---
title: "What the sources say about the Golden Eagle | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "35 claims from the Golden Eagle profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/golden-eagle-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/golden-eagle/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Golden Eagle (*Aquila chrysaetos*)

> 35 claims from the Golden Eagle profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Golden Eagle](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/golden-eagle/)

## Aquila chrysaetos (golden eagle). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Aquila_chrysaetos/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| This is a Holarctic species, spread across the northern continents. Animal Diversity Web lists it throughout Eurasia, in northern Africa, and in the western half of North America from Alaska down to central Mexico, with small numbers in eastern Canada and scattered pairs in the eastern United States | Golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) have a Holarctic distribution. They occur throughout Eurasia, in northern Africa, and in North America. In North America, golden eagles are found in the western half of the continent, from Alaska to central Mexico, with small numbers in eastern Canada and scattered pairs in the eastern United States. (note: 'spread across the northern continents' glosses Holarctic; ADW's Biogeographic Regions list nearctic and palearctic) |
| It lives in open and semi-open country from sea level up to 3,600 meters, including tundra, shrubland, grassland, and coniferous forest, and most golden eagles are found in mountainous areas | Golden eagles are found in open and semi-open habitats from sea level to 3600 m elevation. Habitat types that they inhabit include tundra, shrublands, grasslands, woodland-brushlands, and coniferous forests. Most golden eagles are found in mountainous areas |
| Rabbits, hares, ground squirrels, and marmots are the primary diet, rounded out with birds and reptiles, and occasionally a coyote or badger | The diet of golden eagles is composed primarily of small mammals such as rabbits, hares, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and marmots. They also eat birds, reptiles and fish in smaller numbers. Golden eagles occasionally capture large prey, including seals (Phocoidea), ungulates, coyotes and badgers. |
| Rabbits, hares, ground squirrels, and marmots as the primary diet, plus birds, reptiles, carrion when live prey is scarce, and occasionally a coyote, badger, or deer | The diet of golden eagles is composed primarily of small mammals such as rabbits, hares, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and marmots. They also eat birds, reptiles and fish in smaller numbers. Golden eagles occasionally capture large prey, including seals (Phocoidea), ungulates, coyotes and badgers. (note: stats.diet; deer and carrion come from sdz-golden-eagle's prey list, same facts as the body claim above) |
| Open and semi-open, mostly mountainous country from sea level to 3,600 meters, including tundra, shrubland and grassland, across the Holarctic: Eurasia, northern Africa, and western North America from Alaska to central Mexico | Golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) have a Holarctic distribution. They occur throughout Eurasia, in northern Africa, and in North America. In North America, golden eagles are found in the western half of the continent, from Alaska to central Mexico ... Golden eagles are found in open and semi-open habitats from sea level to 3600 m elevation. Habitat types that they inhabit include tundra, shrublands, grasslands, woodland-brushlands, and coniferous forests. Most golden eagles are found in mountainous areas (note: stats.habitat; Geographic Range then Habitat, in the order they appear on the adw-golden-eagle page) |
| The largest nest on record, according to Animal Diversity Web, measured 6.1 meters tall and 2.59 meters wide | The largest nest on record measured 6.1 m tall and 2.59 m wide. |
| The female usually lays two eggs, three to four days apart | The female lays 1 to 4 (usually 2) eggs, with 3 to 4 day intervals between each egg. |
| The chicks hatch several days apart | The young hatch several days apart, and are altricial. |
| In the western United States a pair's breeding-season home range covers 20 to 33 square kilometers, and the pair defends its boundaries with flight displays | During the breeding season, golden eagles in the western U.S. have home ranges from 20 to 33 square kilometers. Breeding pairs defend the boundaries of their home range with flight displays. |
| Golden eagles have few recorded predators: wolverines and grizzly bears are the only recorded predators of their nestlings | Golden eagles have few predators. There is no record of predation of golden eagle eggs, and few records of adult or nestling predation. Wolverines and grizzly bears are the only recorded predators of golden eagle nestlings. |

