature Bald Eagle, nearing adulthood; I know it was an eagle. The bill was immediately noticeable as massive and very hooked, dark on top and yellower on the bottom, near the base. The bird itself was much bigger than a redtail. It was generally dark; when it perched it fluffed up scruffily, making it difficult to see a pattern. The breast showed a number of light and a few white feathers irregularly. The head was dark, but patchily speckled with tiny, close-set white spots, noticeably on the forehead, cheeks and throat, as if unopened feathers were pushing through. The tail, visible from the back as it perched, had dark feathers, with narrow lengthwise white stripes (NOT crosswise bars) from the base outwards about 2/3 of the tail length. Each stripe consisted of a white rhachis with some white on each side of it, but dark clearly showing between each white stripe. While I could see the rhaches clearly, I could not see whether these were individual feathers with dark edges, or white layered over dark feathers. Unfortunately my view of the bird in flight was interrupted by trees and the bird was silhouetted against a bright sky, so I could not see a pattern. Drive south on Brock Road in Pickering to the lights at Montgomery Park Road (last street before the Nuclear Plant entrance). Turn left and drive to the end of the road, where it crosses the waterfront trail. Monica Connolly Oshawa ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Jan 26 14:56:44 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from fep3.cogeco.net (smtp.cogeco.net [216.221.81.25]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C481064CAA for <[email protected]>; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:56:44 -0500 (EST) Received: from DELL (d36-222-154.home1.cgocable.net [24.36.222.154]) by fep3.cogeco.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 256D431E6; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:57:20 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Bob Sachs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Peter Good" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:57:21 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 cc: OntBirds <[email protected]> Subject: [Ontbirds]GOLDEN EAGLE over Billy Green Rd. Jan. 26, '05 X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 19:56:45 -0000 An immature GOLDEN EAGLE was seen flying over Billy Green Rd. shortly after noon. Observers were Bea & Jay McMahan, Faith Avis & Bob Sachs. Billy Green Rd. is located east of Perth Rd. (County Hwy 10) close to Buck Lake. Bob Sachs, Kingston, Ont.
