Date Added
March 25, 2024
03:09 PM UTC
Date Added
March 18, 2024
02:12 AM UTC
Date Added
August 17, 2022
10:47 AM CEST
Description
Found on the watersurface but didnt seem to belong there...
Place
Private
Date Added
March 4, 2024
09:34 PM PST
Date Added
February 29, 2024
01:07 PM HST
Date Added
January 28, 2020
03:32 PM CST
Date Added
January 13, 2024
05:09 PM UTC
Description
This bird surprised me while I was trying to get a pic of those squirrels as they climbed higher into that tree! Just cruising north directly over the river.
I realize these are terrible photos, and I would not blame anyone for busting this down to Accipitridae based only on these, but hear me out for reasons why I think this was a bald eagle!
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Almost impossible to tell scale from these pics but in person this bird was VERY large, turkey vulture to blue heron sized wingspan (though clearly it is neither of those), large enough to make another person on the path with me exclaim out loud when it flew past. A very big female red tail hawk had a nest close to here in 2022 (pictures of nest and fledglings when I get that far in my backlog…) and this was bigger than her.
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Big ol’ head/beak!
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Much too backlit even in person to be able to see the color of the beak, feet, or even head for sure, but belly and under-wings definitely all dark, and under-tail paler. Even if head not white, could be an immature bird who just hasn’t “gone bald” yet.
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Wings held pretty flat during brief soaring between flaps (that’s the distant circled shape behind the trees in the last pic)
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a golden eagle might also be this big and dark with a pale tail, but baldies are MUCH more common in the Midwest (all over Indiana when I visit family there) so even though I’ve never seen one in Chicago, that’s the stronger probability.
Let me know what you think!
Date Added
December 2, 2023
09:59 AM CST
Date Added
September 10, 2023
11:38 AM PDT
Date Added
October 2, 2023
04:19 AM UTC
Date Added
June 6, 2023
11:58 AM UTC
What
Merlin
(Falco columbarius)
Date Added
October 6, 2023
03:47 PM CDT
Date Added
May 24, 2023
01:42 PM CDT
Date Added
May 9, 2023
09:56 PM CDT
Date Added
May 28, 2023
07:55 PM UTC
Date Added
April 1, 2023
09:05 AM CDT