This was actually on Wednesday, viewed from my hawk observation spot at Alley Creek (northern end of Alley Pond Park). The bird passed a good distance to the south of me, but I've seen enough Bald Eagles here to catch on to flight and shape differences in this case. I knew it was imperative to attempt getting pictures despite the distance involved. After cropping, photo editing, and zooming in on the pictures, what can be seen are white wing patches, both on the upper side and underside, in the places where they should be on a Golden. White can also be seen at the base of the tail underneath (can't see the upper side). There is a hint of lighter (golden) color on the top of the head. This was more evident in zooming in on original RAW files. The wing shape is also suggestive of Golden, particularly in the trailing edge to the base of the wing having a pinched in look.
I intended to share the pictures via the e-bird link. However, it appears that Golden Eagle is marked as a sensitive species, so it gets blocked from other viewers. Although as a transient bird, it isn't really a sensitive situation. Golden Eagle is quite rare on Long Island, only my second ever. Surprisingly, it can be debated whether it was even the rarest raptor in the boroughs portion of Long Island just that day. I don't know. There was a Burrowing Owl only a couple of years ago. But I guess a wintering Golden Eagle recently too. Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
