*ping* Bob the Falconer!

[rowangolightly]

I do believe I just saw a golden eagle on 121st street about a mile west of 225th Street. HUGE and golden with the hooked bill...he burst out of the field to my left and flew up over the van so closely that I literally ducked. Got a great view of his belly as he headed up over the trees on the other side of the road. I'd estimate about a 32-36" wing span....what a thrill!

Now to go press wedding tablecloths....

Comments

[docjeff.livejournal.com]

*envious look here*

Lots of little sparrows here (by their sound). They appear to not see the window, though. All the time they're bumping into it :)

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Not entirely sure but that's what he looked like!

I get ALL sorts of birds here at both the suet feeder (there's a female Downy Woodpecker at it right now as I type) and the two hummingbird feeders. I've been delighted to have a pair of Baltimore Oriole taking the nectar as well as three different kinds of hummingbirds.

Then I've got brown Thrashers, Carolina Chickadees, and about 8 other varieties that I love to watch come and go. I chase away the starlings when I see them there!

It's wonderful

[sir-umm.livejournal.com]

Very cool experience regardless of what species it was, however, unless you grossly underestimated the wing span that it is highly unlikely it was a golden eagle as they have wing spans approaching 7 feet. Also, golden eagles are apparently only very rarely seen east of the very western part of Oklahoma. That said, I am far from an expert on the subject and will gladly defer to Bob, but my guess would be that it was likely a red-tailed hawk.

I love watching birds of prey of all sorts. We have a much smaller bird that frequents our neighborhood that I have not positively identified yet. Clearly a raptor, and one that favors small birds as prey over rodents. It has taken a few shots at starlings and sparrows at our feeders. Just saw it again yesterday but it always seems to show up when I don't have binoculars handy. I'm thinking it's either a sharp-shinned hawk or a Cooper's hawk.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, even with the short glimpse I'm convince it wasn't a red-tail 'cause I'm very used to seeing them. This fella was HUGE!

[sir-umm.livejournal.com]

Maybe an immature bald eagle? Apparently they are often mistaken for golden eagles.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

I saw him from underneath and the side so I didn't see the to of his head at all. Becky says that Riley has seen a pair of Golden Eagles around here so who knows!

[sir-umm.livejournal.com]

That's awesome if that's really what it was. If there's a pair of golden eagles nesting in the area, I bet Bob's heard about them. It will be interesting to see what he thinks.

We once had a bald eagle fly over our car much higher than you described, probably 50-100 feet up, but it was midday on a bright sunny day and it's shadow went right across the hood of the car and scared the bejeezus out of us. Once we realized what it was, Adrienne had the window down and was hanging half out the window to get a good look while the car was still rollin' down the highway!

[mermaid2003.livejournal.com]

Cooper's Hawks do like feeding at bird feeders! There was one that hunted at mine for a few days, until my dog ran her off. (My dog is very protective of her birds!)

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

Ken, Sherry's husband was working on their old house in that area on Saturday, and said he saw 2 of them flying around. It's quite likely that you did indeed see one.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

VERY cool! It was entirely too big to be a red-tail. HUGE frikkin' bird!

[shackrlu.livejournal.com]

Actually Ken saw Bald Eagles. I have been seeing one Bald Eagle out there for a few years now, but I guess he brought a friend! The one I have been seeing has the white feathers on the head and everything.. Very big and VERY beautiful. I get excited every time it flies over. Now I'll be looking out for two of 'em.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Oh cool! That's the first time I've ever seen anything that big out that way and I drive up 121 all the time. Believe me, I'll be watching out more closely from here on!

LOL, it's just past "Gregory's Eggery" (which has wonderful fresh eggs, btw...)

[shackrlu.livejournal.com]

Ooh.. Thanks for the tip on Gregory's Eggery..Ken was getting us fresh eggs every week from a teacher at Kansas, Ok. schools while he was going there to work on their computers every Tuesday. Now that schools out, I'm already missing my fresh eggs!

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

They're really nice people too...

[mermaid2003.livejournal.com]

That's very cool! Remember that in raptors, the females are usually larger. There are also always color variants too--there used to be a female redtail who lived in the area of 435 and Quivira (when there were more fields and less &$#^%&) who had a yellow/orange tail. It was very obvious when she'd bank and turn. And yes, I made a point of looking for her for several years.

If you can catch them there, you'll like this site
http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/falconcameraSJ.htm

They've fledged, so it's harder to see them now, but they do keep coming back!

[achan-hiarusa.livejournal.com]

They don't read textbooks, but its such a waste of good eyesight. Xp

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what are they thinking, to not read the text books!

This fella was HUGE and you know I'm bad at judging distances. He looked like the google images I brought up of a golden eagle but I only saw him from the underneath and side. Please let me know if you see him, ok?

And yes, White Hart should be awesome this year!