[SunShineGirl]

Hi Everyone,

I am new here. I live at Christie Point, Victoria, BC. It is a bird sanctuary and a Peninsula that juts into the Gorge in View Royal Municipality. I have lived here just over a year. I am not a hobbyist of birds, but have taken into watching them from my balcony. 2 days ago I saw to eagles on the West side of the Peninsula where I live. They had white heads, white bellies, black backs, wings and tail. I have no idea how wide the wing span is for the distance was not close enough, however, I do know it is 2x that of geese. Who are they? Also, I would like to know if these birds of prey play games using other birds? I have quite the tale to tell, but would like an ID of these two first.

Thank you for your responses.

Thank you for any help you can give.

[Isaac]

Welcome!

Are you sure they didn't have a dark belly and white tail? Adult Bald Eagles have a dark body, a white head, and a white tail. The juveniles are mostly brown.

[Freely]

Would be a lot easier to help with the id if you could post a pic.

[SunShineGirl]

To both replies. I am very certain of the colors I saw on these 2 eagles. In the past year I thought I was seeing hawks because they are smaller than what these are.

No, I am sorry I didn't take pics. I was absolutely stunned by what I saw.

If there is another place to post my story would you please direct as it probably has nothing to do with id, except for behaviour.

Thank you.

[Nonnobissolum]

I was absolutely stunned by what I saw.

Please don't keep us in suspense i can't stand it much longer

[esle9]

You could post your story in the "general discussion" section of the forum. I'm interested to hear it

Your birds sounds like they could be Ospreys, they are smaller than an eagle but larger than a hawk. They have white bellies, mostly white heads, dark backs, and mostly dark wings and tail.
Juvenile eagles can have pale bellies, but their tails and heads are mostly dark when they have pale bellies.

[SunShineGirl]

I will go to Vancouver Island and make my post. Hope this is the right place.

Thank you for your response.

[Onyxdragun]

Here are some of my osprey photos if it helps you ID what you saw:

[SunShineGirl]

In re Osprey, good thought! Thank you for posting the pics, however, they had solid black and white colours. I was too stunned at what was going on to think about taking a pic.

I do appreciate your idea, though.

[SunShineGirl]

Come to think of it, perhaps the hawks I thought I saw out here might be Osprey.

I will have to have my camera ready and take pics on species I am not familiar with.

[MahasiMethod]

I will have to have my camera ready and take pics on species I am not familiar with.

Hi, SunShineGirl. i enjoy reading about your growing enthusiasm for birds. Yes, it is definitely a good idea to always have a camera nearby. If you saw my earlier thread about the (extremely rare) Thrasher with the curved bill I saw the summer of 2008 then you know firsthand exactly what a worst case scenario looks like when you absolutely need a camera.

[SunShineGirl]

Thank you for your reply.

Today, I am as much stunned over my employers decisions as I was for what I saw.

I will need to have a few days away before coming back here.