Golden eagle

Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere.

These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their napes. Immature eagles of this species typically have white on the tail and often have white markings on the wings. Golden eagles use their agility and speed combined with powerful feet and large, sharp talons to hunt a variety of prey, mainly hares, rabbits, and marmots and other ground squirrels. Golden eagles maintain home ranges or territories that may be as large as 200 km2 (77 sq mi).

They build large nests in cliffs and other high places to which they may return for several breeding years. Most breeding activities take place in the spring; they are monogamous and may remain together for several years or possibly for life. Females lay up to four eggs, and then incubate them for six weeks. Typically, one or two young survive to fledge in about three months. These juvenile golden eagles usually attain full independence in the fall, after which they wander widely until establishing a territory for themselves in four to five years.

Distribution and habitat

Golden eagles are fairly adaptable in habitat but often reside in areas with a few shared ecological characteristics. They are best suited to hunting in open or semi-open areas and search them out year-around. Native vegetation seems to be attractive to them and they typically avoid developed areas of any type from urban to agricultural as well as heavily forested regions. In desolate areas (e.g., the southern Yukon), they can occur regularly at roadkills and garbage dumps.

The largest numbers of golden eagles are found in mountainous regions today, with many eagles doing a majority of their hunting and nesting on rock formations. However, they are not solely tied to high elevations and can breed in lowlands if the local habitats are suitable. Below are more detailed descriptions of habitats occupied by golden eagles in both continents where they occur.

Hunting

They eat a range of prey, ranging from smaller mammals such as ground squirrels and rabbits to foxes, deer, and goats. They take a range of birds as prey including pheasants and grouses to small raptors and swans. The rest of their diet includes reptiles, amphibians, fish, and carrion. In addition, they are known to hunt tortoises, dropping them onto rocks from some height to crack the shells open. During the winter they will eat large amounts of carrion.

Vocalization

While many accipitrids are not known for their strong voices, golden eagles have a particular tendency for silence, even while breeding. That being said, some vocalization has been recorded, usually centering around the nesting period. The voice of the golden eagle is considered weak, high, and shrill, has been called "quite pathetic" and "puppy-like", and seems incongruous with the formidable size and nature of the species. Most known vocalizations seem to function as contact calls between eagles, sometimes adults to their offspring, occasionally territorial birds to intruders and rarely between a breeding pair. In western Montana, nine distinct calls were noted: a chirp, a seeir, a pssa, a skonk, a cluck, a wonk, a honk and a hiss.

Conservation status

Golden Eagles are widely distributed but the population is declining in some areas, including parts of the USA. In regions where they are threatened the threats are habitat loss, shooting, trapping, poisoning, disturbance, collision with power lines, electrocution, and illegal trade. However, despite these there are still healthy populations in some of their range. They are listed as Least Concern by BirdLife International.