Date: 8/24/26 8:32 am From: Cliff Weisse via groups.io <cliffandlisa...> Subject: Re: [IBLE] Golden Eagle vs Great Blue Heron
FWIW, I've been guiding on the South Fork of the Snake since 1989 and I've never seen a Golden Eagle down low along the river. There are indeed Goldens nesting in the canyon section and when I see them they're invariably soaring way up high. My money is on juvenile Bald Eagle.
Cliff
On 8/24/26 09:21AM, Ken Miracle via groups.io wrote: > What a cool encounter no matter which Eagle it was. A Golden Eagle > there would be less likely than a Juvenile or Immature Bald Eagle. > Also Bald Eagles are much more likely to be harassing Great Blue > Herons and Ospreys. Could you see a golden nape on the eagle? Or was > it close enough with legs extended to see if it had feathers all the > way down the legs to the feet a Golden has that but not a Bald. If > there was any white on the undersides of the bird where was it. An > immature Golden will have white patches at the base of the primaries > in the wings and at the base of the tail an Adult Golden will not have > any white. The beak on a Golden is also shorter/smaller than the more > elongated beak of a Bald Eagle. A Juvenile, hatch year, Bald Eagle > will have a very dark head and body with varying degrees of white in > the underside of the wings and tail but the white will not be in the > same places as an immature Golden. > > I spent quite a bit of time over there volunteering with The Nature > Conservancy in my first 10 years of retirement. Most of the time out > of their camp in the canyon stretch. Yes I did get a chance to fish > once in a while. > > For reference here some photos I have taken of Bald Eagles at the age > when they are most often mistaken for Golden Eagles. > > _KMM3192.jpegZ91_0880.jpegZ91_0883.jpegZ91_1879.jpegZ91_8787.jpegZ91_9176.jpegZ91_9183.jpegZ91_9186.jpeg > >> On Aug 24, 2026, at 7:51 AM, John Schmidt via groups.io >> <jsecho03...> wrote: >> >> Saw a pretty incredible, dramatic episode while floating the South >> Fork of the Snake River the other day. That river is loaded with Bald >> Eagles, Osprey and other large birds. So seeing two large birds >> flying towards us wasn't out of the ordinary... until they were >> almost upon us and we saw, what I'm pretty sure was a Golden Eagle >> attacking, at high speed, a Great Blue Heron. At the last second, >> maybe 40' above our raft, the eagle broke off the chase and the heron >> flew safely away. One of those "did we really just see that?" moments. > > Ken Miracle > <chukar28...> > 208-570-2780 > "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming > from us, but our sufficiency is from God" 2COR 3:5 > >
-- Cliff and Lisa Weisse Island Park, Idaho <cliffandlisa...>
