Did… Did I just see a golden eagle?!

Now I’m animalexic at the best if times, (I often have trouble telling badgers from penguins), but on way home this afternoon I saw a huge bird of prey on the side of the road – it stood about 1.5ft/2ft tall, had a white/grey chest and light brown wings and a brown head etc the beak was quite straight.
The bird was happily stood there watching the traffic, I wish I had taken a picture now :/

Any ideas what it could have been? I live on the south coast if that helps…

Was it carrying a child?

buzzard

I can confirm there were no children in its talons.

Buzzard?

Most probably a Buzzard.

It was bigger than a buzzard I think…

Did I just see a golden eagle?

No.

Didn’t look like the one in the pic, the beak was yellow and quite straight.

South coast of England? Buzzard definitely most likely, see here for some other possibilities.

Harris Hawk?

Waaaay bugger than a Harris Hawk, I’m not kidding when I say it was over 1.5ft tall!

*edit* plus the Harris Hawk is much darker?

Golden Eagle Range

Unless you’re posting from AD500 it probably wasn’t a golden eagle

12 responses and no mention yet… Baby Robin?

taller than they look

Gah ! Brakes ! 👿

could it have been a kite?

I have seen the same Golden Eagle 4 times in 12 days. seems to go down from musdale towards seil and then on to Mull.

buzzard sounds right from your description

Although it’s not entirely clear, it looked a little bit like the one in the bottom left of this illustration:

Although it’s not entirely clear, it looked a little bit like the one in the bottom left of this illustration:

Which is what? If it looked like that it definately wasn’t a Golden Eagle.

It’s highly unlikely to be a Golden Eagle. They are very scarce and tend to stay in the wilderness (in U.K) anyway.

Going to guess at female buzzard.

I think it says rough legged hawk or similar on that poster (I found slightly bigger version!)

No, you didn’t. An eagle is like a flying barn door, they’re properly, crap your pants, big up close. They aren’t really known for sitting at the side of roads either.

Almost certainly a Buzzard, big variations in size and colouring, but 1.5 foot high and sitting watching traffic sounds about right.

Which is what? If it looked like that it definately wasn’t a Golden Eagle.

Golden Eagle was said with a degree of irony, knowing full well it wasn’t actually going to be one 🙄

An eagle is like a flying barn door, they’re properly, crap your pants, big up close.

This.

Kes?

Deffo a Buzzard, we them here, big imposing birds, but nowhere near the size of a Golden Eagle.

I’ve only ever seen a couple. One at the top of Glen Clova and a pair on Lochnagar. They were unmistakeable. I doubt you’d see them on the south coast by the road.

I think a Sea Eagle is even bigger, we saw a couple over the Lomonds once, they were massive.

Hmmmm… I’ll settle for buzzard, but this was the biggest bloody bird I’ve seen outside of an Owl Sanctuary 🙂

I’m going Buzzard, they can be pretty big. I regularly see a pair sitting on a fence post watching the traffic at a busy roundabout on the M40.

Once out on the roadie one dropped out of a tree and glided along beside me for about 100m at head height before it landed on another perch. Fantastic looking thing.

Golden Eagle was said with a degree of irony, knowing full well it wasn’t actually going to be one

Aye right. 😉

Not yet 🙂

It still doesn’t sit right with me, it’s close but not quite right

*edit* quick edit there Spin 😛

Sorry, edited after I saw your last post.

It’s always a Buzzard. Especially if its near a road sitting on something.

Buzzard or Red Kite.

When you see an eagle, you’ll *know* you’ve seen an eagle.

I saw some Golden Eagles walking on Felskinn about four years ago. Amazing birds! I’ve still to see one in Scotland. One day….

EDIT – The eagles weren’t walking, I was! 🙂

knowing you Dan, it was one of these:

Millhouse: the beak is the right shape and colour, but its fins look a little odd to me 😉

Possibly, but only if its an escapee from a private collection.

However, you’d tend not to confuse a Golden Eagle with anything else – Buzzard wingspan circa 1.4m Eagle circa 2.0 and Sea Eagle 2.5m. Saw a pair of Sea Eagles up close in Loch Torridon recently and they are absolutely humungous…

Here’s a Buzzard and Sea Eagle together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esuqyFFyBmE

I’ve been lucky enough to see sea eagles both on Skye and Mull, it’s a sight I’ll never forget.

I thought I’d spotted a heron in Tesco the other day.

Imagine my disappointment when my partner pointed out it was actually a herring.

I heard there’s a pelican outside the Tescos near us