My First Golden Eagle

I wasn't back from my Alaska cruise much longer than a week when I found myself driving through Western Colorado.  The snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains' San Juan Range lay behind me, the canyons and deserts surrounding Moab in Utah straight ahead.  In between stretched miles of rangeland and crop fields.  Red-winged blackbirds were easy to identify as they flew manically between their perches on fenceposts and power lines.  But it was one lone, swarthy bird, especially large and still, sitting in a leafless tree on the side of the road, that quite suddenly grabbed my attention.  I would later be thrilled to discover it was my first ever sighting of a golden eagle.

In my photos and on the internet over the next several days, I obsessed over ceres, boots, and napes, a few of the details that would confirm my sighting was indeed this raptor.  The time I spent analyzing the pictures was infinitely longer than the minute I spent slowing down my speeding SUV, turning it around, parking it in some grass, and walking along the shoulder-less rural road to get a better view.  The bird appeared massive, standing out so prominently in a desiccated tree that was probably closer to dead than budding on a late spring morning. 

I had just given up on Norwood, several miles behind me and the last community of note in the area, as a good place to grab a quick lunch.  Naturista, the next town on the map and still miles away, was really in my sites as I tried to assuage pangs of hunger.  But earlier that morning in Durango, I had actually thought about golden eagles.  

Having just returned from a cruise in Southeast Alaska and Vancouver Island in British Columbia, I had witnessed countless bald eagles.  On my ship's arrival in Ketchikan, I had even seen four of them soaring together like vultures over the town's surrounding mountainscape.  However in Durango, where I had seen a wide variety of birdlife along the Animas River that was flowing heavy with spring snowmelt, I hadn't observed a single bald eagle.

Of course I wasn't surprised there were none of these eagles throughout the parched scrubland of the vast Navajo Nation, where I had accumulated most of my miles on the drive to Southwest Colorado.  Bald eagles tend to live near wetlands, where they feed on fish.  And that's exactly why I was disappointed not to see any in Durango, and started thinking of golden eagles instead.

Had I not taken the scenic route to Moab, up and over the San Juan Range through Silverton, Ouray, and Ridgeway, and instead followed the much shorter and faster route through Cortez, I'd have never found myself near Norwood at all.  And I'd have not photographed this specific eagle or, very likely, any at all.  But was it actually a golden eagle?

Of course I know that a bald eagle sports a distinctive white-feathered head and has a prominent yellow beak.  However the bird doesn't fully appear that way until it's more than two years old.  As a result, young bald eagles can look a lot like young golden eagles.  That's why I focused on my subject's cere, boots, and nape.

Its cere, the upper section of its beak where its nostrils lie, was distinctly yellow-colored.  In addition, its legs were feathered, which makes some people call it booted.  And of course, the back of its neck, its nape, was golden.  If my subject were an immature bald eagle the color of its cere wouldn't have been very different from the rest of its beak; its legs would have shown skin rather than feathers; and its nape would have been duller or mottled, depending on its age.  

My golden eagle, with its gleaming neck feathers, didn't tolerate my attention very long at all.  It soon hopped from its perch and flew out over the adjacent field.  Maybe it was hunting, as a much smaller, quite agitated bird seemed to be in very close proximity as I attempted some last shots.  The blurry results showed not only an impressive seven-foot wingspan, but also white tail feathers demarcated by a black terminal band.  It was an additional piece of evidence proving that my lifer was still immature, but also, without a doubt, my first golden eagle.

Immature golden eagle near Norwood, Colorado.

Immature golden eagle near Norwood, Colorado.

Immature golden eagle near Norwood, Colorado.

Immature golden eagle near Norwood, Colorado.