[birding] odd plumage Bald Eagle

[Steve Seibel]

Hi Cheryl, the eagle does seem slightly odd.  The head looks
somewhat typical of the 4th year or "Osprey" plumage.  The breast and
back look quite typical of the second/ third year or "White Belly I/II"
plumages, as does the dark tail.  The extensive white on the wing seems
somewhat unusual for all of these plumages, but more typical of third-year
or younger than anything older.  My hunch is that it is a 3rd year bird with
some non-typical characteristics.  Thanks for sharing!  Steve Seibel,
Corvallis

On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 5:28 PM, David Irons <llsdirons at msn.com> wrote:

> Hi Cheryl,
>
> This bird is likely a 3rd year bird. Sibley illustrates this age in his
> initial big book field guide and it looks much like your image.  I also have
> another source that has a similar looking painting which calls the bird 2.5
> years old. It takes Bald Eagles seven years to reach full maturity with the
> clean white tail and clean white head. In between there are a bunch of
> different looks.
>
> Dave Irons
> Eugene, OR
>
> ------------------------------
> From: dirtgirl16cr125 at MSN.COM
> To: list at midvalleybirding.org
> Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:16:55 -0800
> Subject: [birding] odd plumage Bald Eagle
>
>
> I found this Eagle today on Tangent Drive near my house.  It had a
> remarkable amount of white especially on the back/nape area and underwing.
> I was only able to get a picture of the one view.  I was wondering if this
> was an odd plumage or just somewhere along the normal schedule of changes to
> adult plumage?
>
> Please take a look at the following link.
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/vgswallow16/3298227767/
>
> Cheryl Whelchel
> Tangent
>
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