Sunday, January 11, 2015 Golden Eagle juvenile

Seward, Alaska

The unusual GOLDEN EAGLE juvenile, beautiful and sleek, sat on a thick cable below the power line just yards from the highway north of the Lagoon this afternoon. What a joy to admire this raptor so close!

The perfect gold-tipped feathers on the head would be the envy of a professional hair stylist. Its dark brown eyes were alert but calm, studying the surroundings. Its wings hung limp but slightly outstretched, drying like laundry on a line, the white underwing patches matching the white tail with its dark border. Bold yellow talons casually gripped the cable, their power temporarily at ease.

A disheveled young BALD EAGLE perched in a spruce a short distance away, out of sight behind the row of intervening trees and shrubs. It called out, every now and then, as if to announce its presence to the young intruder.

Perhaps it knows that this is Bald Eagle country, of ocean, rivers, and salmon. The Golden bird of the mountains and open country did not migrate, and is now forced to scrounge out a living eating salmon bones and whatever else it can find until spring. For once, I hope there are enough feral rabbits still around to feed this magnificent being.

Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter




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