Animal
Golden eagle
The golden eagle is a huge brown bird with shiny gold feathers on its head and neck. It soars over mountains and catches rabbits and hares.
The golden eagle is one of the largest and fastest birds of prey in North America, and it lives across much of the Northern Hemisphere. It soars over mountains and open country on wings more than two meters wide and dives at tremendous speed to catch rabbits, hares and ground squirrels.
Aquila chrysaetos is a large eagle of open and mountainous country across North America, Europe, Asia and North Africa. A powerful predator of medium-sized mammals, it is listed as Least Concern, but human causes, from collisions and electrocution to poisoning, account for most recorded deaths.
Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the golden eagle
The golden eagle is a very big, dark brown bird.
The back of its head and neck shine like gold. It has a hooked beak and sharp claws. It is one of the fastest birds in the sky.
The golden eagle is a large bird of prey, dark brown all over with a golden sheen on the back of its head and neck. Its wings stretch about 1.85 to 2.2 meters, and its legs are covered in feathers all the way down to its toes, like fluffy trousers.
It is one of the largest, fastest and most agile birds of prey in North America. It is so admired that it is the national animal of more countries than any other, including Mexico, Germany, Austria, Albania and Kazakhstan.
Aquila chrysaetos is a member of the hawk and eagle family Accipitridae. Adults measure about 70 to 84 centimeters, weigh about 3 to 6.1 kilograms and have a wingspan of about 1.85 to 2.2 meters. A 2007 study of bird body sizes gives average adult weights of about 3.6 kilograms for males and 5.2 for females.
Adults are dark brown with golden nape feathers. Young birds show clear white patches at the base of the tail and in the wings for several years. In North America only the golden eagle, the rough-legged hawk and the ferruginous hawk have legs feathered all the way to the toes.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 0.7 to 0.84 m
- Wingspan
- 1.85 to 2.2 m
- Weight
- 3 to 6.1 kg
- Top speed
- up to 320 km/h
Where it lives
Golden eagles live in many countries in the north of the world.
They live in mountains, hills and wide open grassland. They build nests on high cliffs.
Golden eagles live across much of the Northern Hemisphere: North America (especially the west), Europe, northern Africa and a huge band of Asia, from Turkey and Iran to Mongolia, China and Japan.
They like open or partly open country with wild plants: mountains, canyons, cliffs, grasslands and shrubland. They avoid towns and big unbroken forests. Many golden eagles live in mountains up to about 3,700 meters high.
The IUCN global assessment lists native populations in more than seventy countries across North America, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia, from sea level to about 4,000 meters. Some northern populations migrate, while others are resident.
Cornell describes the habitat as open and semi-open country with native vegetation across most of the Northern Hemisphere, especially mountains, canyonlands, rimrock and riverside cliffs; the species avoids developed land and continuous forest. Nests are placed on cliffs and steep escarpments within grassland, chaparral, shrubland or forest.
Continents
Its habitats
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Mountains, cliffs and open country across much of the Northern Hemisphere: North America (especially the west), Europe, North Africa and Ethiopia, the Middle East and Asia to Japan. Eagles live in only part of many countries shown, and some move between breeding and wintering areas.
Places: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Austria, Armenia, Bhutan, Bosnia & Herz. and 65 more places.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in United States, Sweden, France, Spain, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Finland and 74 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
What it eats
Golden eagles mostly eat rabbits, hares and squirrels.
They spot them from high in the sky. Then they swoop down very fast and catch them with their feet.
Golden eagles mainly hunt small and medium-sized mammals: rabbits, hares, ground squirrels, prairie dogs and marmots. In much of North America, jackrabbits are a favorite.
They find prey by soaring high, flying low over the ground or watching from a perch, then catch it on or near the ground with their powerful talons. They can take bigger animals too, such as cranes or young deer, and they also eat dead animals, catch fish and steal food from other birds.
The diet is dominated by small to medium mammals such as hares, rabbits, ground squirrels, prairie dogs and marmots, with black-tailed jackrabbits key in much of western North America. Golden eagles can also kill much larger prey, including cranes, swans, deer, pronghorn and domestic livestock, and they scavenge carrion, catch fish, rob nests and pirate food.
