Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Saturday, March 17, 2018

Looking For Gold !

We were looking for Gold.  Looking for thought to be rare Golden Eagles that is.  After taking a class on identifying immature Bald Eagles from  Golden Eagles,   the Troutbirders set out on their assigned route in Winona county . The National Eagle Center was sponsoring the effort to determine how many Golden Eagles actually winter in Minnesota.  This big eagle was suspected to  associate with the hill and valley country of the unglaciated portions of southeastern Minnesota, southwestern Wisconsin and north eastern Iowa. Our route was in Minnesota. We had a wonderful five hour outing. Eileen, from the Eagle center,  was a great mentor and guide. She is a volunteer  who works with Scott Mehus the Education Director. Scott is in charge of the Centers Golden Eagle research project.

Here Eileen is searching along ridge lines above and adjacent to goat prairies. Goat prairies are south facing slopes which are dry and generally treeless (except for red cedar) The pioneers named them goat prairies due to the steepness. Golden eagles like to soar above them which gives them an open shot at their prey which consists of small mammals and the occasional wild turkey. Apparently they like their meat fresh as they are not known to scavenge in this wooded country.

We clearly identified three Golden Eagles. One was mature and two first year goldens were also sighted. All three were soaring. We also saw several eagles perched on the inner portions of trees but distance made a positive identification impossible. The mature was identified by its dark coloration and the somewhat dihedral arch of its wings while soaring. The youngsters were playing chase and tag above us and the underneath white tail and wing markings were very clear.
 You might note that the head of the Golden is much smaller than the tail. In Bald Eagles the head and tail are approxiametly equal in size.

In addition, we counted 11 bald eagles (they are much more common along the Mississippi river), nine redtails, and two big flocks of wild turkeys and a herd of deer.

Another simple key to locating goldens is that if you see a flock of calm and reposed wild turkeys, it is unlikely a Golden Eagle is soaring nearby.
On the other hand, if they are fleeing in terror for cover, a Golden could be soaring above looking for a meal or Troutbirder might be driving down the road in their direction.  We were well satisfied to have spotted three Goldens on our outing, though memory took me back to the mountains above the Madison Valley in Montana where we saw several dozens.  Did these rare Minnesota visitors come from the Far West or someplace else? Only further research would provide the answer.  Tune in to our next post...:)

13 comments:

  1. Very interesting. I never realized there was so much to bird counting.

    I once heard an interview with the writer Margaret Atwood and they had reached her by phone while she was at a bird count. She chided the interviewer a little for interviewing her instead of being "up here where the action is."

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  2. That is a great shot of a golden eagle. I don’t even know if we have any around here. The bald eagles are plentiful here where I live now.

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  3. Hi TB - that's great you had your day out and your interaction with an expert in her field. I know there are eagles here - I must check out all the bird life ... but it's lovely to be able to see these birds overhead - cheers Hilary

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  4. That is a magnificent picture of the eagle in flight. I stared at it for a long time, glad to be able to study such a beautiful creature. Thank you. :-)

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  5. What a fun outing and thanks for sharing it.

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  6. Hi Ray, What a neat outing to go looking for the Golden Eagles. Thanks for sharing the story and photos. I did a little search on the web to see if we have Golden Eagles here in Seattle. Apparently they have been spotted here but rarely. I have a couple of Bald Eagles living somewhere in my neighborhood and finally got some photos of them which I plan to share on my next blog post. The photos are not near as good as yours, but at least they will help me recall and record seeing them. Thanks, as always, for sharing. Take care and have a good week ahead. John

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  7. That sounds like a fun day! I saw a Golden once in Minnesota...that is it. I saw a Bald Eagle today feasting on road kill.

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  8. Sounds interesting and lots to learn. We see both species here

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  9. How wonderful to see such lovely birds. I once saw a white eagle but that's the only one. I couldn't miss it as it flew right in front of my car. I was thrilled to see it albeit just a flash! Not a patch on your eagles, though.

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  10. Now you have me wondering if I might have seen a golden eagle and mistaken it for a young bald. Either way, they excite me and you were so lucky to see so many of both. Plus, always love watching turkeys.

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  11. This is the kind of stuff I eat up, love doing research. I wasn't aware of them in your area.

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  12. That was a great experience. I bet you will be seeing a lot more on your own in the future because of your expert, too.

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