Subadult Golden Eagle

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Earlier today two Golden Eagles were seen from Holcim Wetlands--one that I thought was a juvenile as I could see white patches on the underside of each wing and some on tail. It was flying with another Golden Eagle that appeared to be an adult (more distant so features not clear). An hour or so later as I drove home I spotted 2 Golden Eagles flying together so I drove after to them to see if this was likely the same two (I was only about 10 miles from the first sighting so not a lot of Golden Eagles expected in that relatively small area). Bingo, I got close enough to see that one appeared to be an adult and the other had the white on it's underwings and tail as I had seen on the young bird earlier. I was able to get this photo of the young bird and it shows that the white patches on the underwings are limited but there is a large amount of white on the inner half of the tail so looks like it is a subadult I (an eagle in it's second year of life). This subadult Golden Eagle continued to fly in apparent harmony with the probably adult Golden Eagle. Then I saw what looked like a third Golden Eagle flying towards these two--see next post for what happens. SeEtta

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