Greetings birders!

It has taken me almost a week to figure out that we had a GOLDEN EAGLE at Slate Run Metro Park (part of the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks) last Saturday, January 14 2012.  It flew over the wetland during a program I was leading and at the time I thought it was an immature bald eagle.  But a visitor got a picture of it as it was soaring through the sky (and through the snow) and it definitely looks like a golden.  You can even see a bit of the gold sheen on its neck.  

As I've done a little more research on goldens in the past few days, I have learned that they exhibit a few characteristics that I actually noticed during the initial sighting (but didn't know nearly enough about goldens to even think about what I was noticing).  They soar with their wings at a slight up angle (almost but not quite like a turkey vulture) and their heads are rather "small" compared to how large a bald eagle's head looks.  Other birders, who helped me confirm the golden via the visitor's picture, also noted a slight band on the tail and a "bulge" in the secondary wing feathers.  

The eagle has not been seen since last Saturday, but I only know of one person that has looked for it since then.  Slate Run Metro Park is 7 miles south of Canal Winchester, southeast of Columbus.  Go to http://www.metroparks.net for directions and info.  If you click on the Facebook logo on the Metro Parks homepage, it will take you to our recent posts and there is the picture of the golden eagle on there.

So sorry for the late post, but it took a while to get the picture, take good looks at it, and get extra confirmation.  Happy Birding!

Andrea (Haslage) Krava
Slate Run Metro Park Hub Naturalist

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