![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/bald-eagle-0518-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"bald-eagle-0518-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nThe transformation of Bald Eagles from juveniles to adults typically takes about five years. The process is gradual but when you compare the juveniles (1st winter) to the adults and skip all the intermediate subadult stages the differences between them are dramatic.<\/p>\n
I’ll use two photos from my archives to make the comparison. It happens that they were taken within one minute of each other, at 9:05 AM on February 2, 2009. It was a good morning for eagles.<\/p>\n
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1\/1250, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 40D,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Juvenile Bald Eagles are very dark brown, almost black, with varying amounts of white ventrally including lots of white in their axillaries (wingpits). Both bill and cere are blackish-gray and their eyes are dark brown, often appearing black.<\/p>\n It’s at this stage through some of the early subadult stages that many observers confuse younger Bald Eagles with Golden Eagles. When I’m in the field and some distance from the bird the most reliable field mark for distinguishing the two species is the distinctive golden nape of the Golden Eagle but Bald Eagles also have larger bills and that often helps too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 40D,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n Mature adult Bald Eagles are distinctive and unmistakable with their bright white heads and tails contrasting with nearly black bodies that lack the white splotching of younger birds (this adult is in warm light so its dark plumage has golden hues). By now the beak, cere and iris have turned fully bright yellow in stark contrast to the juvenile.<\/p>\n The differences between juveniles and adults are so dramatic that I sometimes marvel that they’re the same species, even though that trait is far from unique in the bird world.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The transformation of Bald Eagles from juveniles to adults typically takes five years. The process is gradual but when you compare the juveniles (1st winter) to the adults and skip all the intermediate subadult stages the differences between them are dramatic.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/bald-eagle-0531-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"bald-eagle-0531-ron-dudley\\"")
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