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The Bosque del Apache Eagles page contains 48 portraits, flight shots and flight studies of
juvenile and adult Bald Eagles wintering at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico.
Click an image to open a larger version.
Use your back button to return to this page.
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Raptor Section Index
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Raptors Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
Direct Links:
Eagles Red-Tailed Hawks Assorted Hawks
Owl and Harrier Falcons & Kites Osprey
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Bald Eagle at Sunrise 4610 M
A Bald Eagle watches a magnificent New Mexico sunrise at Bosque del Apache.
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Bald Eagle Watching Flyout 4749
Not long after sunrise, the Bald Eagle bears witness to another spectacle, as thousands of
Snow Geese burst from the ponds in unison to fly out to the farm fields at Bosque del Apache.
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is next to the Rio Grande beside the foothills of
the Chupadera Mountains, 18 miles south of Socorro, New Mexico. Located at 5000 feet on the
western arm of the Central Flyway, the migration route on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains,
Bosque del Apache is a wintering site for over 12,000 Sandhill Cranes and over 30,000 Snow Geese,
plus Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, Egrets, Herons, waterfowl, shorebirds, deer, coyotes, and other wildlife.
Bosque del Apache in the winter is one of the most fascinating wildlife locations in the United States.
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Bosque del Apache Dawn Flyout 2232
Dawn Flyout of the Snow Geese on an overcast winter morning at Bosque del Apache.
The sight (and sound) of tens of thousands of Snow Geese bursting from a pond in unison
is awe-inspiring. This usually happens several times in the morning, beginning at first light.
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Bald Eagle 6647
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Bald Eagle at Sunset 6767
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A dead tree on the Main Pond which I call the Alpha tree is a preferred hangout for solitary Bald Eagles.
At left is the scene a half hour before sunset in February, and at right just as the sun touches the horizon.
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Bald Eagle at Sunset X1259
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Bald Eagles and Juvenile 4295
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This dead tree in the Main Pond on the western side is one I like to call the Family Tree,
because unlike the Alpha dead tree it is often occupied by a mating pair of Eagles with or
without one or more juveniles. These trees are about 200 feet away from the shore, and all
of these images were taken at 500mm or 700mm (the right one is 1/180 sec. at 500mm).
Bald Eagles and Starlings X8976 M
A detail shot of a Bald Eagle pair sitting with a group of Starlings in the Family Tree,
taken at 850mm in somewhat harsher early afternoon light on the day after Christmas.
All of the landscape (horizontal) large version images linked from the thumbnails are 1500 pixels wide.
Portrait (vertical) images are 1200 pixels tall (1290 pixels with title bar). Images designated with an “M”
in the shot number are 5:4 aspect ratio, 1500 x 1290 with a title bar, or 1500 x 1200 without a title bar.
A few portrait images like the one above are designated “M”, and are 1500 pixels tall (plus title bar).
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Bald Eagles and Yearling Juveniles 4272
A pair of adult Bald Eagles and two yearling juveniles who are just beginning to molt into their second year
plumage, watching Sandhill Cranes from the Family Tree as they fly in just before sunset in mid-December.
Adult Bald Eagles are dark brown, with a white head and tail. The beak, feet and eyes are yellow,
and the unfeathered feet have short toes with long, needle-sharp talons. The rear talon is used to
pierce vital organs of prey as it is held immobile by the front talons. The juvenile Bald Eagle has
a dark head in its first year and mottled brown and white plumage. In the second year the crown
and throat lighten to a golden brown or gray, somewhat resembling the adult Golden Eagle. The
head and throat lighten further in the third year, and by its fourth year the juvenile head is nearly
white with a few brown patches. It is distinguishable from the adult by its mottled body feathers.
Juvenile Bald Eagles reach sexual maturity by the end of the fourth year or early in the fifth year.
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Bald Eagle Yearling Juvenile X8956 M
A first year juvenile Bald Eagle watching a Starling in a tree over the marsh at Bosque del Apache.
Juvenile Bald Eagles look similar to adult Golden Eagles, except Golden Eagles have a smaller head with a
larger beak. Juvenile Bald Eagles have mottled plumage. The plumage of the Golden Eagle is unmottled and
redder brown, and Golden Eagles have a dark gray, black tipped beak versus the Bald Eagle’s yellow beak.
Juvenile Bald Eagles have a darker head and neck and a much smaller dark gray beak than Golden Eagles.
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Raptors Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
Direct Links:
Eagles Red-Tailed Hawks Assorted Hawks
Owl and Harrier Falcons & Kites Osprey
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Bald Eagle 2nd Year Juvenile 3397 M
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Bald Eagle 2nd Year Juvenile 3399 M
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A second year juvenile Bald Eagle with the characteristic golden brown crown and throat feathers
sits in the same tree shown in the previous image (these two images were taken one year earlier).
Bald Eagle 2nd Year Juvenile 3397 3399c
A composite of two detail crops showing a second year juvenile Bald Eagle at Bosque del Apache.
