BioKIDS – Kids’ Inquiry of Diverse Species, Aquila chrysaetos, golden eagle: INFORMATION

Aquila chrysaetos

What do they look like?

Golden eagles are North America ‘s largest marauding shuttlecock. They are dark brown raptors with long, wide wings. Their distance ranges from 70 to 84 centimeter, and their wingspan ranges from 185 to 220 curium. Males and females look similar, but females are a lot larger than males. Females weigh from 3940 to 6125 g. Males consider from 3000 to 4475 g. Adults are largely iniquity embrown. They have a grey brown chase and fortunate brown on their heads. Adults have dark brown eyes. Their bills and claws are black and their ceres and feet are chicken. Their legs are covered in feathers all the means down to the toes .
Juvenile aureate eagles look similar to adults, but they have ignite patches on the tips of their wings, and a wide white band on their tails. They begin to look like adults when they are 4 to 6 years old .
There are 5 or 6 subspecies of the aureate eagle. only one subspecies, Aquila chrysaetos canadensis is found in North America. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry
• polymorphic

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

• Range mass

  3000 to 6125 g

  105.73 to 215.86 oz

• Range length

  70 to 84 cm

  27.56 to 33.07 in

• Range wingspan

  185 to 220 cm

  72.83 to 86.61 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  4.9929 W

  AnAge

Where do they live?

Golden eagles ( Aquila chrysaetos ) have a Holarctic distribution. They occur throughout Eurasia, in northerly Africa, and in North America. In North America, golden eagles are found in the westerly half of the continent, from Alaska to central Mexico, with humble numbers in easterly Canada and scattered pairs in the easterly United States. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native
• palearctic
  • native
• ethiopian
  • native

• Other Geographic Terms
• holarctic

How do they reproduce?

Golden eagles are monogamous, and pairs may breed together for several years. In sedentary populations, pairs stay together year round. Golden eagle courtship includes the pair flying together, chasing, diving and pretending to attach each other. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

• Mating System
• monogamous

Golden eagles breed between March and August. Some golden eagles are sedentary, remaining in the like territory all year. These eagles may begin building their nests and forming pairs deoxyadenosine monophosphate early as December. Migratory gold eagles don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate begin pair constitution and courtship until they return to the breeding grounds in early spring. many pairs re-use the same nest for many years. golden eagles normally build their nests on cliffs, but may besides use trees, riverbanks and man-made structures, such as windmills, notice towers, nest platforms, and electric towers. Nests are built 0 to 107 m off the grind. The male and female both build the nest. This takes 4 to 6 weeks. Nests are made of sticks and lined with soft vegetation, such as grasses, dry yucca leaves, inner bark, dead and fleeceable leaves, mosses and lichens. Some golden eagle nests are huge. The largest nest was 6.1 molarity improbable and 2.59 m wide .
The female lays 1 to 4 ( normally 2 ) egg. She lays one egg every 3 to 4 days. The female incubates the eggs for 35 to 45 days ( modal 42 days ). The chicks hatch several days apart, and are helpless ( altricial ). The older nestlings are normally much larger than the younger nestlings, and the older, stronger eaglets much kill the smaller chicks. The female parent broods the chicks regularly for up the foremost 45 days or so. Both parents bring food to the nestlings. The nestlings begin to leave the nest when they are 45 to 81 days old. They first leave the nest by walking, hopping or falling out of it. They begin to fly when they are about 10 weeks old, and become independent from their parents 32 to 80 days after fledging. Golden eagles begin to breed when they are 4 to 7 years old. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious ( sex separate )
• sexual
• oviparous

• How often does reproduction occur?

  Golden eagles breed once yearly.

• Breeding season

  Golden eagles breed from March through August, depending on their geographic location.

• Range eggs per season

  1 to 4

• Average eggs per season

  2

• Average eggs per season

  2

  AnAge

• Range time to hatching

  35 to 45 days

• Average time to hatching

  42 days

• Range fledging age

  45 to 81 days

• Range time to independence

  32 to 80 days

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  4 to 7 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  4 to 7 years

The female golden eagle of a pair does most of the incubation. She besides broods the chicks much of the time for the first base 45 days after hatching. Both parents bring food to the nest, but the male provides more food than the female. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

How long do they live?

The oldest known gold eagle lived to 46 years in captivity. In the violent, fortunate eagles have been known to live improving to 32 years. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

• Range lifespan
  status : rampantly

  48 (high) years

• Range lifespan
  status : enslavement

  Read more : Do Birds Like Oranges In Winter? Birds Advice

  46 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  condition : wild

  340 months

  Bird Banding Laboratory

How do they behave?

