Golden or Tourist?

[Pointless Parasite]

I managed to get a fairly rubbish photo of this large bird of prey while climbing Monadh Mor in the Cairngorms. It was certainly big; my immediate reaction was to shout "woah!", but I'm not sure if it was a Golden Eagle or just a Buzzard. Any ideas?

A few minutes later another one flew past although my photo of that one was even worse.

[CharlesT]

Buzzard methinks.

[KatTai]

Going to say buzzard as well, goldens have an impressive beak (white-taileds even moreso!).

[Mal Grey]

I would also suggest its a tourist eagle, or buzzard to its friends. The beak is a bit of a telltale, as mentioned above.

Don't be disappointed, they're still wonderful birds to watch. This morning, wild camped in a woodland spot by a small backwater of my local river, I watched an adult buzzard "training" its juvenile young to hunt, carrying a mouse/vole/poor-little-rodent in its talons while the juvenile clamoured for it, before dropping it so the youngster could dive down after it. In the woods, the buzzards looked huge, just a few dozen yards from my tent.

[CharlesT]

Close up Buzzards are big birds. I startled one off a fence post recently while cycling and it flew across me at no more than ten feet away, filled my field of view.

However, Eagles are huge by comparison.

[Pointless Parasite]

OK thanks guys. Nice post Mal. I agree Buzzards are impressive birds in their own right but I've already seen my fair share of them, and have on occasions been dive bombed by them