I was at the Sutro Baths this morning, and late in the watch, I spotted an interesting raptor over Marin.  It was quite pale throughout its plumage, so I tracked it as it turned southwest and glided closer.  I had assumed it was some type of buteo, but then it twisted and stooped down toward the surface of the Golden Gate northeast of Pt Bonita, and disturbed a bunch of gulls from the surface.  The bird was huge compared to whatever gulls were in the mix, and as it maneuvered, I could see that the wings were long and wide, and what I could make out in the way of flight style and size seemed good for Bald Eagle.  The bird briefly hovered over the surface as I've seen Baldies do in the Valley when hunting waterfowl, and then turned and flapped heavily and slowly back to Marin, where I eventually lost sight of it against the hills.  I continued to watch for it against the sky, but never picked up on it again.  I left assuming it was a Bald Eagle with leucistic issues, and that's still the highest likelihood.

But with 2022's theme of Eurasian birds showing up in the state, I searched White-tailed Eagle images, and found a photo that closely aligned with today's bird.  Most White-taileds have at least some brown in the plumage, but there were several shots of extremely pale birds, whether leucistic, bleached, or elderly, I don't know.  I've never seen the species, and am not claiming to have seen it today, but I'm rather shocked to have found that they can be so pale.  I've also never seen a pale Bald Eagle, and don't know how often such a plumage occurs.  The overall color of today's bird was similar to a young Glaucous-winged Gull, grayish-white, and the raptor's head was paler than the rest of the body, while the tail did not show any visible difference from the body.  The bird was too far away to discern the tail shape, which would determine the species, assuming from behavior that it was Haliaeetus eagle.  Whatever it was, it was striking to see such a huge, pale bird, and I hope someone else can get a much closer look at it.

Other species seen during the watch included a Pomerine Jaeger attacking gulls, and several small groups of Brant.

Brian Fitch