That's pretty close to my location. I live right where I-90 crosses the river. The first two that caught my eye were about a month ago, there was a mature Bald standing on the ice with another brown bird on each side of it. My first that was juvenile balds, but they were actually bigger than the one that was a mature Bald. Is it possible that it was a smaller male Bald, with two larger female juveniles?
Then last Sunday we were out fishing out of a canoe paddling back into a little out of the way honey hole and my buddy goes "Holy S#%@ look at that". When I looked up I almost filled my pants. I see a LOT of balds living here, have had a lot of them fly pretty close to me out on the water, and this thing was bigger than any mature Bald I've seen up close. It was big, it was brown, and it was gone from sight in a matter of seconds so I couldn't tell ya if it was booted or not, but it was the same color stem to stern, no red head like a Vulture. The best way I can describe it is as a Hawk on steroids.
I wish I could have seen it from an angle other than where it was just flying away from me. The tops of the wings were very similar to this picture with the light brown and the speckling. (Image removed from quote.). But without a trained eye such as yours I couldn't say for sure one way or the other.
Definitely a golden in your picture- was that taken near you?
You're location sounds good, so it would be possible to see either... It's further north than most of the golden's hang out, but they pass through there in migration. Migrating, though, they'll be up in the ridge-lift, not down near the water.
Size- can't really go by that. They're roughly the same size, but golden's are generally listed as slightly
smaller than bald's. Males of both species are about 1/3 smaller than females (which you're obviously aware of). Immature birds are full-grown "body-wise" before they're full-grown "feather-wise". Interestingly, immature birds have longer tails and wingspans than adults. When they moult into their adult feathers their length and span decrease (not a huge amount though, just a few inches.) There's a much more noticeable size difference between males and females than there is between the species. Males are often running 5-6#, females are 8-14#. It's real obvious up close (like on someones fist, hunting jack rabbits
). Up close, a glance at the feet is enough to tell you male or female.
Location- water draws bald's, which primarily eat fish and forage, but it doesn't draw golden's which primarily hunt land animals. That said, golden's don't avoid water; they just aren't drawn to it. Eating fish? Sounds like it could have been a male bald with some immature bald females. "Hawk on steroids" is a good description of a golden though, lol! This late in the season? I'd say the odds were high for a bald, and extremely low for a golden, but stranger things have happened... The golden's should have left long ago, and started breeding a month ago (or more). Bald's are capable of some pretty serious hunting, they just don't do it as regularly as golden's. Bald's hunt from perches; golden's from a soar (normally).
Low over the water? Sounds like a bald again. On the ice says "99.9% chance of bald" to me. They're eating fish over the winter. Ice near open water, especially if it's downstream of a damn, or lock, or something that would result in crippled fish. Golden's on the other hand, are eating lots of fox squirrels (which seems odd) and some turkeys when they're here for the winter. They've been flat-out ignoring carrion, etc, which draws bald's. On the ice near each other would be a good time to compare heads/beaks. If they looked similar, they were all bald's. Golden's have smaller heads, and proportionately smaller beaks. Balds have yellow beaks, golden's and immature bald's have black beaks.
Even with a trained eye, it can be tough to tell for sure. Often it comes down to more than just what it looks like. What was it doing? What was it near? Wing-beat can be huge clue, but practically impossible to describe adequately... Redtails can be tough to tell from ferruginous, until they flap. My wife and kids will see a high, distant, dark bird and ask "eagle, TV, or redtail?", but then as soon as it flaps (or rocks) they know the answer. You'll never see the "boots" in the wild, so it's not a good field ID tool. I've stood with guys who "should" know, all of us with binoculars looking at a bird that could be either a bald or a golden soaring 1/4 mile away, and all of us just ended up shrugging our shoulders and wondering... It can be tough to tell for sure sometimes.
Here's the link to the golden eagle nest camera-
http://www.goldeneaglecam.com/
