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 ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]