Possible Golden Eagles

by Bob G, Helen, Mackenzie,
(Oakville, Toronto, London, King City)

Over the years we have received several reports of Golden Eagle sightings, however, I have always read they the Goldens range is much farther north than southern Ontario.

Here are some of those reports for your perusal - whether they are actual Golden Eagle sightings or sightings of juvenile Bald Eagles, I do not know, but here they are.

Bob from Oakville wrote ... my house overlooks Bayshire pond. I saw a massive bird swoop down just outside of my fence. I rushed to the window or a second look and saw the eagle circle around and come back just over the treetops. It headed south over the green belt, rising quite high very quickly. This is the 2nd time I’ve seen the Eagle. Two weeks ago, I was looking out the window and the Eagle swooped down snatched what might have been a black mink and took off. It all happened so fast! Within seconds the Eagle swooped in, snatched its prey and took off. I was on the phone at the time, standing at the window and told my friend what just happened. It was shocking, yet fascinating, to see such a massive bird effortlessly snatch its prey and take off. I have a miniature Australian Shepherd that weighs 15 kg and I’ve seen videos of Golden Eagles taking a fox. So I’m pretty sure this Eagle could easily take my dog. When the Eagle flew by yesterday, it was clearly looking for prey. It’s unnerving to think my dog could just disappear from our backyard one day. So we are now limiting the dog’s easy access to the backyard these days. Both sightings were around 4:00 pm.

Helen from Toronto wrote ... I was looking outside my window which faces a treed area near Bayview Avenue and Sheppard Ave, and saw a very large brown bird with a wingspan of at least over 1 meter fly away from me so I only saw it from the back. What other birds are very large brown with fanned tail feathers and kinda scruffy not smooth wings that are very long?

Mackenzie from London reported ... my boyfriend and I just spotted what we think was a Golden Eagle flying behind and then above our house. We noticed it just above the field behind our backyard because of its huge wingspan, probably between 6.5 - 7 feet at about 7:00 pm tonight. When it flew overhead we could see white spots on its brown body and wings. We live just northwest of London and see lots of larger birds but this is by far the biggest either of us have seen in the wild. Sorry no picture, we were too enraptured to move from the window!

One of our readers from King City said ... I drove to work through King City, Ontario down Concession 11, a Golden Eagle was oddly perched on the wooden fence between 5:30 - 6:00 am.

Thank you for sending these reports, and my apologies for the long delay in publishing them.