Golden Eagle

The Golden Eagle is one of the most widespread large eagles in the Northern Hemisphere, favoring open mountainous and upland terrain where it hunts mammals and birds with exceptional power and speed for a bird of its size.

Adult Golden Eagle body and flight feathers are a fairly uniform dark brown, set off by elongated, pointed golden-buff feathers on the nape and crown that give the species its name and a distinctly warm-headed appearance in good light. Juvenile and immature birds show large, sharply defined white patches at the base of the flight feathers (visible from below in flight) and a white tail base with a clean-edged dark terminal band - a crisper, more clearly demarcated pattern than the messier mottled white typically seen in young Bald Eagles. These white areas are gradually lost as the bird matures, with feathers replaced over several years until the tail and flight feathers become uniformly dark.

Golden Eagles take around five years or more to reach full adult plumage, molting gradually and losing the white flight-feather and tail patches in stages. Sexes look alike, with females noticeably larger than males. Adults undergo a slow, sequential molt of flight feathers spread over more than a single year.

Golden Eagles favor open mountainous terrain, moorland, tundra, and other treeless or lightly wooded uplands across a huge range spanning North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Most populations are resident or only partially migratory, though northernmost populations move south in winter.

Golden Eagles hunt a wide range of mammals and birds, using powerful stoops and low-level pursuit flights, and will also scavenge carrion, particularly in winter. In soaring flight the wings are often held in a shallow V-shape (dihedral), useful for distinguishing the species at a distance. The species is largely silent away from the nest. Nests are large stick structures on cliff ledges or in large trees, reused and enlarged over many years.