Description
An immature bald eagle in profile at Oaks Bottom, full length in a tangle of bare branches against a hard blue winter sky. Mottled brown and cream all down the body, heavy yellow feet, and a bill that has already begun to turn.
A bald eagle does not become the bird on the seal for about five years, and it does not get there in one step. It fledges almost entirely dark chocolate brown. Over the following seasons it passes through a series of awkward intermediate plumages — blotched white across the belly and back, a dirty pale head with a dark mask through the eye, a bill somewhere between slate and yellow. Every year it looks like a different bird, and none of those birds look like the poster.
The bill on this one is a clue. In a first-year bird it is dark gray-black; in a full adult it is unmistakable chrome yellow. Here it has clearly started to brighten, which places this eagle a couple of years into the transition — no longer a fledgling, not yet grown into the white head.
There is a detail here that fools people constantly. Young bald eagles have longer flight and tail feathers than adults do, which makes their wings look broader and their tails look longer. A juvenile can appear bigger than a mature bird sitting beside it, when in fact it is the same size or smaller. Combine that with dark mottled plumage and no white head, and this is why so many young bald eagles get reported as golden eagles.
These are also the wanderers. Adults hold territory and stay put, but young eagles disperse widely before they settle — ranging hundreds of miles, following food and open water, learning the country. This bird will most likely come back to breed somewhere near where it hatched, which for a Portland eagle means somewhere along this river.
This is a high-resolution digital download of the photograph, made at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Portland, Oregon — yours to print for your home or office, set as a wallpaper, or simply keep.
What you’ll receive: a high-resolution JPEG, approximately 4840 × 3456 pixels — sharp enough to print at full photo quality up to about 16 × 11.5 inches at 300 DPI, and considerably larger for wall display. Delivered as an instant download the moment your order is complete.
License: Personal use only. Print it for your own home, use it as a wallpaper or screen background, enjoy it yourself. Not licensed for commercial use, resale, redistribution, or AI training. © Jonathan Swanson / JonSwan Productions. All rights reserved.