That Eagle Hybrid

The Diary doesn't often republish a picture, but this photo, taken at Mingary Castle on Sunday, has generated some debate and illustrates how difficult raptor identification can be.

Because identification of this individual wasn't easy, The Diary jokingly suggested that this might be the first example of a sea/golden eagle hybrid. The two comments below the post disagreed - one said golden, the other sea eagle.

Our local expert, The Raptor, has now added his opinion: "I've had a look at the books and contrary to my earlier assumption, this bird is definitely a juvenile sea eagle in its second winter. It corresponds perfectly to a picture in my book on European raptors. The golden eagle has a much thicker black band, while this bird really just has a black edging to the tail. Hope this helps clear things up."