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GOLDEN EAGLE (AQUILA CHRYSAETOS)

Order: Falconiformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Aquila

DESCRIPTION
This is surely one of the smartest and largest North American predator birds and it owes its name to some golden-yellow feathers that create shades on its neck and head, while the rest of its feathers are pale or dark brown (depending on the sub-species) and grey in its tail and on wings.

Its low paws are yellow and its claws and beak are black.Its wing span is 185-220 cm and the female is larger than the male; in fact, the first can weight 3.9-6.1 Kg and the second only 3.0-4.4 Kg.
The length of this bird can be 70-85 cm, with the highest values always for females.
Its eyesight is really excellent, with a resolving power 8 times higher than human eye.
There are 6 sub-species of golden eagle, rather different in plumage and dimensions: 1) AQUILA CHRYSAETOS: Europe (except for Iberian Peninsula), whole Siberia
2) AQUILA CHRYSAETOS CANADENSIS: North America
3) AQUILA CHRYSAETOS DAPHANEA: Southern Kazakhstan, northern China and Himalaya (North of India and Pakistan)
4) AQUILA CHRYSAETOS HOMERYI: Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, Turkey and Iran
5) AQUILA CHRYSAETOS JAPONICA: Korea and Japan.
6) AQUILA CHRYSAETOS KAMTSCHATICA: Eastern Siberia.

FOOD
In the average, a golden eagle can eat up to 350 g of meat and its preys are rabbits, hares, marmots mice and other rodents and, less frequently, birds and lizards (3-30%); then, the cubs of deers, goats, foxes, coyotes and so on.
Sometimes, it can attack domestic insulate animals, but this depends on the abundance of wild preys.

REPRODUCTION
The couples of golden eagles remain faithful for their whole life and they build various nests in their territory, used alternatively during the years.
These nests are build on the rocks or on trees with tree branches and grass inserted in between and their dimensions can be very wide, up to 2 metres of diameter and 1 metre of height, because the eagles enlarge and restructurate them every year.
The female lays two black eggs from January to September and the first chick gets out after about 45 days; they're totally white and, normally, only one of them survives after these first weeks.
This is due to the few days of age difference between the chicks that allows the oldest, stronger and more active, to obtain much more food from its parents.
Parental cares last for about 50 days, until the young eagles can make their first attempts to fly, starting their definitive jump toward independence.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
This species lives in North America, Siberia, Northern China, Japan; Himalaya, North Africa and Europe, although here, it's limited to Alps and Apennine, Carpatian Mountains, in the Scottish Highlands, with a slow expansion toward England and a first attempt of reintroduction in Ireland.
Its favourite habitat is formed by the open spaces of prairies, steppes, in plains and among mountains,

THREATS
The golden eagle is rather common in North America but rare in Europe where the main dangers for this species are pollution, mainly heavy metals and halogenated hydrocarbons; the reduction of their habitat where to find their preys, the poisoned baits, although destined to other animals, the collisions with power lines.
Despite these threats that make harder its life, this species is not considered endangered, above all, for the abundance of the Asian and North American populations, given that the golden eagle is protected in the US by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

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