GOLDEN EAGLE CHICKS
STAN MOORE

 

It might be worth noting that the reason this eagle population is being studied at this time is that many eagles are being killed each year due to collisions with wind-energy turbines that produce electricity in the Altamont Pass of California. Of over 250 tagged golden eagles in the past five years or so, over 40% have been killed in that wind farm over that time frame! So, this is a real conservation problem and no real, concrete solutions have been implemented at this point. But the problem has been identified and quantified, and now it is up to the "powers that be" to solve, in my opinion. More information can be found at the website of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory at http://www.nrel.gov.

The nests we visited were all searched for prey remains. Among the remains found were, a wild turkey, a number of legs from young deer, a skunk, a number of ground squirrels, a couple of rabbits, a big gopher snake, remains
of an adult red-shouldered hawk, remains of crows, magpies, and ravens, and probably some other stuff, too.

On the other hand, one golden eagle nest was predated by a bobcat or mountain lion, and the two nearly grown eaglets were killed and partially eaten. So sometimes predators become prey!