juvenile golden eagle hunting on the isle of skye

[thetomahawkkid58]

thank you

[ghenttoo]

Its a common buzzard. They are very common in scotland and often hover. Not an eagle but still a really cool sighting

[thetomahawkkid58]

thank you for your reply, i am still sure this is a golden eagle, i have some other picture's of the same bird. are rough legged hawks on the isle of skye ?....i'm not sure.

[Cimperialis]

Golden Eagle are almost never observed hovering, whereas Rough-legged Hawks are the raptor known to hover the most. Very cool sighting!!

[Cimperialis]

This is dark morph Rough-legged Hawk. Notice the white on the underside of the wings is very extensive, whereas the juvenile Golden Eagle would have the white limited to the base of the primaries and secondaries. Also, the white on the tail is very extensive as well, which is good for Rough-legged Hawk (restricted to base of tail on Golden Eagle). Lastly, and this is the key identification mark, the bird is almost constantly hovering....