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Golden Eagle? Findhorn Valley, Scotland (1 Viewer)

D

dandydan

New member
Hello all.

I've been looking at this forum for some years but this is alas my first post.

I've been to the Findhorn Valley in Inverness-shire a couple of times now and I was there yesterday. I was looking at a bird above a ridge (the bottom one in my photo) and had just come to the conclusion that it was 'just' a buzzard when the bird at the top of the photo flew into view.

I'm pretty confident it's a Golden Eagle but I thought I'd share this to see what anyone else thought? I'm sorry, I know the photo isn't great. It was taken on my iPhone, through my binoculars and then I've pinch zoomed it to take this screenshot. Given all that it's possibly not that bad!

Cheers

Dan
 

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Thanks Rich.

When it was panning around the wings were far more ‘rectangular’ than what I think a buzzard should be. The finger feathers at the ends were also far more pronounced.
 
I read on the BBC that there were about 280 pairs in Scotland in 2015. I don't know if any are located near to where this bird was spotted.
 
Just to the north of this location is Inverness and the Black Isle. The Black Isle was, I believe, the first of the release areas in Scotland for Red Kite. Red Kite are plentiful on the isle and can also be seen south down towards Strathspey. I've not personally seen them in the Findhorn Valley but it's well within potential location. As for the bird in the photo... Tricky. Doesn't seem to much size difference between the two birds... If the first bird (lower right) is just a buzzard then I'm not sure the second bird is big enough.
Ian
 
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ClarkWGriswold said:
I'm pretty certain I've seen Kite in the valley but I don't think it is one.

Rich
Click to expand...

From the RSPB

'The Scottish population is centred around the release sites in Dumfries and Galloway, Stirling-shire and west Perthshire, around Black Isle in Ross-shire, and on the outskirts of Aberdeen City'

Hadn't realised that there had been a release programme in Scotland.


A
 
Defo wasn’t a kite.

Regarding seeing those in Scotland, I saw quite a few just after Christmas in the valley going up from Comrie to Ben Chonzie in Perthshire.
 
Hi. Can't be totally sure from that photo but looks like a Golden eagle. They're certainly there in that valley though it's never a certainty that you'll see them. Forget the reference to kite as it's clearly not a kite although on my last trip to Findhorn about 4 years ago I did indeed see a Red Kite so they have obviously moved in to that area.
 
Thanks

If I’m honest I’m pretty darn confident it was a goldie. I know the photo is rubbish but I was hoping someone with more knowledge would have been able to id it even with the poor photo.

It was just so much bigger than the other bird which I was pretty sure was a buzzard. The wings were so much broader and the shiloutte as it panned around certainly matched a golden eagle.
 
denisparkes said:
Hi. Can't be totally sure from that photo but looks like a Golden eagle. They're certainly there in that valley though it's never a certainty that you'll see them. Forget the reference to kite as it's clearly not a kite although on my last trip to Findhorn about 4 years ago I did indeed see a Red Kite so they have obviously moved in to that area.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can dismiss the reference to kite in this situation. The bird looks more Red Kite than Golden Eagle, in my opinion. (and that's all it is my opinion) Red Kite in the field can seem quite a bit larger than Common Buzzard. The bird in question just doesn't look square enough in the wing and the tail looks good for kite when the picture is enlarged on screen. But then it could all be down to aberration.
 
dandydan said:
Thanks

If I’m honest I’m pretty darn confident it was a goldie. I know the photo is rubbish but I was hoping someone with more knowledge would have been able to id it even with the poor photo.

It was just so much bigger than the other bird which I was pretty sure was a buzzard. The wings were so much broader and the shiloutte as it panned around certainly matched a golden eagle.
Click to expand...

No offence meant - especially from me as I've uploaded my fair share of rubbish photos to this forum - but 'someone with more knowledge' would still struggle from the photo you have submitted.

If you think it was a goldie then fair enough, but if you want a reasoned critique of what bird it could be from your photo then I think the forum members have been more than knowledgable in this quest.
 
dandydan said:
Thanks Rich.

When it was panning around the wings were far more ‘rectangular’ than what I think a buzzard should be. The finger feathers at the ends were also far more pronounced.
Click to expand...

Looking at your image, although admittedly it is not of great quality, I form an impression of the bird on the right being like a buzzard definitely.

On the other hand your verbal description of the bird on the upper left having more 'rectangular' wings does seem to concur with what one can see on the photo I think. Do any other forum members concur on this point? If so it could well indicate a strong leaning toward Golden Eagle according to comparison photo's I see when I do a google search search. IMHO anyway.

Also I formed the impression in regard to the bird on the right that it seems to have a wing length to width ratio greater than what one commonly sees on the Common Buzzard and when I look at photos of Golden Eagles in flight I see a similar difference in ratio of wing length to width to what one typically sees in images of the Common Buzzard in flight. Still I am not an expert. Can anyone else comment on this point please?
 
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Worth remembering that this is the same area where there's been a rash of recent 'disappearances' of radio-tagged Golden Eagles - there's one or two grouse estates been slaughtering eagles on an industrial scale in the area. I'll be surprised if there's many left now in this once well-known eagle watching area.
 
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