October 17th, 2005. Whately, MA.
| Golden Eagle Aquila chysaetos. Juvenile.
| Whately/Hatfield - the former Pilgrim Airfield (08:35 - 10:00hrs);
Good numbers of shorebirds in the flooded fields plus a lot of
migration overhead, most of which I didn’t attempt to count but
certainly involving American Robin, Cedar Waxwings and Yellow-rumped
Warblers in good numbers. There was also a surprisingly strong of
passage of raptors to the SSW over the open farmland as follows;
GOLDEN EAGLE
- 1 superb juvenile, intially low and probably taking off from a
roosting spot, slowly gaining height and giving very good views.
Drifted south towards a soaring juvenile Bald Eagle.
In view for six minutes (09:10 - 09:16hrs). I managed to grab a few
images through my binoculars, though the bird looks uniformly black in
these because it was rising to my east and was backlit.
However, the white patches at base of the primaries and at the base of
the tail were very obvious in the field. The images convey an
impression of proportions and flight profile.
Bald Eagle - 2 flew SSW (juvenile and full adult).
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 35 SSW in 75 minutes. Could have been a lot more had I been focused on counting raptors.
Cooper’s Hawk - 2 SSW
Northern Harrier - 3 SSW
Merlin - 3 SSW
Red-tailed Hawk - 2 SSW.
The raptor migration watch points will no doubt have recorded some impressive totals today.
| | Taken using Canon Powershot A-95 through Leica binoculars. |
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