Lowland Eagles of San Diego County

Well, it's been a prodigiously Eagle-y month here in the flat lands.

First we had an adult Bald Eagle in the San Pasqual Valley during our scouting trip on 16 December 2012 for our Escondido CBC count area. This was in the same tree -- possible even on the same branch -- where we had an adult and second-cycle Bald Eagle during the 2011 Escondido CBC.

Then we had what appeared to be a third-cycle Bald Eagle in the very same San Pasqual Valley tree a week later. Although as luck would have it, neither bird turned up for the actual 2012 Escondido CBC.

Ospreys also seemed to be well distributed this month, with individuals seen at Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Elijo Lagoon, Batiquitos Lagoon, and over the SD Bay at Coronado.

Then today on New Years Eve morning during a quick walk around the Encina Power Plant lagoon at Agua Hedionda, we were surprised to see a Turkey Vulture come cruising over the train tracks and start circling above us. Turkey Vultures just aren't very common in this area of the coast ... although they are considerably more common west of I-5 between Oceanside and San Onofre on Camp Pendleton.

Imagine our surprise then when this oddly-placed 'Turkey Vulture' with its relatively small head and V-shaped wing attitude, turned out instead to be a mature Golden Eagle upon close examination! (As luck would have it, we'd gone out for a walk without a camera, but did have the presence of mind to brings the bins.)

The San Diego County Bird Atlas (Unitt, 2004) notes that while Golden Eagles are on a steep decline in San Diego County, there are four recognized nesting territories west of I-15: three in Camp Pendleton, and one around Lake Hodges.

Our bird today was about 10 flying miles from the closest dependable Camp Pendleton Golden Eagle sighting area, and a good 14 flying miles from Lake Hodges. It would really be interesting to know where this bird calls "home," and what it was doing in such a relatively urbanised area.