Bald Eagle, subadult: leg bands P/7 (2.5 yr. old)
January 21, 2015 in Bald Eagle
With just a few minutes to check for Bald Eagles on the Merrimack River, made the rounds to tall the normal perches with no luck. The final stop was looking west out over the Great Stone Dam. from the north side of the river, scanned the ice and nearby overhanging tree limbs. From a distance of just under 500 yards away, looked like a possible subadult eagle in a tree along the south side of the river, west of the dam. Sure enough, it was a subadult. The bird lifted off before I arrived from the initial vantage point. It flew out onto the ice in the middle of the river. The crows quickly initiated multiple rounds of relentless harrassment. As the eagle took off, it left behind some type of a pink wishbone snack remain. It landed again on the south side berm which was about 100 yards from my new vantage point. This new location provide nice looks and better opportunity to make positive ID of orange P/7 leg bands. We have seen this bird a number of times nearby over last week!