## Golden Eagle. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/golden-eagle

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A hunter with a wingspan of up to 2.3 meters that dives at up to 120 mph (193 km/h) | Wingspan: 6.2 to 7.4 feet (1.9 to 2.3 meters) ... Golden eagles can reach speeds of up to 120 miles (193 kilometers) per hour during a dive, in play or after prey. (note: tagline; Size then Fun Facts, in the order they appear on the sdz-golden-eagle page) |
| stands 75 to 90 centimeters tall (2.5 to 3 feet) | Height: 2.5 to 3 feet (75 to 90 centimeters) |
| a wingspan that stretches 1.9 to 2.3 meters (6.2 to 7.4 feet) tip to tip | Wingspan: 6.2 to 7.4 feet (1.9 to 2.3 meters) |
| females 3.6 to 6.6 kilograms and males 2.8 to 4.5 kilograms | Weight: Females, 7.9 to 14.5 pounds (3.6 to 6.6 kilograms); males, 6.2 to 9.9 pounds (2.8 to 4.5 kilograms) |
| A wild golden eagle can live up to 38 years, and up to 50 in expert care | Up to 38 years in the wilderness; up to 50 years in expert care |
| It can hit up to 120 miles per hour (193 km/h) in a dive, in play or after prey | Golden eagles can reach speeds of up to 120 miles (193 kilometers) per hour during a dive, in play or after prey. |
| Golden eagles often hunt in pairs: one eagle drives the prey toward its waiting partner. The talons, the claws on the feet, kill and carry the prey, and the beak is only for eating | They often work in pairs while hunting: one eagle drives the prey to its waiting partner. The talons on their feet kill and carry the prey, while the beak is only for eating. (note: 'the claws on its feet' defines talon for the young-reader audience) |
| San Diego Zoo adds that it sometimes takes deer, and it may eat carrion when live prey is scarce | Prey includes marmots, hares, mice, and sometimes slow-flying birds, martens, foxes, and even deer. They may also eat carrion if live prey is scarce. |
| A dive of up to 120 mph (193 km/h) | Golden eagles can reach speeds of up to 120 miles (193 kilometers) per hour during a dive, in play or after prey. (note: stats.superpower, dive-speed clause) |
| a hunting style that often has one eagle drive prey toward its waiting partner | They often work in pairs while hunting: one eagle drives the prey to its waiting partner. (note: stats.superpower, hunting-style clause) |
| A golden eagle pair mates for life and builds several nests within its territory over the years, adding material every year so each one gets bigger and bigger | A golden eagle pair stays together for life, building several nests in their territory over the years. Each nest is made out of heavy tree branches and grass, and built on a cliff face or in a tree. The eagles add more material to the nest each year, so it gets bigger and bigger. |
| incubation lasts 41 to 45 days | Incubation period: 41 to 45 days (note: SDZ's current figure replaces ADW's older 35 to 45 days) |
| The chicks hatch several days apart, and the oldest often attacks its younger sibling and sometimes kills it | The oldest chick often attacks and sometimes even kills its younger sibling. (note: hatching interval from adw-golden-eagle ('The young hatch several days apart'); the kill rate follows SDZ's current page, which hedges ADW's 'often kill' to 'sometimes') |
| San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says a golden eagle can reach up to 120 miles per hour (193 km/h) in a dive, whether it's chasing prey or just playing | Golden eagles can reach speeds of up to 120 miles (193 kilometers) per hour during a dive, in play or after prey. (note: FAQ 1) |
| dives at up to 120 mph (193 km/h) | Golden eagles can reach speeds of up to 120 miles (193 kilometers) per hour during a dive, in play or after prey. (note: vibe.reason, settled in #913) |
| dangerLevel: Medium | The talons on their feet kill and carry the prey, while the beak is only for eating. Prey includes marmots, hares, mice, and sometimes slow-flying birds, martens, foxes, and even deer. (note: #913: kept; talons that kill a fox or a deer can injure a person, and no source reports a serious injury) |

