What kind of bird was this?

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:02 pm

Guessing here... it would help to see a good pic of the skull... Red-tailed Hawk.

Post by **Sean** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:32 pm

The skull was half missing. I didn't find the other pieces. This is the best I got.

The bones were all broken, like the bird had suffered major trauma or was torn up after death.

Post by **Sean** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:30 am

After searching through pics of bird feathers, I'm thinking an adult golden eagle. The brown, marbled white tail feathers seem to match.

Can anyone with expertise in such knowledge confirm this ID? Thanks in advance.

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Sat Mar 04, 2017 8:57 am

Were those feathers associated with the tail region of the skeleton?
Approximately how big/large (lengthwise) was the skeleton (head to tail)?
Yup, it could be a Golden Eagle.

Post by **Sean** » Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:39 pm

There was no actual corpse left. Everything had been torn and scattered about. I'm guessing that the brown, marbled white ones came from the tail. They don't look like wing feathers to me. But they were not attached to anything, so I don't really know.

From head to tail, the skeleton was about 1.5 to 2 feet long. And I'm guessing it had a wingspan of about a yard or a little less, judging by how long the wing bones were.

Post by **Sean** » Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:49 pm

Actually, after looking at some pics of golden eagles in flight, it looks like the feathers alone add a couple feet to the wingspan, and maybe a foot or more to the head-to-tail length.