Posted by Dave on January 01, 1970 at 00:00:00
Hybrid Eagle Spotted: Broward County - Plantation, Florida in June 1997 (SR-595 and University Dr) Maybe in June because it was warm out but in south Florida, it’s pretty much warm most of the time. So cant really pinpoint the month since it was so long ago. I was in High School it was a Saturday and my whole family was out doing stuff and I was the only one home, I had woken up at approximately 11:30am. About a week ago my parents bought two very small Siamese kittens and both were left on the pool patio that's at the back of the house. I was in the kitchen and noticed the two kittens on the patio were very close together and were making a strange chattering noise and looking up at something. I went out on the patio to see what they were looking at and was amazed to see this huge – at least 30” tall bird that was the shape of a Bald Eagle but was Not a Bald Eagle. This bird was on the next door neighbors roof looking down at my two kittens at maybe 35 feet away. So now I’m looking at this bird for at least 15 minutes and I said to myself: “Take a good look because I’ll probably never see this huge beautiful thing again and it’s very unique in it’s appearance”. So I just took my time and analyzed this bird as much as I could. Many times I have looked on the internet to see and example of what I saw and to this day I can’t find an exact match – BUT I have found something very very close. It seems to be a mix between a Golden Eagle and a White Tailed Eagle. Leaning more toward a White Tailed Eagle What I saw: -Extremely bright yellow beak and legs (no black at all on either the beak or legs) -The color was a medium brown with white highlight tips on each feather – I remember saying to myself on how detailed each feather was with those white highlights. It reminded me of Tropical Fish in the Ocean and how they look like they are painted with the colors. -The beak was exactly like a Bald Eagles beak as far as size and shape, seemed very big and a very deep but bright yellow and flawless. -This is the only picture I can find on the internet that comes close to what I saw: www.picfair.com/pics/07979134-white-tailed-eagle -I was able to look at this bird for about 15 minutes and when I turned away for a second, it flew away and wasn't able to see it in the air. Thanks for reading 6/11/2020