Skip to Content
Abert’s Towhee Acadian Flycatcher Acorn Woodpecker Alder Flycatcher Allen’s Hummingbird Altamira Oriole American Avocet American Bittern American Black Duck American Coot American Crow American Dipper American Golden-Plover American Goldfinch American Kestrel American Oystercatcher American Pipit American Redstart American Robin American Three-toed Woodpecker American Tree Sparrows American White Pelican American Wigeon American Woodcock Anhinga Anna’s Hummingbird Arctic Tern Arizona Woodpecker Ash-Throated Flycatcher Atlantic Puffin Audubon’s Oriole Bachman’s Sparrow Baird’s Sandpiper Baird’s Sparrow Bald Eagle Baltimore Oriole Band-tailed Pigeon Bank Swallow Barn Owl Barn Swallow Barred Owl Barrow’s Goldeneye Bay-breasted Warbler Bell’s Vireo Belted Kingfisher Bendire’s Thrasher Bewick’s Wren Black Guillemot Black Oystercatcher Black Phoebe Black Rail Black Rosy-Finch Black Scoter Black Skimmer Black Swift Black Tern Black Turnstone Black Vulture Black-and-white Warbler Black-backed Woodpecker Black-bellied Plover Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Black-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Magpie Black-capped Chickadee Black-capped Vireo Black-chinned Hummingbird Black-chinned Sparrow Black-crested Titmouse Black-crowned Night-Heron Black-footed Albatross Black-headed Grosbeak Black-legged Kittiwake Black-necked Stilt Black-throated Blue Warbler Black-throated Gray Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Black-throated Sparrow Blackburnian Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Blue Grosbeak Blue Jay Blue-footed Booby Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Blue-headed Vireo Blue-throated Hummingbird Blue-winged Teal Blue-winged Warbler Boat-tailed Grackle Bobolink Bohemian Waxwing Bonaparte’s Gull Boreal Chickadee Boreal Owl Botteri’s Sparrow Brandt’s Cormorant Brant Brewer’s Blackbird Brewer’s Sparrow Bridled Titmouse Broad-billed Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird Broad-winged Hawk Bronzed Cowbird Brown Booby Brown Creeper Brown Pelican Brown Thrasher Brown-capped Rosy-Finch Brown-headed Cowbird Brown-headed Nuthatch Buff-bellied Hummingbird Buff-breasted Flycatcher Buff-breasted Sandpiper Bufflehead Bullock’s Oriole Burrowing Owl Bushtit Cackling Goose Cactus Wren California Condor California Gull California Quail California Thrasher California Towhee Calliope Hummingbird Canada Goose Canada Jay (Previously Gray Jay) Canada Warbler Canvasback Canyon Towhee Canyon Wren Cape May Warbler Carolina Chickadee Carolina Wren Caspian Tern Cassin’s Auklet Cassin’s Finch Cassin’s Kingbird Cassin’s Sparrow Cassin’s Vireo Cattle Egret Cave Swallow Cedar Waxwing Cerulean Warbler Chestnut-backed Chickadee Chestnut-collared Longspur Chestnut-sided Warbler Chihuahuan Raven Chimney Swift Chipping Sparrow Chuck-will’s-widow Chukar Cinnamon Teal Clapper Rail Clark’s Grebe Clark’s Nutcracker Clay-colored Sparrow Cliff Swallow Colima Warbler Common Eider Common Gallinule Common Goldeneye Common Grackle Common Ground-Dove Common Loon Common Merganser Common Murre Common Nighthawk Common Pauraque Common Poorwill Common Raven Common Redpoll Common Tern Common Yellowthroat Connecticut Warbler Cooper’s Hawk Cordilleran Flycatcher Costa’s Hummingbird Couch’s Kingbird Crescent-chested Warbler Crested Caracara Crissal Thrasher Curve-billed Thrasher Dark-eyed Junco Dickcissel Double-crested Cormorant Dovekie Downy Woodpecker Dunlin Dusky Flycatcher Dusky Grouse Eared Grebe Eastern Bluebird Eastern Kingbird Eastern Meadowlark Eastern Phoebe Eastern Screech-Owl Eastern Towhee Eastern Whip-poor-will Eastern Wood-Pewee Elegant Tern Elf Owl Emperor Goose Eurasian Collared-Dove Eurasian Tree Sparrow Eurasian Wigeon European Starling Evening Grosbeak Ferruginous Hawk Field Sparrow Fish Crow Flammulated Owl Florida Scrub-Jay Forster’s Tern Fox Sparrow Franklin’s Gull Fulvous Whistling-Duck Gadwall Gambel’s Quail Gila Woodpecker Gilded Flicker Glaucous Gull Glaucous-winged Gull Glossy Ibis Golden Eagle Golden-cheeked Warbler Golden-crowned Kinglet Golden-crowned Sparrow Golden-crowned Warbler Golden-fronted Woodpecker Golden-winged Warbler Grace’s Warbler Grasshopper Sparrow Gray Catbird Gray Flycatcher Gray Kingbird Gray Partridge Gray Vireo Gray-cheeked Thrush Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch Great Black-backed Gull Great Blue Heron Great Cormorant Great Crested Flycatcher Great Egret Great Gray Owl Great Horned Owl Great Kiskadee Great-tailed Grackle Greater Pewee Greater Prairie-Chicken Greater Roadrunner Greater Sage-Grouse Greater Scaup Greater White-fronted Goose Greater Yellowlegs Green Heron Green Jay Green-tailed-towhee Green-winged Teal Groove-billed Ani Gull-billed Tern Gunnison Sage-Grouse Gyrfalcon Hairy Woodpecker Hammond’s Flycatcher Harlequin Duck Harris’s Hawk Harris’s Sparrow Heermann’s Gull Henslow’s Sparrow Hepatic Tanager Hermit Thrush Hermit Warbler Herring Gull Hoary Redpoll Hooded Merganser Hooded Oriole Hooded Warbler Horned Grebe Horned Lark Horned Puffin House Finch House