Congratulations John Blumenkamp
Juvenile Bald Eagle
This image was created a few weeks back here in northern Utah... to me the younger bald eagles are as interesting, if not more so, than the adults. Cool birds regardless of their age.
A juvenile or juvenal plumage refers to the first "full sized" plumage a bird obtains. After the birds first molt they are no longer in juvenal plumage but rarely are they in adult plumage. Juvenile (juvenal plumage) is not synonomous with immature which refers to any plumage that is not adult.
The yellow cere and mostly yellow bill of this bird definitively rules out this being a juvenile bird. The extensive amount of white on the head and other features suggests that this bird probably fits into what Wheeler refers to as a"subadult 2'' plumage- or more simply probably a third year bird.
Avian IOTW 3/20/2009 John Blumenkamp
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