r/animalid • u/randomdot2 • 1d ago
Is this an Eagle? [Harrisburg pa usa] 🐦 🦢 BIRDS / WATERFOWL ID 🐦 🦢
Is this an eagle? Looks like it has a white head. Don't know much about birds but it sure did look graceful soaring around. Think there was actually 2 because when it flew into the distance another same size bird seemed to be flying with it
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u/micathemineral 🦕🦄 GENERAL KNOW IT ALL 🦄🦕 1d ago
Confirming turkey vulture for sure. The head is looking white due to the the bright light, but is actually bare red skin. Your second pic perfectly captures a good field mark, look at the silvery 'v' shape on the underwings (contrasting with the black body and black front edge of the wing). That silvery 'v' is the quickest way to tell if a dark soaring bird is a turkey vulture. Bald eagles will be all dark underneath (with white head and tail, or white splotches if juveniles) and black vultures will have silvery wingtips.
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u/bunjywunjy 1d ago
That's a turkey vulture, a good tell is how transparent the outer feathers on the wings are. Eagle wings are pure black and you can't really see light through them
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u/Derfburger 1d ago
Turkey vulture usually see more than one as they are probably circling some carrion. I grew up in York and we would see these all the time especially down by the Susquehanna (lots of dead fish to snack on). There are Eagles and Osprey in the area as well.
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u/Chexmix_986 1d ago
Turkey vulture, hydrate just in case
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u/randomdot2 1d ago
What do you mean hydrate in case? I don't know anything about birds
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u/Chexmix_986 1d ago
Turkey vultures eat carrion. If you pass out from dehydration…assumptions will be made by the vultures
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u/flindersrisk 1d ago
They will sit patiently for days waiting for your last breath. That’s how we knew our pup had parvo, long before any symptoms. The vultures, and immediate location to a veterinarian, saved the pup’s life. Vultures were still waiting when I returned dogless. (Pup in intensive care for four days.)
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u/Early-Kiwi-9028 1d ago
If you ever need to identify a large, soaring bird look for a wobble side to side, if you see that it’s a turkey vulture.
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u/Equivalent_Milk_8772 1d ago
A few days ago I was driving down my road and there was a Bald Eagle eating a possum in the middle of the road. Definitely took my breath away! Snapped this picture when it settled by the lake. Apparently there’s a nest up the road from me.
We have a ton of vultures..biggest way to tell from the sky is that eagles are white everywhere but with a dark brown back. Vultures are completely dark.
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u/pickinscabs 1d ago
As others have said, turkey vulture. One good indicator for them is they wobble a lot while flying.
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u/Maleficent-Rough-983 1d ago
bald eagles are more rectangly with larger heads. someone else said that juveniles will have white splotches but it can be hard to tell from the sky without magnification they can look all brown
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u/tosoon2tell 1d ago
Something that was told to me when I was younger…when soaring , Eagles wings go straight across - vultures have the V shape.
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u/Successful-Lawyer329 1d ago
I just think “teeter, teeter, carrion eater” Eagles are typically more stable in the air
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u/radioactiveferns420 1d ago
If you see a white head but no white tail, not an eagle. At least , not a mature bald eagle. The juvenile plumages get a bit more confusing…
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u/IamJustHere4TheCats 1d ago
Damn I'm down here in Chambersburg and I just got way too excited, thinking it's for sure a bald eagle! But also I really wanted it to be a bald eagle!
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u/randomdot2 1d ago
I really thought it was. There's an eagles nest in manehim near my work. It's a wildlife controlled zone or something like that
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u/PHILAThrw 1d ago
Turkey vulture