Sparrow House Wren Hudsonian Godwit Hutton’s Vireo Inca Dove Indigo Bunting Ivory-billed Woodpecker Juniper Titmouse Kentucky Warbler Killdeer King Eider King Rail Kirtland’s Warbler Ladder-backed Woodpecker Lapland Longspur Lark Bunting Lark Sparrow Laughing Gull Lawrence’s Goldfinch Lazuli Bunting Le Conte’s Sparrow Le Conte’s Thrasher Least Bittern Least Flycatcher Least Grebe Least Sandpiper Least Tern Lesser Black-backed Gull Lesser Goldfinch Lesser Prairie-Chicken Lesser Scaup Lesser Yellowlegs Lewis’s Woodpecker Limpkin Lincoln’s Sparrow Little Blue Heron Loggerhead Shrike Long-billed Curlew Long-billed Dowitcher Long-eared Owl Long-tailed Duck Louisiana Waterthrush Lucifer Hummingbird Lucy’s Warbler MacGillivray’s Warbler Magnificent Frigatebird Magnificent Hummingbird Magnolia Warbler Mallard Mangrove Cuckoo Marbled Godwit Marsh Wren Masked Duck McCown’s Longspur Merlin Mew Gull Mexican Jay Mississippi Kite Montezuma Quail Mottled Duck Mountain Bluebird Mountain Chickadee Mountain Plover Mountain Quail Mourning Dove Mourning Warbler Mute Swan Nashville Warbler Neotropic Cormorant Northern Bobwhite Northern Cardinal Northern Flicker Northern Fulmar Northern Gannet Northern Goshawk Northern Harrier Northern Hawk Owl Northern Mockingbird Northern Parula Northern Pintail Northern Rough-winged Swallow Northern Saw-whet Owl Northern Shoveler Northern Shrike Northern Waterthrush Northwestern Crow Nuttall’s Woodpecker Oak Titmouse Olive-sided Flycatcher Orange-crowned Warbler Orchard Oriole Osprey Ovenbird Pacific Golden-Plover Pacific Loon Pacific-slope Flycatcher Painted Bunting Painted Redstart Palm Warbler Pectoral Sandpiper Pelagic Cormorant Peregrine Falcon Phainopepla Philadelphia Vireo Pied-billed Grebe Pigeon Guillemot Pileated Woodpecker Pine Grosbeak Pine Siskin Pine Warbler Pinyon Jay Piping Plover Plain Chachalaca Plumbeous Vireo Prairie Falcon Prairie Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Purple Finch Purple Gallinule Purple Martin Purple Sandpiper Pygmy Nuthatch Pyrrhuloxia Razorbill Red Crossbill Red Knot Red Phalarope Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-breasted Merganser Red-breasted Nuthatch Red-breasted Sapsucker Red-cockaded Woodpecker Red-eyed Vireo Red-faced Warbler Red-headed Woodpecker Red-naped Sapsucker Red-necked Grebe Red-necked Phalarope Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Red-throated Loon Red-winged Blackbird Reddish Egret Redhead Ring-billed Gull Ring-necked Duck Ring-necked Pheasant Rock Pigeon Rock Ptarmigan Rock Sandpiper Rose-breasted Grosbeak Roseate Spoonbill Roseate Tern Ross’s Goose Rough-legged Hawk Royal Tern Ruby-crowned Kinglet Ruby-throated Hummingbird Ruddy Duck Ruddy Turnstone Ruffed Grouse Rufous Hummingbird Rufous-capped Warbler Rufous-winged Sparrow Rusty Blackbird Sabine’s Gull Sage Sparrow Sage Thrasher Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow Sanderling Sandhill Crane Sandwich Tern Savannah Sparrow Say’s Phoebe Scaled Quail Scarlet Tanager Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Scott’s Oriole Seaside Sparrow Sedge Wren Semipalmated Plover Semipalmated Sandpiper Sharp-shinned Hawk Sharp-tailed Grouse Short-billed Dowitcher Short-eared Owl Slate-throated Redstart Smith’s Longspur Smooth-billed Ani Snail Kite Snow Bunting Snow Goose Snowy Egret Snowy Plover Solitary Sandpiper Song Sparrow Sooty Grouse Sora Spotted Owl Spotted Sandpiper Spotted Towhee Sprague’s Pipit Spruce Grouse Steller’s Jay Stilt Sandpiper Summer Tanager Surf Scoter Surfbird Swainson’s Hawk Swainson’s Thrush Swainson’s Warbler Swallow-tailed Kite Swamp Sparrow Tennessee Warbler Thick-billed Murre Townsend’s Solitaire Townsend’s Warbler Tree Swallow Tricolored Heron Tropical Kingbird Trumpeter Swan Tufted Puffin Tufted Titmouse Tundra Swan Turkey Vulture Upland Sandpiper Varied Bunting Varied Thrush Vaux’s Swift Veery Verdin Vermilion Flycatcher Vesper Sparrow Violet-green Swallow Virginia Rail Virginia’s Warbler Warbling Vireo Western Bluebird Western Grebe Western Gull Western Kingbird Western Sandpiper Western Screech-Owl Western Tanager Western Wood-Pewee Western-Meadowlark Whimbrel White Ibis White-breasted Nuthatch White-crowned Pigeon White-crowned Sparrow White-eyed Vireo White-faced Ibis White-headed Woodpecker White-rumped Sandpiper White-tailed Hawk White-tailed Kite White-tailed Ptarmigan White-throated Sparrow White-throated Swift White-tipped Dove White-winged Crossbill White-winged Dove White-winged Scoter Whooping Crane Wild Turkey Willet Williamson’s Sapsucker Willow Flycatcher Willow Ptarmigan Wilson’s Phalarope Wilson’s Plover Wilson’s Snipe Wilson’s Warbler Winter Wren Wood Duck Wood Stork Wood Thrush Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay Worm-eating Warbler Wrentit Yellow Rail Yellow Warbler Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Yellow-billed Cuckoo Yellow-billed Magpie Yellow-breasted Chat Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-headed Blackbird Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Vireo Yellow-throated Warbler Zone-tailed Hawk

