Dear Raptor Lovers, I had to do a bit of driving for work Thursday, February 11th, 2010 and had the splendid good fortune to observe a magnificent juvenile Golden Eagle contouring in blue skies in the Forks of the Credit area SE of Orangeville, W of Caledon Village at 11:30 A.M. today.
It was catching some good air rising up out of the Credit River valley and contouring along effortlessly at about 60 km/h in a Northwesterly direction between 300 and 400 m West of Willoughby Road from just North of Charleston Sideroad/County Road 24 to just past Beechgrove Sideroad where it did a few circles to show off its large dark brown tail, half white to the base and dark brown wings with white patches at the base of the primaries above and below. The median secondary coverts were somewhat golden and the head was relatively small but at the distance I did not notice the golden nape because I was more focussed on the diagnostic white wing patches and white base of the tail. I was observing it with 8.5x42 binoculars and smiling broadly, while safely stopped on the (narrow) shoulder of the road, of course. Incidentally, I had just observed a Red-Tailed Hawk and a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk at 11:25 A.M. West of McLaren Road above the quarry NW of the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. I should drive for work more often ... Happy Valentine's Day, Chris Evans, Midhurst, Ontario -- Chris - The Dragonhunter's Apprentice _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
