Eagles or Hawks or Vultures?
We've been spending time at Lake Groton for about seven years now. We often hear our visiting guests claim they saw a Bald Eagle flying while they were out kayaking. I've always had my doubts though.
The unfortunate fact is that there probably are no Bald Eagles in the area. Vermont actually has a Bald Eagle Recovery Plan in effect because these birds are so exceptionally rare in our neck of the woods. There are a few known nesting pairs of Bald Eagles in Vermont (mostly around Lake Champlain where the water does not ice-over in winter) but no known Bald Eagles at Lake Groton. These birds are tracked closely by numerous sources and especially if there are nests. Knowing the exact number of Bald Eagles in all of Vermont and where they are located is important for this program. In all the reports I can find, the few Bald Eagles in Vermont are still near the area where they were introduced at the beginning of this program... near a wildlife refuge in Addison.
Lake Groton is ideally suited for Bald Eagles for many reasons but the recovery program may need a few more years or a decade more of maturity before we see Bald Eagles in many areas of the state.
I have mixed feelings about the prospect of Bald Eagles nesting and residing on Lake Groton. One disadvantage to a growing population of Bald Eagles would be the impact on our loon population... these huge birds of prey are agile and aggressive predators and do negatively impact loon populations by eating loon eggs, loon young and even loon adolescents. In reality, even an adult loon would be no match for the mighty Bald Eagle. An adult loon, however, would be adept at evading capture by utilizing its amazing swimming capabilities.
A couple of weeks ago, I was actually unsure of myself when I saw a few large birds of prey circling over my kayak at dizzying heights. I snapped a few photos in the hope that I could get a closer look. I have to say that, at first glance, I was very unsure about whether I saw an eagle... or a hawk... or a vulture... so I do understand how someone could incorrectly identify these different types of large birds.
When I uploaded the photos to my laptop, I zoomed in to get a closer look... something looked odd to me... instead of seeing the very noticeable beak, thick neck and large head of an eagle, I saw a tiny head and almost no neck whatsoever... color was difficult to see because the sky was very bright so the birds in the photos were a bit silhouetted but I pushed some sliders around in my editing program and found a much better view... yeah... these birds of prey were just the usual ugly-duckling Turkey Vulture.
These birds have large wingspans but have what looks like a tiny head covered with an ugly shell-like red helmet... and it appears as though it has no neck. These were definitely Turkey Vultures. Uggg.
I did, however, manage to capture a few nice photos as they circled overhead though...
The unfortunate fact is that there probably are no Bald Eagles in the area. Vermont actually has a Bald Eagle Recovery Plan in effect because these birds are so exceptionally rare in our neck of the woods. There are a few known nesting pairs of Bald Eagles in Vermont (mostly around Lake Champlain where the water does not ice-over in winter) but no known Bald Eagles at Lake Groton. These birds are tracked closely by numerous sources and especially if there are nests. Knowing the exact number of Bald Eagles in all of Vermont and where they are located is important for this program. In all the reports I can find, the few Bald Eagles in Vermont are still near the area where they were introduced at the beginning of this program... near a wildlife refuge in Addison.
Lake Groton is ideally suited for Bald Eagles for many reasons but the recovery program may need a few more years or a decade more of maturity before we see Bald Eagles in many areas of the state.
I have mixed feelings about the prospect of Bald Eagles nesting and residing on Lake Groton. One disadvantage to a growing population of Bald Eagles would be the impact on our loon population... these huge birds of prey are agile and aggressive predators and do negatively impact loon populations by eating loon eggs, loon young and even loon adolescents. In reality, even an adult loon would be no match for the mighty Bald Eagle. An adult loon, however, would be adept at evading capture by utilizing its amazing swimming capabilities.
A couple of weeks ago, I was actually unsure of myself when I saw a few large birds of prey circling over my kayak at dizzying heights. I snapped a few photos in the hope that I could get a closer look. I have to say that, at first glance, I was very unsure about whether I saw an eagle... or a hawk... or a vulture... so I do understand how someone could incorrectly identify these different types of large birds.
When I uploaded the photos to my laptop, I zoomed in to get a closer look... something looked odd to me... instead of seeing the very noticeable beak, thick neck and large head of an eagle, I saw a tiny head and almost no neck whatsoever... color was difficult to see because the sky was very bright so the birds in the photos were a bit silhouetted but I pushed some sliders around in my editing program and found a much better view... yeah... these birds of prey were just the usual ugly-duckling Turkey Vulture.
These birds have large wingspans but have what looks like a tiny head covered with an ugly shell-like red helmet... and it appears as though it has no neck. These were definitely Turkey Vultures. Uggg.
I did, however, manage to capture a few nice photos as they circled overhead though...
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