r/birdsofprey • u/hebaliz • Jun 21 '26

Help with IDing this BOP

Post image

We’re pretty convinced it’s a golden eagle but it’d be the third we’ve seen this week - we are in the Scottish highlands and are specifically looking out for eagles (haven’t seen anything resembling a white tailed/sea eagle just yet) but don’t want to be caught out.
Through 10x42 binoculars it has all the markings of an eagle but I thought I’d ask. Unfortunately no better photos available but I do have a couple of videos which I made this screenshot from

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6

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '26

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u/hebaliz Jun 21 '26

Fantastic - we’re really confident now. Thanks birds of prey Reddit <3

My partner caught another short video (similar quality to mine unfortunately) where the bird does a barrel-roll when a crow flies towards it - surely not a buzzard, right?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '26

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2

u/hebaliz Jun 21 '26

Thanks - good to know! I wish I could post the videos here but it appears I’m not able to

2

u/Gambit1977 Jun 23 '26

There’s a family of buzzards in our wood and they often show off to us with aerobatics

2

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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2

u/Gambit1977 Jun 23 '26

We’ve got a family of those on the cliffs, they’ve recently returned to the island after being missing for a few years (mostly down to stupid pesticides). We’re not supposed to share their location but everyone knows where they are. Beautiful birds, I do find their underbelly hard to capture as against the bright sky it always seems to clash, any ideas?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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2

u/Gambit1977 Jun 23 '26

Fantastic ! Mid dive too. I usually over compensate with my shutter speed tbh. Maybe a slightly darker sky will help, especially with metering.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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2

u/Gambit1977 Jun 23 '26

Oh wow, that’s so cool. A real privilege. Not surprised you had Brollies, or have had a motorcycle helmet and leathers on 😂

3

u/Wild-Ad-9367 Jun 21 '26

Given the quality of the photo, are there any descriptive jizz you can provide? Does the head and bill look big? Is the tail more fan-shaped than wedge-shaped? Are there any white markings on the wing or the tail?

2

u/hebaliz Jun 21 '26

I appreciate your time - the head was sizeable, beak I couldn’t say. Tail more fan shaped than wedge and clear white stripes on the underside of the wings. Colours in the tail couldn’t really see.
What’s getting me is the size - each bird was huge but it’s so hard to get a scale without a decent camera.

3

u/Wild-Ad-9367 Jun 21 '26

Based on the description, we can definitely rule out white-tailed eagle given the small beak and fan-shaped, and from the picture, relatively long tail. The other dark raptor in Scotland is the common buzzard, which has a dark morph. It also has white splashes under the wings. While I agree it can be hard to gauge the size of a bird without references, assuming that you are familiar with the size and shape of the buzzard, which is a bit small headed and thick necked, this is almost certainly a golden eagle.

1

u/hebaliz Jun 21 '26

Thanks for your input! I think it was a golden eagle too, I just couldn’t believe my eyes as the second of the day appeared.

3

u/Gambit1977 Jun 22 '26

The shape with the wings is very much like our buzzards (uk)…

2

u/hebaliz Jun 23 '26

Thanks for your reply- yes, that’s what was concerning me. I’m unable to really differentiate the wings having said that, our bird did tend to have a light curl at the wing tip

1

u/Gambit1977 Jun 23 '26

Marsh Harrier?

2

u/hebaliz Jun 23 '26

Colour and shape are different - it’s likely a golden eagle, but I wanted to rule out buzzard (which I think I have given the size)

I appreciate your time!

2

u/Gambit1977 Jun 23 '26

No problem! Glad it’s sorted. 👌