Occasionally during hawk migration season, you can spot a Golden Eagle. But be sure not to confuse them with the similar looking Turkey Vultures. Iain gives you surefire tips for correctly identifying this rare visitor.
Send your natural history questions to us at somethingwild@nhpr.org!
Hi! I'm Iain MacLeod from the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, bringing you Something Wild.
Every fall, hawk migration season brings a couple of rare treats for bird-watchers. Birds that breed north of us and are moving south give people the opportunity to see species that are not otherwise found in New Hampshire.
One of those birds, and a real treat for us, is the Golden Eagle.
That is, if you can identify it. Golden Eagles are often mistaken for turkey vultures or immature bald eagles and can be very hard to differentiate.
These enormous, dark-brown birds have shorter heads and necks than bald eagles, and do not have the bald heads of turkey vultures. Golden eagles often soar for long periods of time without flapping, usually holding their wings at a slightly upward angle, which is why many people confuse them with vultures, which do the same thing. Eagles most often travel alone, so if you see a group, it's probably vultures. Immature eagles have white wing patches and a white band on the tail.
Golden Eagles have never been common here, but they did use to breed in New Hampshire. Three nest sites were documented in the 1800s, and one site was used as late as the 1950s and 60s. They haven't bred here, though, for many years. These birds prefer remote, mountainous terrain with cliffs far from human activity, and those conditions are getting increasingly hard to find in New Hampshire. In fact, while they are common in the West, they are scarce anywhere east of the Mississippi. There are still a few pairs that nest in Maine and eastern Canada.
But even though the chance of New Hampshire hosting a breeding pair is remote, there are still birds heading south in the fall that we can all enjoy - if we can find them.
If you have a natural history question that you would like answered on Something Wild, email us at somethingwild@ nhpr.org.
Something Wild is a joint production of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, New Hampshire Public Radio, and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. For Something Wild, I'm Iain MacLeod.
