Golden Eagle and others - Arenac, Iosco Cos

[Santner, Steven]

	Darlene Friedman and I birded Iosco and Arenac Cos this past
Sunday (6/1).  We had a probable Golden Eagle over the marsh at the end
of Santiago Rd in Arenac Co.  We watched it for at least 10 min.  It
spent the entire time soaring over the marsh and drifted off to the
south.  Darlene first spotted the bird.  At that time it was fairly
close in but circling fairly high.  It struck both of us immediately as
a Golden Eagle.  It had the classic shape - short head and full tail,
but it had some unusual plumage characteristics which have us both
puzzled.  The tail had a clearly defined dark subterminal band with the
terminal edge of the tail and the inner half being white in most lights.
In certain lights, the white areas looked reddish.  The underwings had
white patches, as in the immature Golden Eagle but they were three times
the size of the standard patches I've seen on immature Goldens.  We did
not see the upper surfaces of the bird at all as it circled high
overhead and even when banking it remained flat and horizontal.  It did
not flap even once that I saw.  The bird clearly was not a Bald Eagle -
it was the wrong shape, had a defined tail band, and defined wing
patches.   It was obviously too big to be a hawk.  As noted, this would
be anomalous for a Golden as well since the tail band wasn't terminal
and the wing patches were too big.  I wonder what a freshly fledged
young of the year would look like - I couldn't find a photo/plate of
this plumage in this species.  I recognize that this is an outrageous
time of year to be finding Golden Eagles in the LP of michigan but I
believe that's what this was.  It's especially outrageous if this is a
very recently fledged bird!
	We also went up to Towas Pt and found 6 Whimbrel on a small
island in Lake Huron off Towas City and two more at the tip of Towas Pt
SP.  Also at the tip were 2 Ruddy Turnstones, a White-rumped Sandpiper,
and a number of commoner species.  We found another White-rumped on a
mudflat just outside the park.  Finally, we found a Cerulean Warbler on
Santiago Rd about a mile north of the end.  Most migrant warblers have
moved through - we found a couple of Wilson's and a few Blackpoll but
that was about it.

	Steve Santner
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