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Bald Eagle Molting Juvenile 3735
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Bald Eagle Molting Juvenile 3747
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A late second year juvenile Bald Eagle molting into its third year plumage.
Note the extent of coverage and color of the golden brown feathers on the head.
Bald Eagle Molting Juvenile 3735 3747c
A composite of two detail crops of the molting late second year juvenile Bald Eagle at Bosque del Apache.
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Bald Eagle 3rd Year Juvenile 2578 M
A third year juvenile Bald Eagle overlooks the marsh at Bosque del Apache.
Notice how much lighter the feathers of the head are on the third year juvenile.
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Bald Eagle 2nd Year Juvenile X3820
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Bald Eagle 3rd Year Juvenile 4776
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Second and third year juvenile Bald Eagles in flight. Note the greater coverage of white covert feathers
under the wings of the second year juvenile, and the lighter tail feathers (the tail color can be variable).
Juvenile Bald Eagles can be differentiated from juvenile Golden Eagles by the tail color. The tail of a
juvenile Golden Eagle is white behind the feet, with a wide, dark terminal band at the end of the tail.
Bald Eagle Flight 3386
An adult Bald Eagle with its characteristic white head and tail in flight at Bosque del Apache.
This was one of the rare instances when a Bald Eagle took flight at a relatively close distance.
Bald Eagles are Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus, meaning salt, eagle, white, head).
The word Bald derives from piebald, originally from the Old English bala (white patch or blaze)
and the Middle English ball with the suffix ed used to form an adjective from a noun. Thus the word
Bald in this context means white-headed. The National Bird of the USA, it appears on the Great Seal.
Benjamin Franklin wrote to his daughter a year after the Great Seal was adopted in 1782, expressing
his disappointment that the Eagle had been chosen as the National Symbol, stating that Bald Eagles
did not make their living honestly. He considered them too lazy to fish for themselves, often stealing
fish from other birds. He also considered the Eagle a coward, as it could be chased off by the tiny
King Bird (a play on words: Americans had just chased the “King birds” (British) from the country
in the Revolutionary War). He considered the Wild Turkey a better choice for National Symbol.
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Bald Eagle Flight 3387
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Bald Eagle Flight 3389
A Bald Eagle leaves the trees and heads towards the Farm Fields at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico.
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Bald Eagle Flight 3390
A Bald Eagle in flight at Bosque del Apache, with the Chupadera Mountains in the distance.
The two subspecies of Bald Eagle are the only species of Eagle that live solely in North America,
and thus they are commonly referred to as the American Eagle. The two subspecies are divided by
geographical location, from 38 degrees N. latitude near San Francisco on the West Coast and a bit
further south on the East Coast at Cape Hatteras. Nearly half of the estimated 70,000 Bald Eagles
live in Alaska. This is the Washington Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus washingtoniensis),
the larger of the two subspecies. They winter further south, in Canada and the Northern US. The
nominate subspecies is smaller (Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus) and lives in the
Southern US, Baja California and Northern Mexico. They are normally permanent residents.
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Bald Eagle Flight Study 3389 3390
A 1500 x 930 version of the SXL Composite image (4000 x 1865)
showing a Bald Eagle in flight at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge.
This Eagle is the smaller of the two subspecies (the nominate species).
Recent studies have determined that Northern Bald Eagles fly south into the southern US and
Mexico, and Southern Bald Eagles fly north into Canada. This has resulted in a re-evaluation of
the division into two subspecies, and the determination that the size variation is only due to their
adherence to Bergmann’s Rule (the further from the tropics, the larger the species grows). This is
thought to be due to the need to retain heat (larger volume to surface area ratio at higher latitudes).
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Raptors Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
Direct Links:
Eagles Red-Tailed Hawks Assorted Hawks
Owl and Harrier Falcons & Kites Osprey
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Bald Eagle X9092
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Bald Eagle X9093
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Most of the sightings of Bald Eagles at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge are at great distance,
These images were taken while across the marsh, from several hundred feet with a 700mm lens.
Bald Eagle X9099
An adult Bald Eagle flies along the edge of the marsh at Bosque del Apache in late December.
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Bald Eagle with Nest X0977
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Bald Eagle with Nest X0975
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A Bald Eagle sits in a tree beside the marsh next to a rather small bowl-shaped nest in February.
Bald Eagles build their nests in trees near water, where they can watch for prey.
They add sticks to a nest each year, either picking them up off the ground or breaking
branches off a tree and carrying them in their talons. They interweave the sticks and fill
the spaces with moss, grass and other material. They line the bottom with their feathers
to cushion the eggs, and add greenery as a signal to other Eagles that the nest is in use.
The size and shape of an Eagle nest, or aerie, is based upon the tree in which it is built.
Bald Eagle nests can become enormous. They reuse old nests, adding sticks and new linings.