Golden Eagle

These Eagles live in Northern America, Europe, and Asia and are known for their preference of making their nests high up on cliffs or trees.

The Golden Eagle is one of North America’s nimblest, largest, and fastest raptors. They got their name from the shiny gold feathers on the back of their head and neck. Their talons and beaks are powerful and show their hunting effectiveness.

These birds are common in the western portions of North America. They soar on steady wings and dive when in pursuit of prey like jackrabbits and other small mammals.

Golden Eagles show incredible bravery when defending their nest and their prey. They’ve been seen attacking large mammals, like coyotes and bears. Due to their courage, the Golden Eagle symbolizes both fear and reverence.

 

Breeding Male

Breeding male Golden Eagles have shiny golden feathers on the back of their neck and head. Additionally, they’re mostly brown over the rest of their body. They have long tails, relatively small heads, and broad, long wings.

Golden Eagle

© Alan D. Wilson

They’re about the size of a goose, have a length of 27.6 to 33.1 inches (70 to 84 centimeters), and weigh 105.8 to 216.1 ounces (3000 to 6125 grams).

Female Golden Eagles look identical to male Golden Eagles.

 

Juvenile

Juvenile Golden Eagles have shiny golden feathers on the back of their neck and head. Additionally, they’re mostly brown over the rest of their body.

For the first several years of life, young birds will have well-defined white patches in the wings and at the base of the tail.

Juvenile Golden Eagle

 

Habitat

Golden Eagles inhabit open and semiopen country across most of the Northern Hemisphere. These areas will have native vegetation as well. These birds avoid uninterrupted stretches of forest and developed areas.

They are mainly found in canyonlands, riverside bluffs and cliffs, rimrock terrain, and mountains up to 12,000 feet. They build their nests on vegetated areas like steep escarpments in grassland, cliffs, scrub, forest, and shrubland.

 

Diet

The Golden Eagle’s diet mainly consists of small and medium-sized mammals. Some of their prey include rabbits, hares, ground squirrels, marmots, and prairie dogs. In addition, they often consume black-tailed jackrabbits, and these mammals are a crucial prey species for this bird because they’re in much of their range.

Even though they mainly go after small and medium-sized mammals; Golden Eagles are more than capable of taking down larger mammals and birds, including swans, cranes, domestic livestock, and deer.

