Golden Eagle...So majestic

c.p.w.g.w

Just driving in Limerick, and saw a Golden Eagle(I assume that's what it was) just pirched on a tree...had to drive back around to get a better look...

Never realised they were so big and it was depressing that he was stuck on the side of a motorway

magicbastarder

i don't know if they are to be found down limerick direction - not according to the map on the BWI site anyway:

https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/golden-eagle/

how big was it? could it have been a buzzard or kite? if it was a WTSE, they are enormous.

Pie Man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058225646/golden-eagle-so-majestic

Might it of been a white tailed eagle you saw?

c.p.w.g.w

It was certainly bigger than a buzzard, maybe a kite in that case...no matter what it was...it was a beautiful creature and quiet the size...

Just googled white tailed eagle, and it certainly looks like what I saw

OpenYourEyes

A Red Kite is a similar size to a Buzzard and unlikely to be seen in Limerick. If the bird you saw was twice the size of a Buzzard, then White-tailed Eagle is most likely!

Eddie B

Most likely a Buzzard. Very common sight along motorways.

Large bottle small glass

I was speaking to a college friend from the Waterford gaeltacht over the summer and he had just heard his elderly mother say the local word for sea eagle for the first time.

She hadn't seen one since she was a child.

I presume they are the white tailed eagle others are talking about. They are a big step up from a buzzard!

DeadHand

Also in Limerick, today I saw what I think was either a buzzard or an Eagle.

This lad was huge, it seemed to me to have a wingspan as wide as a heron, but with a substantially heavier body. It flew across the road in a slow, lumbering style. It was all brown in colour. It turned its head and I noticed a hooked beak.

Initially I speculated that it was a Golden Eagle, but those are confined to the North. A white tailed Eagle is more likely, if it was indeed an Eagle at all. Buzzards are much more common, they hang about roadsides and the colours match.

I don't know... it was definitely a raptor of some description but seemed too big to be a buzzard or kite. It was not something I'd seen before.

Thoughts?

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119037197#Comment_119037197

If it seemed substantially bigger than the buzzards you are used to seeing then a Juvenile Sea Eagle would by my best guess - ru near the Shannon River by any chance??