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Immature or juvenile bald eagle - Eastern Ontario, Canada (1 Viewer)

Gordon W

Well-known member
Four days ago in eastern Ontario, Canada I saw this young bald eagle being mobbed by a small bird, but can't tell if the eagle is immature or a juvenile. Is there enough detail in this bad image quality shot to determine which it is?
 

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I don't have anything to add regarding the precise age of this young eagle but I will just point out that Juvenile usually refers to a bird in the plumage that it came out of the nest in, while immature refers to any plumage state before reaching adult plumage. So juvenile can be thought of as one (the first) stage of immature
 
As Avery suggests, it can't be a juvenile. Certainly immature though but I doubt there's anough reliable detail visible to age it precisely. If the bill becoming paler is any more than a photographic effect I'd suggest 3cy+
 
Image seems to be various shades of purple and orange. I certainly don't see any yelllow on the bill, which would indeed indicate an older bird (maybe 3 years old). Bill looks dark to me if I had to guess. Just maybe the throat and cap are a little lighter than the (darker feathers of) the wings; I can't judge the tail color at all. It's certainly not a full adult and I'd guess about 1 to 2 years old.
 

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