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Golde Eagle at Congaree Swamp National Mounment - 3/9/2003



While birding from the Congaree Bluffs Heritage Preserve on the Congaree
River at the edge of the CSNM I observed a 2nd year Golden Eagle.  I first
spotted the bird sitting atop a tree on the Richland County side of the
Congaree River about 250-300 meters away.  Looking through my Kowa 20X60
spotting scope, the first obvious field mark was the golden colored nape, it
looked kind of like a dirty blond wig extending from the top of its head,
pulled behind its "ears" and extending down to the top of its shoulders.
Its face and and its entire underside was brown all the way down to its
legs.  Also obvious while the bird was perched was a pale brown color to the
top of its shoulders, which I guess might be  the carpal area (?).  I viewed
the eagle through my scope for about 10 minutes while perched and watched it
for another 10-15 minutes as it took off and slowly wheeled away.
In flight the golden nape was even more evident and contrasted markedly with
its dark brown back.  Above and below there was also a pale white area at
the base of its tail that extended about to the edge of its undertail
coverts, much like the juvenile pictured in Sibley on page 126, but not near
as pure white as that plate shows.  I say the bird was a 2nd year because
below there were no white wing patches evident, but there were faint white
wing patches visible from above, but again not as pure white as Sibleys
juvenile.  It also had a head much smaller than that of a Bald Eagle, and
flew with a slight dihedral, not near as flat-winged as a Bald Eagle but not
as pronounced as a Turkey Vulture, either, and did show moderately bulging
secondaries, but I can't say that they looked any more prominent than on any
Bald Eagle I have seen.  It's important to note that I have never seen a
Golden Eagle before so I have no prior field experience with it, but I am
very familiar with Bald Eagles of all ages and plumages and nothing I saw
made me think I could be looking at a Bald Eagle.  It was about 3:30pm when
I first saw the bird.  Man, am I jacked.

Mike Turner
Columbia, SC