The Golden Eagle, King of the Raptors

By William Leroy for Wild At Heart

Golden Eagle

Of all the states, Arizona is home to the largest number of species of birds in the U.S. These birds can vary from residents, that stay all year around, to breeding birds, that spend a good part of the growing season in Arizona to raise their young, migrants who pass through Arizona with the seasons, to wintering birds who like to spend a good part of the winter in Arizona to escape colder conditions up north. Perhaps our most impressive year round raptor is the Golden Eagle.

The Golden Eagle is one of the largest, fastest, nimblest raptors in North America. Lustrous gold feathers gleam on the back of its head and neck; a powerful beak and talons advertise its hunting prowess. You’re most likely to see this eagle in western North America, soaring on steady wings or diving in pursuit of the jackrabbits and other small mammals that are its main prey. Sometimes seen attacking large mammals, or fighting off coyotes or bears in defense of its prey and young, the Golden Eagle has long inspired both reverence and fear, both in Native Americans and Europeans who came here to settle.

Description

The Golden Eagle is the largest raptor (predatory bird) in North America. The wings are broad like a Red-tailed Hawk, but longer. At distance, the head is relatively small and the tail is long, projecting farther behind than the head sticks out in front. Adult Golden Eagles are dark brown with a golden sheen on the back of the head and neck. For their first several years of life, young birds have neatly defined white patches at the base of the tail and in the wings.

Golden EagleHunting

Usually found alone or in pairs, Golden Eagles typically soar or glide with wings lifted into a slight “V” and the wingtip feathers spread like fingers. They capture prey on or near the ground, locating it by soaring, flying low over the ground, or hunting from a perch. Golden Eagles prey mainly on small to medium-sized mammals, including hares, rabbits, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and marmots. Black-tailed jackrabbits are a key prey species throughout much of their range. These eagles are also capable of taking larger bird and mammal prey, including cranes, swans, deer, and domestic livestock. They have even been observed killing seals, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, coyotes, badgers, and bobcats. In addition to live prey, Golden Eagles often feed on carrion, following crows and other scavengers to a meal. They also catch fish, rob nests, and steal food from other birds.

Family Life

Golden Eagles usually nest on cliffs. They may also build nests in trees, on the ground, or in human-made structures, including windmills, observation towers, nesting platforms, and electrical transmission towers. Constructed near hunting grounds, Golden Eagle nests often command a wide view of their surroundings. Starting at 1 to 3 months before egg-laying, a Golden Eagle pair builds a nest of sticks and vegetation—sometimes also including bones, antlers, and human-made objects such as wire and fence posts. They line the nest with locally available vegetation, such as yucca, grasses, bark, leaves, mosses and lichens, or conifer boughs. They often include aromatic leaves, possibly to keep insect pests at bay. Resident birds continue adding nest material year-round, reusing the same nest for multiple seasons and sometimes alternating between two nests. Nests are huge, averaging some 5-6 feet wide, and 2 feet high, enclosing a bowl about 3 feet by 2 feet deep. Did you know that the largest Golden Eagle nest on record was 20 feet tall, 8.5 feet wide?

Golden EagleWhere to see them

Golden Eagles live in open and semi-open country featuring native vegetation. They avoid developed areas and uninterrupted stretches of forest. They are found primarily in mountains up to 12,000 feet, Canyonlands, rim rock terrain, and riverside cliffs and bluffs. Golden Eagles nest on cliffs and steep escarpments in grassland, chaparral, shrub land, forest, and other vegetated areas. Found mostly in the western half of the U.S., they are rare in eastern states. Here is Arizona, you can usually find them in wild riparian areas like the Salt River Canyons, Oak Creek, etc., and up in our northern canyon areas, like the North and South rims of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. I have seen them as part of every visit to the North Rim.

Some interesting facts about Golden Eagles

  • Although capable of killing large prey such as cranes, wild ungulates, and domestic livestock, the Golden Eagle subsists primarily on rabbits, hares, ground squirrels, and prairie dogs.
  • Golden Eagles possess astonishing speed and maneuverability for their size. Diving from great heights, they have been clocked at close to 200 miles per hour. In an undulating territorial and courtship display known as “sky-dancing,” a Golden Eagle performs a rapid series of up to 20 steep dives and upward swoops, beating its wings three or four times at the top of each rise. In “pendulum flight,” the eagle dives and rises, then turns over to retrace its path. Single birds and pairs engage in aerial play with objects such as sticks or dead prey, carrying these items high into the sky, then dropping and retrieving them. In addition to attacking prey from the air, Golden Eagles sometimes hunt on the ground, wildly flapping as they run. Mated pairs hunt jackrabbits cooperatively during breeding season; one eagle diverting the animal’s attention while the second makes the kill.
  • The Rough-legged Hawk, the Ferruginous Hawk, and the Golden Eagle are the only American raptors to have legs feathered all the way to the toes.
  • The amount of white in the wings of a young Golden Eagle varies among individuals, and a few lack white in the wings entirely.
  • The Golden Eagle is the most common official national animal in the world. It is the emblem of Albania, Germany, Austria, Mexico, and Kazakhstan.
  • Because their common prey animals (mammals) don’t tend to ingest pesticides, Golden Eagles have escaped the harm sustained by fish-eating or bird-eating raptors from DDT and related chemicals. When these pesticides thinned the eggshells of many birds of prey, Golden Eagles’ shells retained normal thickness. Pesticide concentrations in their blood stayed below levels known to cause reproductive problems.

