Raptors

[surfcity]

Speaking of North Eastern San Diego County
Spent the day up there trying to locate some turkeys and anything else that is in season

Anyhoo There were these monster raptors flying today. They have got to be to big for a hawk These bad boys were doing some serious hunting today. It was amazing to watch them. For the life of me I can't figure out what kind of Eagles these are.
Its was driving me crazy.

Any help?

There was nothing flying today except for Ravens and Raptors

BTW IloveSprig While I was walking walking back to my rig a guy right below me in the canyon right before sunset killed a beautiful forker today He was big for up there I would say 180 - 200 lbs

 

[Kellendv]

I don't know the count anymore, but there are many breeding pairs of golden eagles in the county. That may have been what you saw if you think it was larger than your average hawk. Red Tails are pretty big compared to most of the raptors around here but they are easily identifiable.

 

[DanSanDiego]

Possibly Turkey Vultures. They are huge and I see them frequently but they are identifiable by the fingers on the end of their wings and they look different from raptors.

 

[surfcity]

Not turkey vultures They are easy to spot And these birds were AMAZING in the Air.....I am going Golden Eagle...just looked the bad boy up and that be the one..I guess I have never seen one in the woods before AWE inspiring Amazing how they can scout a valley in 5 minutes and it would take me a week

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

Golden eagles are rad birds.. they're huuuge, hard to mistake for anything else. Seen a couple at Sutherland and Kitchen Creek but rare finds. Also saw a bald eagle at Barrett once. The only other big raptors I know are redtails and osprey and both those are unmistakable.

 

[Tbob]

My bet would be golden eagles. We had some up in WA state. We had tons of baldy's too! I guess you could have seen immature bald eagles as well? I saw a video of a golden eagle take down a whitetail doe... Crazy crazy stuff!! Couldn't believe it! I believe its in Mongolia, they train Eagles to hunt and kill wolves.. Youtube it.. Pretty wild!

 

[ilovesprig]

Sounds like golden eagles to me......Very common in North County.....Only bird that is capable of catching & killing a full grown turkey.

Bald eagles are not nearly the hunters goldens are.....Mostly fish, coots/ducks, and carrion are their preferred diet.

 

[Tbob]

Speaking of Baldy's not being the greatest hunters, there was a lake I'd fish up north all the time. Everytime out there we'd see ospray and Eagles fishing.. What ended up happening was the Eagles would sit up in the tree tops and watch the ospray hunt. When an ospray would grab a fish and start to fly off the lake, the Eagles would just attack the ospray that had the fish. The ospray would drop his fresh kill to escape the bald eagles attachs. Eagles would grab the fish and eat in a tree somewhere and the poor ospray would go back to fishing and hope for a better end.. Happened everytime we were there fishing..

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

Speaking of Baldy's not being the greatest hunters, there was a lake I'd fish up north all the time. Everytime out there we'd see ospray and Eagles fishing.. What ended up happening was the Eagles would sit up in the tree tops and watch the ospray hunt. When an ospray would grab a fish and start to fly off the lake, the Eagles would just attack the ospray that had the fish. The ospray would drop his fresh kill to escape the bald eagles attachs. Eagles would grab the fish and eat in a tree somewhere and the poor ospray would go back to fishing and hope for a better end.. Happened everytime we were there fishing..

Ben Franklin once used that same example when he questioned the choice of the baldy as our symbol. He said it was a bird of bad moral character because it is "too lazy to fish for himself" and would rather steal a fish from a hawk's nest.

 

[TonyS]

And Ben's choice for the national bird?


Turkeys!!!

 

[ilovesprig]

Red, White, & Blue........

.

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

Ben Franklin: "For the truth the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird... He is besides, though a little vain and silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on."

Lol this little guy didn't have as much vivid color as Sprig's but he was wearing the colors proud until his untimely death by shotgun.