Hello All,
Many thanks to John Petruzzi for his earlier post (Tuesday, 12/27) about a
juvenile Golden Eagle that he found at Mosquito Creek WA. His description and
movie clip (frame-by-frame) were convincing enough for us to make the trip over
there earlier today. See John's earlier post for this location, but for those
who have ever been shorebirding at MCWA in the Fall, this is the same area. We
arrived there just past noon to find the parking area, at the end of the dirt
road, nearly filled with cars and pick-up trucks. The big attraction, however,
was ice fishing and not news of the rare Golden Eagle. I'd guess that
the beautiful, sunny day with very light winds would help to explain the large
numbers of fishermen, and as it turned out, may also have helped with our
successful sighting.
After talking with a couple of the Walleye fishermen, we walked out to the
end of the roadway and scoped out the Canada Geese that were congregated around
an open-water area to the Northeast. I'd estimate that there were at least 1500
Canadas out there, but no Eagles were on the ice today, though we found one
adult and one immature bird (both BAEA's) perched in nearby trees. As we were
scoping out the area, John arrived and, after introductions, we all proceeded
out onto the ice for a more strategic view of the area. During the next 45
minutes or so, 2 or 3 young bald eagles were seen flying to the North and then
Doreene spotted two eagles flying high in the distance. They both turned out to
be BAEA's, but were circling as if on a thermal (yes, thermals do occur during
the Winter, even with below freezing temperatures!). This was at about 1:30 PM,
and by 1:45 PM or so, there were 5 eagles circling, then seven of them, and one
of them was clearly the Golden Eagle! Although at this distance the golden neck
feathers were not visible (as John had seen on Tuesday, when the birds were on
the ice near the Canada's), the expected white under-wing markings and white
base of the tail feathers were easy to see through the scope as the bird
circled. We watched them circle and interact with one another for at least 10
more minutes as the thermal carried them away and to the North of us. Thinking
that we might catch up with them by driving N on Hoagland Road, we walked back
to the parking area, loaded our gear into the cars and headed that way, but
after a pretty thorough search of the area, we located only a pair of adult Bald
Eagles.
My guess is that these Eagles (at least 11 of them) are over-wintering in
this area and will continue there (including the Golden) as long as the food
supply holds out. I'd also guess that unless it's a very sunny day, you
shouldn't expect to see them circling high in the sky as there will be no
thermals, which allows them to help conserve energy. They do seem to be
attracted to the Canada Geese and perhaps the open water, so if the geese remain
there and continue to keep the water open, this will probably be the best place
to find them... on the ice or perched in trees surrounding that area.
Best of luck, and if you re-locate this beautiful Ohio rarity, please
share your sighting (and others) here on Ohio Birds!
More later,
Dan
Dan Sanders
42 Scioto St
Powell, OH 43065
614-596-LOON (5666)
<[log in to unmask]>
"When a man destroys a piece of art we call him a vandal; when he destroys
a work of nature we call him a developer." Anonymous
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