Some aureate eagles are sedentary, and others are migrant. In North America, most golden eagles in Alaska and Canada migrate south in fall. Most pairs that breed in the continental U.S. and southerly Canada stay in the same area year-round .
Golden eagles are normally alone or in pairs. however, young golden eagles may be found in groups. Adults may besides group together in winter when the upwind is very coldness, or there is a lot of food available .
golden eagles can carry astir to 8 pounds while flying. They can fly up to 80 miles per hour, and may reach 200 miles per hour while diving. They fly with decelerate, herculean wingbeats. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• flies
• diurnal
• motile
• migratory
• sedentary
• territorial
• dominance hierarchies

• Range territory size

  22 to 33 km^2

Home Range

Golden eagle home range sizes vary with season and quality of habitat. During the breeding season, gold eagles in the western U.S. have home ranges from 20 to 33 square kilometers. Breeding pair defend the boundaries of their family range with flight displays. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

How do they communicate with each other?

Golden eagles are largely mum, except during the breed season. They use nine different calls to communicate. Most calls appear convey about food. Golden eagles do n’t use vocalizations to mark their district. rather, they mark the edges of their territory by flying around them. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

• Communication Channels
• visual
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

What do they eat?

Golden eagles largely eat little mammals such as rabbits, hares, grind squirrels, prairie dogs, and marmots. They besides eat some birds, reptiles and fish. sometimes, golden eagles capture big prey, including seals ( Phocoidea ), ungulates, coyotes and badgers. They have besides been known to capture bombastic flying birds such as goose or cranes .
A pair of eagles will often hunt together. One chases the prey until it is exhausted, then the other swoops down to kill it. Golden eagles don ’ t normally store prey to eat late. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • eats mundane vertebrates

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• reptiles
• fish

What eats them and how do they avoid being eaten?

Golden eagles have few predators. There is no record of depredation of golden eagle eggs, and few records of adult or nestle predation. Wolverines and grizzly bears are the only record predators of gold eagle nestlings. ( Kochert, et al., 2002 )

• Known Predators

  • wolverines (Gulo gulo)
  • grizzly bears (Ursus arctos)

Do they cause problems?

Golden eagles occasionally kill livestock, costing ranchers money .

How do they interact with us?

Some researchers suggest that golden eagles are beneficial to livestock production because they eat a large number of rabbits, which compete with livestock for forage .

• Ways that people benefit from these animals:
• controls pest population

Are they endangered?

The gold eagle is federally protected under the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1962. In some parts, a decline of aureate eagle populations has been recorded. Washington and Montana list it as a species of special concern ; and Maine, New Hampshire and New York recognize it as an endangered species. But in other areas they are common and populations are presumably stable. ( Tesky, 1994 )
previous to the Protection Act of 1962, some 20,000 golden eagles were killed, largely from aircraft, because they were thought to prey on yound sheep and goats. But studies in towns where sheep are raised found no tell to support such claims, as about 70 % of the eagle diet consisted of rabbits. many golden eagles have been electrocuted in might lines, caught in steel traps set for coyotes and other animals, and poisoned by ranchers. Direct and indirect human-caused deathrate, noise and elimination of prey by habitat change are the chief factors limiting gold eagle populations. recreational activites may besides disturb breeding, migration and winter activities. Golden eagles are probably to abandon nests during brooding if they are disturbed. ( Terres, 1980 ; hypertext transfer protocol : //www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/animals/Bird )

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  

  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  

  More information

• US Migratory Bird Act

  Protected

• US Federal List

  No extra condition

• CITES

  Appendix II

• State of Michigan List

  No particular condition

Golden eagles are sometimes called the American War Bird or the Bird of Jupiter ( Terres, 1980 ) .

Contributors

Kari Kirschbaum ( author, editor program ), Animal Diversity Web .
Alicia Ivory ( generator ), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor .

References

Reilly, E. The Audubon Illustrated Handbook of American Birds. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1968 .
Terres, John. The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of north american Birds. Alfred A. Knoph, New York, 1980.

“ The Raptor Center, University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine ” ( On-line ). Accessed ( Date Unknown ) at http://www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu/ .
Kochert, M., K. Steenhof, C. McIntyre, E. Craig. 2002. Golden Eagle ( Aquila chrysaetos ). Pp. 1-44 in A Poole, F Gill, eds. The Birds of North America, Vol. 684. Philadelphia : The Birds of North America .

informant : https://unianimal.com
Category : Birds