Help with large light colored bird at Oak Grove beach

[Jill Armentrout]

I was walked the dogs & a huge light colored bird flew. It actually looked like an Eagle & flew like one but wrong color. I looked at large terns but know it wasn’t a Caspian? Any thoughts. Thanks
Sent from Jill’s iPhone.
Des Moines, IA

[Russell Benedict]

Great Egret??

Russ Benedict

Professor of Biology

Director of Prairies For Agriculture Project

Department of Biology, Central College

812 University Street | Campus Box 09 | Pella, Iowa 50219

Office:  641-628-5173

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From: 'Jill Armentrout' via IA-BIRD <ia-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2025 8:53 AM
To: ia-...@googlegroups.com <ia-...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [ia-bird] Help with large light colored bird at Oak Grove beach

 

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I was walked the dogs & a huge light colored bird flew. It actually looked like an Eagle & flew like one but wrong color. I looked at large terns but know it wasn’t a Caspian? Any thoughts. Thanks
Sent from Jill’s iPhone.
Des Moines, IA

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[Markus Woolery]

Was it white or just light-colored? My guess would be red-tailed hawk. They often appear light-colored from the bottom and in immature birds the red tail is not always apparent. If it looked white maybe it could have been krider's.

Markus Woolery

Waterloo

[Jill Armentrout]

Thanks for all of the suggestions - I know it wasn’t an osprey - because I did see one this morning and I saw a Giant Egret.  Honestly  - I have photographed a million bald eagle photos and definitely know what juveniles look like - I definitely had the outline of an Eagle and flying with both wings straight but definitely very very light but not white.  It was pretty darn big because I could see if flying away from me for a long time?

Maybe it was a Krider?  Has anyone seen one around Saylorville?  I tried to check on E-bird but I don’t see any? 

Thanks!  I need to get binoculars I can hang around my head because I’m trying to hang onto three dogs ! 

Jill Armentrout

sammie...@mac.com

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[Anthony Sotelo]

Osprey perhaps 

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[Jerry Toll]

Jill, it could still be a Bald Eagle. In their first 3 years of life they have different plumage. Their 4th & 5th years they look more like an adult Bald Eagle. Their second year plumage, when seen below, shows a lot of white but has also a mix of contrasting browns and black peppering. It shouldn't  show long legs or neck but the beak should be very obvious. Good luck!

Jerry Toll

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[Jill Armentrout]

So, Russ I believe you are probably right.  Thanks everybody!  

JILL 

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[Russell Benedict]

Yes!!    I win!!   That never happens.  But there are lots of great egrets here now.  From what I hear, once the breeding birds to our south are done with the nesting season, they wander far and wide.  The shallow water around Lake Red Rock right now is loaded with Great Egrets (probably a couple other species there as well).  Russ from Pella / Knoxville. 

Russ Benedict

Professor of Biology

Director of Prairies For Agriculture Project

Department of Biology, Central College

812 University Street | Campus Box 09 | Pella, Iowa 50219

Office:  641-628-5173

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From: Jill Armentrout <sammie...@mac.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2025 9:17 AM
To: ia-...@googlegroups.com <ia-...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Russell Benedict <Bene...@central.edu>
Subject: Re: [ia-bird] Help with large light colored bird at Oak Grove beach

 

[Noah Arthur]

One more possibility... Glaucous Gull? They are HUGE gulls, and all ages are pale but usually not pure white. But that'd be way out of season -- they're usually a winter vagrant to the Midwest.

Noah