Golden Eagle

golden eagle

Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos).

(credit: © Alan and Sandy Carey)

Dark-brown eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) with golden, leaf-shaped nape feathers, dark eyes, gray beak, fully feathered legs, large yellow feet, and large talons. Its wingspread reaches almost 8 ft (2.3 m). It ranges from central Mexico (where it is the national bird) along the Pacific coast and through the Rocky Mountains to Alaska, and small numbers are found from Newfoundland to North Carolina. Also found in North Africa, it is more common across Russia, to southern China and Japan. It nests in cliff caves or in lone trees. The species is protected in the U.S.

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golden eagle

a large eagle, Aquila chrysaetos, of mountainous regions of the N hemisphere, having a plumage that is golden brown on the back and brown elsewhere

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Golden Eagle 

(Aquila chrysaëtus), a bird of the family Accipitridae, order Falconiformes.

The golden eagle is up to 95 cm long, and its wing span is up to 2 m. Its plumage is dark brown. The golden eagle is found in the forest zone and mountainous regions of Europe, Asia, and North America, and also in North Africa. In the USSR it is found as far north as the border of the forest zone. It feeds on hares, small rodents, birds, reptiles, frogs, insects, and carrion. The golden eagle is rare. It nests in trees and on cliffs. There are one to two eggs in a clutch. The bird is useful because it destroys rodents. In Middle Asia and Kazakhstan the golden eagle is used for game hunting of foxes, hares, and sometimes wolves and gazelles; fledglings are usually obtained from nests, tamed, and taught to hunt.