They have also been seen killing mountain goats, seals, bighorn sheep, coyotes, pronghorn, bobcats, and badgers. Golden Eagles prefer to feed on live prey, but when live prey is scarce, they feed on carrion.

They let scavengers, like crows, find the carrion and then follow them to it. Additionally, Golden Eagles will rob nests, steal food from other birds, and catch fish.

Related: Falcon vs eagle

 

Behavior

For their size, Golden Eagles possess incredible maneuverability and speed. They dive from significant heights and have been recorded hitting speeds close to 200 miles per hour!

Golden Eagle

When courting a mate or marking their territory Golden Eagles will do a routine known as “sky-dancing.” This involves the birds performing a rapid series of up to 20 large upward swoops and dives. They’ll beat their wings 3 or 4 times at the top of each upward swoop.

Both pairs and single birds will participate in aerial play with objects like dead prey or sticks. They’ll carry the items high in the sky, drop them, and retrieve them.

 

Range (and seasonal changes)

Golden Eagles have a broad range. They can be found as far north as Alaska, all the way down to Mexico. These birds can also be found in the eastern portions of the United States but are not common.

Some Golden Eagles migrate, and some don’t. What determines if a Golden Eagle migrates or not is their geographic location.

They inhabit a large portion of Eurasia as well, and are even present in some parts of Africa.

 

Wing shape

Golden Eagles have long, broad, rectangular wings. When in flight, the underparts of their wings are all dar; they have no white wing patches. Additionally, they have a wingspan of 72.8 to 86.6 inches (185 to 220 centimeters).

Golden Eagle soaring in the sky

 

Fun Facts

  • The Golden Eagle is the most prevalent official national animal across the globe. This bird is the emblem of Germany, Albania, Austria, Kazakhstan, and Mexico.
  • Both Golden and Bald Eagles, as well as their feathers, are considered sacred and greatly respected within American Indian culture, religion, and tradition. They represent truth, strength, majesty, courage, freedom, power, and wisdom.
  • There are only 3 American raptors that have legs that are feathered all the way to their toes. Those raptors are the Golden Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, and Ferruginous Hawk.
  • Government officials, engineers, and Biologists have worked together to create and utilize power poles to lessen raptor electrocutions. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for raptors to get electrocuted when perching or flying near powerlines. When large birds’ wings or feet accidentally touch two lines at the same time, it creates a circuit causing electrocution.

 

Vocalization

Golden Eagles don’t vocalize very often. When they do talk, their calls tend to be weak, whistled, and high-pitched.

Golden Eagles are the most vocal during their breeding season, when adults announce their approach with food with a wonk or a wip and when nestlings’ high-pitched calls can travel over a mile.

 

Similar Species

Golden Eagles can be confused with some other species, here are the most common options:

 

Bald Eagle soaring the skies

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles are roughly the same size, but Bald Eagles are generally a bit bigger.

Golden Eagles have brownish plumage everywhere, but as we all know, Bald Eagles are known for their signature white heads.

The underside of their tail is also whitish, making them easier to identify when you see one soaring above you.

 

turkey vulture

Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Compared to Golden Eagles, Turkey Vultures can be a bit smaller and their wingspan is quite a bit smaller.

Their plumages look similar, but Turkey Vultures have a bald pinkish-red heads.

The underside of their wings is a bit lighter, almost completely white, and their tails are not as flared as Golden Eagles.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

How rare is it to see a Golden Eagle?

It’s pretty rare to see a Golden Eagle because these birds are not common! However, you have the best chance of seeing one in the western half of the United States, Alaska, or Canada.

What is special about Golden Eagles?

Golden eagles have several unique features: the namesake “golden” nap on the neck, the feathered feet, and the impressive size and wingspan.

Due to their majestic appearance, they have also deserved a prominent place in human cultures across their range.

What does a Golden Eagle look like?

Golden eagle is a large raptor with plumage color consisting of different brown hues. The defining golden brown appears around the neck.

The bird’s profile seems relatively short-necked when compared to other raptors. The beak is large and powerful, and the upper portion of the feet is distinctly feathered, creating an image of the eagle having feathered “boots.”

Where do Golden Eagles live?

Golden eagles are found in the grasslands of the entire Northern Hemisphere. Because they’re such large birds, the vast open habitat allows them to hunt prey with greater efficiency.

About the Author

Brianna Goulet

Brianna loves to get outdoors for everything creative and fun. She has a passion for birds and is a hobbyist wildlife photographer based in Central Florida. Her goal is to share everything you need to know about birds so you can get out there, explore, and identify confidently!

Let others know your thoughts or ask an expert

Would you like to get new articles of birds (Once a month?)

No SPAM! We might only send you fresh updates once a month

Thank you for subscribing!

No thanks! I prefer to follow BirdZilla on Facebook