HG pilots in this area don't fly a lot in the winter time. But I happen to like xc-skiing and always like to observe our local mating pair of bald eagles. The other day while out on an xc-ski hike I noticed a large flying bird that did not have white head and tail feathers. We have red tail hawks in the area but this bird was too big for a red tail. I always carry a camera with me (that can also take 1080 HD video) and was able to capture some video. From that I captured a screen shot of what ended up being an immature bald eagle. I first confirmed this via my 10x 56mm binoculars.
This juvenile bald eagle had 3-4 white feathers in it's tail with the rest being medium brown. I've attached the screen capture below. The image isn't all that impressive since I was about 1/4 of a mile from the flying bird. But it's still cool to record a probably "nearly" mature juvenile. They reach full maturity at 3-4 years of age. Since it was hanging out in this area it is quite likely to be an offspring of the "Mossy Bank" adult bald eagles. An image of one of the adults is part of SoCenNY's banner as seen above.
I will also mention that yesterday 3/8/2019 I witnessed the female bald eagle laying in the nest and moving very little. My observation was from above the nest from a viewpoint in Mossy Bank Park. This is likely very interesting since mid March is when the female usually lays two eggs. However, I have never seen the female on the nest this early. The earliest time in past years was about the 12th of March. And because of loud disruptive activity in the area of the nest (in violation of State and Federal law) in both February and March of 2017 and 2018 the eagles produced no young. So, it's great to see the female laying in the nest for the first time since March of 2016.
I also did a screen capture of the video I took yesterday of the female on the nest. The image is pretty granular but you should be able to make out the eagle. Her tail is to the left and head is to the right and there's a little patch of snow above and to the left of where she's laying.
I've always loved observing and even flying with large raptors, so I hope my fellow members of the US Hawks will enjoy is topic.