White-tailed Eagle

This is a second-year bird, hatched in summer 2013. White-tailed Eagles, like our eagles, take 4-5 years to fully mature, and this individual is just beginning to show a lighter tail. It is slightly larger on average than the Golden Eagle, with a wingspan of over 7 feet (over two meters). It flew by as we surveyed lakes between our lodge at Vetren in the very north of Bulgaria and the Danube, on the Srebarna Nature Reserve. We had seen this species before, in Scotland, but it was one of our top target birds on this trip.

Backblipped on 9/28, after two days with no internet in Vetren--see yesterday's backblip for a bit more.