Date: 8/24/26 9:12 am From: Ken Miracle via groups.io <chukar28...> Subject: Re: [IBLE] Golden Eagle vs Great Blue Heron
Cliff, I have not spent nearly as much time as you there but the only Goldens I saw there were a couple up on the top near where the access road starts down to the TNC camp at least where it used to be. I have not been back there for about 7 years and the 2 TNC empoloyees that I traveled with and set my schedule are no longer with TNC one retired and the other moved to Figi … so I have not kept up on the status of the old TNC camp in the Canyon.
> On Aug 24, 2026, at 9:32 AM, Cliff Weisse via groups.io <cliffandlisa...> wrote:
>
> 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.jpeg><Z91_0880.jpeg><Z91_0883.jpeg><Z91_1879.jpeg><Z91_8787.jpeg><Z91_9176.jpeg><Z91_9183.jpeg><Z91_9186.jpeg>
>>
>>> On Aug 24, 2026, at 7:51 AM, John Schmidt via groups.io <jsecho03...> <mailto:<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...> <mailto:<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...> <mailto:<cliffandlisa...> >
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