The record nest in Florida was 20 feet deep, 10 feet in diameter, and weighed nearly 6000 pounds.
Images of a 4000 pound nest in Yellowstone National Park are on the Brackendale/Yellowstone page.
Bald Eagles Avian Discord 4808 4809 M
A female Bald Eagle lands in the Family Tree accompanied by scathing remarks from her mate.
This series of detail shots were taken from a distance of several hundred feet with a 1000mm lens.
Like most Raptors, the female Bald Eagle is larger than the male by about 25%. The Bald Eagle
is generally considered to be the largest true Raptor in North America, although large Golden Eagles
are only one pound lighter and may have a larger wingspan, and both White-Tailed Eagles and the huge
Steller’s Sea Eagle (the largest true Raptor, see the Portraits page) occasionally migrate in from Asia.
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Bald Eagles Avian Nonchalance 4819 M
The female finds it easy to ignore the male, as she immediately begins nonchalantly preening her feathers.
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Bald Eagles Avian Nonchalance 4819 4820 M
Two detail crops showing a female Bald Eagle preening her feathers in the Family Tree at Bosque del Apache.
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Raptors Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
Direct Links:
Eagles Red-Tailed Hawks Assorted Hawks
Owl and Harrier Falcons & Kites Osprey
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Bald Eagle X9008
A Bald Eagle in flight, low over the marsh at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge.
Bald Eagles in flight are most often seen at great distance over Bosque del Apache.
This was one of the rare instances when an Eagle flew overhead at 100 feet, although
it still required a 700mm lens, and framing the fast-moving bird was quite challenging.
Most shots of Bald Eagles in flight at Bosque del Apache are specks in the distance.
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Bald Eagle X9012
Bald Eagles soar using thermals (rising currents of air) and updrafts generated by terrain, then they
glide to the next thermal or updraft with very little flapping. This Eagle was gliding in for a rapid scan
of the marsh, and was moving at about 50 mph. Keeping the focused plane on the head and shooting
before the bird could fly through the depth of field of the lens (700mm at f/5.6) required serious attention.
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Bald Eagle X9013
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Bald Eagle X9018
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Having been to Bosque del Apache a number of times when Bald Eagles were never seen closer than
200 feet when perched and well over 500 feet away in flight, you can imagine my thrill as this Eagle flew by.
Bald Eagle X9022
A Bald Eagle in a high speed fly-by over the marsh at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge.
The flight speed of a Bald Eagle is between 36 and 44 miles per hour, and they dive at 75-100 mph.
50 mph does not seem very fast, but it is when maintaining a close composition on a bird at 700mm.
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Bald Eagle Portraits and Flight Study XXL
A 1011 x 1290 version of the XXL Composite image (4000 x 4875)
showing a flight study and portraits of Bald Eagles at Bosque del Apache.
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Bald Eagle Close Portraits SXL
A 1500 x 1092 version of the SXL Composite image (4510 x 3125) showing
three close portraits of a Bald Eagle at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, NM.
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Raptors Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
Direct Links:
Eagles Red-Tailed Hawks Assorted Hawks
Owl and Harrier Falcons & Kites Osprey
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Bald Eagle X6619
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Bald Eagle X6561
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Close portraits of a Bald Eagle at Bosque del Apache, taken at 500mm and 700mm.
Bald Eagles seen at Bosque del Apache are most often at significant distances.
This Bald Eagle perched in a tree near the Farm Loop offered a unique opportunity
for close portraits. I took a set of tight portraits at 500mm, 700mm and 850mm,
and have selected several of of these images for presentation on this page.
A total of 24 portraits from this session are available, with different head positions.
Bald Eagle X6548
A close portrait of a Bald Eagle, taken at 700mm while the Eagle was
perched in a tree near the Farm Loop at Bosque del Apache, New Mexico.
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Bald Eagle X6634
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Bald Eagle X6571
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Two close portraits taken at 850mm and 700mm respectively.
Bald Eagle Detail X6634 XLc
A 1500 x 1290 detail crop of image X6634 (taken at 1/200 second, 850mm).
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Bald Eagle X6662
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Bald Eagle X6592
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Two close portraits of a Bald Eagle taken at 700mm.
Notice the extreme flexibility of the neck of the Eagle.
Bald Eagle X6641 M
A 1000 x 1590 M-sized close portrait of a Bald Eagle, taken at
1/250 second, 850mm in February at Bosque del Apache, NM.
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Bald Eagle Detail X6611 XLc
A 960 x 1290 detail crop of image X6611 (taken at 1/500 second, 500mm).
More portraits are displayed on the Bald Eagle Portraits page.
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Raptors Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
Direct Links:
Eagles Red-Tailed Hawks Assorted Hawks
Owl and Harrier Falcons & Kites Osprey
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Alaskan Eagles page
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Brackendale and Yellowstone Eagles page
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Bald Eagle Portraits page
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Click the Display Composite above to return to the Raptors Index
(or use the navigation bars below to select another section or page)
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