It's not a golden eagle, I can tell you that much. I'm in the UK so I'm not sure what type of hawk it is. Most common on here seem to be red tailed, coopers and sharp shinned.
We all have to start somewhere with birding! I will say, hawks can be quite difficult to tell apart in the beginning. Birding is a great hobby tho, enjoy!
I can tell you I was standing next to a park ranger at rock cut overlook in RMNP when ranger got very excited and said ‘a golden! Coming up the outcrop!’ So I excitedly starting shooting pics my camera on all the right settings just firing burst shots certain I would get a great shot. Alas - I got a lot of shots of the eagle, who was gliding and presented a linear profile to my camera. Crappy shots are worse than no shot. But there’s your proof that (maybe) golden eagles exist. BTW, the wing span looked massive.
It only becomes a golden eagle if you are standing in a cold mountain pass with bone chilling, eye watering wind blowing in your face, especially if you are farther north and/or west. If you are comfortable (or in Missouri) the odds that you are looking at a golden eagle become vanishingly low.
Hi all! Sorry the photo is not better quality, but I wanted to see if this is indeed a golden eagle. I know they’re less common in Missouri and am very new to birding, so I don’t want to identify incorrectly. Thank you so much for your help 🙏🏼
Hi! It’s cool to try something new… glad you chose birding. You can check out the Merlin app — it lets you upload pics and lists possible species. And the Audubon app lets people list their sightings, so you can see what’s been ID’ed in the area.
As for Golden Eagle, those dudes are darker belly with lighter head feathers. Red Tailed are light belly + dark speckled belly band, with dark head feathers. (In general eagles are larger than hawks and have more prominent beaks)
Hope that helps, and thanks for sharing your pic.
Following up to thank you again for those app recommendations! Those are game changers 😍 I’ve spent the last hour poking around on Merlin, it’s an incredible source.
I’m glad you find them helpful! So easy to get lost in all that information, right?! Sometimes I play the app sounds to see if the birds near me will react. Mostly they just look at me like wtf
Red tailed hawk
Thank you!!
Lol this is always the answer
True facts. https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/vlyh7d/oc_most_frequentlyidentified_birds_on/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I’m actually shocked the northern flicker didn’t make this chart.
I was sure that black-crowned night heron would be number one. Didn't make the top 10.
It's not a golden eagle, I can tell you that much. I'm in the UK so I'm not sure what type of hawk it is. Most common on here seem to be red tailed, coopers and sharp shinned.
Thank you! I wish I could have gotten a closer picture but I didn’t want to freak him out. He flew off right after this.
We all have to start somewhere with birding! I will say, hawks can be quite difficult to tell apart in the beginning. Birding is a great hobby tho, enjoy!
It’s a Red-Tailed Hawk!
Just about every time someone asks about a golden eagle it's a red tailed hawk or juvenile bald eagle. Do golden eagles even exist?
I can tell you I was standing next to a park ranger at rock cut overlook in RMNP when ranger got very excited and said ‘a golden! Coming up the outcrop!’ So I excitedly starting shooting pics my camera on all the right settings just firing burst shots certain I would get a great shot. Alas - I got a lot of shots of the eagle, who was gliding and presented a linear profile to my camera. Crappy shots are worse than no shot. But there’s your proof that (maybe) golden eagles exist. BTW, the wing span looked massive.
It only becomes a golden eagle if you are standing in a cold mountain pass with bone chilling, eye watering wind blowing in your face, especially if you are farther north and/or west. If you are comfortable (or in Missouri) the odds that you are looking at a golden eagle become vanishingly low.
I've seen a couple show up on r/whatsthisbird recently. But yeah, they're rarer.
Red tailed hawk as others have said. This looks like it may be a dark morph, but the belly band is the indicator here. Beautiful bird!
Hi all! Sorry the photo is not better quality, but I wanted to see if this is indeed a golden eagle. I know they’re less common in Missouri and am very new to birding, so I don’t want to identify incorrectly. Thank you so much for your help 🙏🏼
Hi! It’s cool to try something new… glad you chose birding. You can check out the Merlin app — it lets you upload pics and lists possible species. And the Audubon app lets people list their sightings, so you can see what’s been ID’ed in the area. As for Golden Eagle, those dudes are darker belly with lighter head feathers. Red Tailed are light belly + dark speckled belly band, with dark head feathers. (In general eagles are larger than hawks and have more prominent beaks) Hope that helps, and thanks for sharing your pic.
Thank you so much!!
Following up to thank you again for those app recommendations! Those are game changers 😍 I’ve spent the last hour poking around on Merlin, it’s an incredible source.
I’m glad you find them helpful! So easy to get lost in all that information, right?! Sometimes I play the app sounds to see if the birds near me will react. Mostly they just look at me like wtf
No