## Westrip et al. (2022). Aquila chrysaetos. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T22696060A210501592.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2022-1.rlts.t22696060a210501592.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). (note: stats.conservationStatus; category read through GBIF's copy of the Red List, per docs/fact-check.md, since iucnredlist.org refuses scripts) |

## Bohrer et al. (2011). Estimating updraft velocity components over large spatial scales: contrasting migration strategies of golden eagles and turkey vultures. Ecology Letters.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01713.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| on autumn migration across eastern North America, rides mostly on wind pushed up by ridges | during autumn migration across eastern North America tracked using GPS tags ... golden eagles primarily use orographic lift during migration (note: tagline; 'mostly' is the source's 'primarily'; 'wind pushed up by ridges' glosses orographic lift; scoped to the study's autumn migration) |
| A GPS-tracking study followed golden eagles and turkey vultures during autumn migration across eastern North America to compare how each species used them | We apply these methods to contrast flight strategies of two morphologically similar but behaviourally different species: golden eagle, Aquila chrysaetos, and turkey vulture, Cathartes aura, during autumn migration across eastern North America tracked using GPS tags |
| The migrations of soaring birds are shaped by weather that produces two kinds of uplift: thermal lift from rising warm air, and orographic lift from wind forced upward by the landscape | Soaring birds migrate in massive numbers worldwide. These migrations are complex and dynamic phenomena, strongly influenced by meteorological conditions that produce thermal and orographic uplift as the birds traverse the landscape. (note: the glosses on each lift type are definitions) |
| Turkey vultures nearly exclusively used thermal lift, while golden eagles primarily used orographic lift, the wind pushed upward as it hits a mountain ridge | We show that turkey vultures nearly exclusively used thermal lift, whereas golden eagles primarily use orographic lift during migration. (note: the gloss on orographic lift is a definition, not a finding) |
| Over eastern North America in autumn, mostly not. Researchers put GPS tags on both species there and found the vultures used rising warm air nearly exclusively, while the eagles primarily got their lift from wind deflected upward off mountain ridges | during autumn migration across eastern North America tracked using GPS tags ... turkey vultures nearly exclusively used thermal lift, whereas golden eagles primarily use orographic lift during migration (note: FAQ 2) |
| tracked on autumn migration, rode mostly on wind pushed up by ridges | during autumn migration across eastern North America tracked using GPS tags ... golden eagles primarily use orographic lift during migration (note: vibe.reason, settled in #913; 'mostly' is the source's 'primarily') |

## Ecke et al. (2017). Sublethal Lead Exposure Alters Movement Behavior in Free-Ranging Golden Eagles. Environmental Science & Technology.

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b06024

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A serious threat is lead from hunting ammunition. A tracking study found that even sublethal lead levels in scavenging golden eagles' blood can likely harm how high they fly and how fast they move, and lead levels in the livers of dead eagles suggested that such exposure raises the risk of dying | Lead poisoning of animals due to ingestion of fragments from lead-based ammunition in carcasses and offal of shot wildlife ... we found that even sublethal lead concentrations in blood (25 ppb, wet weight), can likely negatively affect movement behavior (flight height and movement rate) of free-ranging scavenging Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos). Lead levels in liver of recovered post-mortem analyzed eagles suggested that sublethal exposure increases the risk of mortality in eagles. |
| Lead from hunting ammunition. Eagles that scavenge the carcasses and offal of shot animals swallow fragments of lead ammunition. The study that tracked them found that blood lead levels as low as 25 parts per billion can likely affect how high they fly and how fast they move, and its authors call lead a considerably more serious threat to wildlife conservation than previously realized | Lead poisoning of animals due to ingestion of fragments from lead-based ammunition in carcasses and offal of shot wildlife ... we found that even sublethal lead concentrations in blood (25 ppb, wet weight), can likely negatively affect movement behavior (flight height and movement rate) of free-ranging scavenging Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos). ... Our study highlights lead exposure as a considerably more serious threat to wildlife conservation than previously realized (note: 25 parts per billion, from 25 ppb; 'swallow fragments' from 'ingestion of fragments') |