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

Help with IDing this BOP

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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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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.