Golden EagleStatus in the Wild

Golden Eagle populations appear to have been stable over the last several decades, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey.

About Wild At Heart

Wild At Heart is an all-volunteer organization which is dedicated to the conservation and preservation of Arizona’s native wildlife. At Wild At Heart we: Rescue, rehabilitate, and release birds of prey which have been injured or orphaned. Relocate displaced burrowing owls. Manage species recovery programs. Manage habitat enhancement projects. Provide educational presentations. Each year, Wild At Heart rescues and cares for approximately 400 owls, hawks, and falcons, and some years, as many as 600 raptors have been cared for in the facility. Every single dollar donated goes towards the rescue, rehabilitation, care and release of our amazing Arizona Birds of Prey. Wild At Heart is an all-volunteer non-profit 501(c) 3 organization. Support for Wild At Heart comes from generous members of the community who are concerned about our ever-decreasing wildlife habitats.

Please send your tax-deductible donations to “Wild At Heart” at the following address: Wild At Heart, 31840 N. 45th Street, Cave Creek, Arizona. 85331. For additional information regarding how you can support Wild At Heart please go to: http://www.wildatheartowls.org/  Visit Website

The Peak invites you to share your thoughts about this article by using the “Submit a Comment” box at the bottom of this page. Your email address will not be published. All comments are reviewed based on The Peak’s Comment Policy prior to publishing.

 

 

 

Author: William LeRoy

William Leroy has volunteered at Wild At Heart for many years. He has participated in many raptor rescues. His column, "On the Wildside," which he writes on behalf of Wild At Heart, has been published in The Peak for more than a decade.

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4 Comments

  1. I hit a golden eagle driving into Wickenberg AZ from Las Vegas on 7/10/19. This gigantic raptor, took off from the grass median between the divided highway. I was going 70 mph in the RAV4 and it was moving low and slow, maybe with prey. I thought it hit the windshield on the passenger side, putting a large bowl in the window and spraying glass shards everywhere. It actually hit the front bumper and rode up the hood leaving a trail of blood, guts and feathers. I was wearing sunglasses and my passenger was covered in glass. Never found the carcus as the grass on the side of the road was 3 feet high and I did not think to look in the rear view mirror. The policeman who stopped us shortly thereafter said it was probably a hawk, but I saw it only 4 feet away from me, it looked exactly like your pictures. It was not a hawk or owl or vulture, it was as big as a canadian goose and it was a very majestic looking golden eagle. I will save some DNA to perhaps have it tested

    Post a Reply
    • Thank you for your comment. I had a telephone conversation this past week with “Sam” Fox one of the founders of Wild At Heart and the organization that sponsored the article. Sme mentioned that they have had a golden eagle for years. They rehabilitated it but it cannot ever be released because of its injuries. She was telling me that every year they have to get a license from the state to keep the eagle. Quite a bit of paperwork involved on top of taking care of more than 500 rescued and rehabilitating owls, hawks, and other raptors. I will tell them about your comment. You might want to checkout their Facebook page and website. They are very close to us in Cave Creek.

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  2. Yesterday, I had 6 golden eagles circling my home. My home is the highest home on the ridge line bordering the Coronado National Forest in Oro Valley. The eagles have appeared for the last 3 days. The first day I only saw one and then yesterday there were 6 and today there were two. I watched them from my porch and they arrived in the morning and it was an incredible sight. They just glided on the wind and then they flew over my backyard pool and up over the mountain. Is it normal for 6 golden eagles to appear together? I thought that being birds of prey, they may be solitary hunters. Is the extreme heat bringing them closer to residential areas in search of a water source and prey? I have pictures and a video that I took of the 6 golden eagles. The quality is not very good but it captures their magnificence in flight. Thank you.

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    • Thank you very much for sharing your experience with The Peak. Wow. I am going to have to do some golden eagle research. Editor

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