Hunting methods include high soaring, low contour flight and perch hunting, occasionally pursuit on foot. During breeding, pairs sometimes hunt jackrabbits cooperatively, one eagle distracting the prey while the other strikes.
Did you know?
Golden eagles have feathers all the way down to their toes.
In North America, only the golden eagle and two hawks have legs feathered all the way to the toes.
The golden eagle, rough-legged hawk and ferruginous hawk are the only American raptors with legs feathered to the toes.
Built for speed and power
Golden eagles have huge wings for soaring.
Their feet have big, sharp claws. Their legs have feathers all the way to the toes. Their eyes help them spot food far away.
A golden eagle's huge wings let it soar for hours, held in a slight V with the tip feathers spread like fingers. When it spots prey, it can fold its wings and dive. Cornell reports dives clocked at close to 320 kilometers per hour.
Its hooked bill tears meat, and its strong feet with curved talons grip and hold prey. Feathers cover its legs right down to the toes. Young eagles have white patches on their wings and tail that slowly disappear as they grow up.
In soaring flight the long, broad wings are held in a slight V, with the wingtip feathers spread like fingers. Folded for a stoop, the eagle can reach very high speeds: Cornell's All About Birds reports dives clocked at close to 200 miles per hour (about 320 kilometers per hour).
The hooked bill and powerful feet with long, curved talons are the killing tools. Legs feathered to the toes are characteristic. Plumage changes with age: the white wing and tail patches of juveniles shrink over several years before the uniformly dark adult plumage with its golden nape is reached.
Growing up
Golden eagles build big nests on cliffs.
The mother lays one to three eggs. The chicks hatch covered in soft, grayish-white fluff. Mom and Dad bring them food.
A golden eagle pair builds a huge nest of sticks, often 1.5 to 1.8 meters wide, usually on a cliff. They line it with grass, bark and leaves, sometimes including fragrant leaves that may help keep insects away. Pairs reuse their nests for many years.
The female lays one to three eggs, which hatch after about six weeks. The chicks start out weak and partly covered in grayish-white down. They stay in the nest for about six weeks to almost three months before they fly.
Pairs begin building or refurbishing a stick nest one to three months before laying; nests average about 1.5 to 1.8 meters wide and 0.6 meters high, and the largest on record was about 6 meters tall. Lining often includes aromatic leaves, possibly to deter insect pests, and resident pairs may alternate between two nests over the years.
Clutches are one to three eggs, incubated for 41 to 45 days. Hatchlings weigh about 85 grams and are weak, partly covered in grayish-white down with eyes partly open. The nestling period is 45 to 81 days. Banding records show long lives: the oldest known wild bird was at least 31 years and 8 months old.
Sky-dancing and play
Golden eagles do a sky dance.
They swoop down and up, down and up, many times. Sometimes they play catch with a stick in the sky!
Golden eagles usually live alone or in pairs. To show off their territory and to court a mate, they perform a 'sky dance': up to 20 steep dives and upward swoops in a row, with a few wingbeats at the top of each rise.
They even seem to play. Single eagles and pairs have been seen carrying sticks or prey high into the sky, dropping them and swooping down to catch them again.
Territorial and courtship displays include undulating 'sky-dancing', a rapid series of up to 20 steep dives and climbs with three or four wingbeats at each crest, and 'pendulum flight', in which the eagle dives, rises and turns to retrace its path.
Aerial object play, carrying sticks or dead prey aloft, dropping and retrieving them, has been recorded in single birds and pairs. Golden eagles are usually solitary or paired, and they will defend prey and young even against coyotes or bears.
Did you know?
A golden eagle nest can be taller than a house door.
The largest golden eagle nest on record was about 6 meters tall.
Nests average about 1.5 to 1.8 meters wide; the record nest was about 6 meters tall and 2.6 meters wide.
Golden eagles and people
Golden eagles are protected by laws.
People are making power poles safer so eagles do not get hurt. Keeping wild open land helps golden eagles find food.
The golden eagle is listed as Least Concern, and its numbers in North America were stable between 1966 and 2019. But people still cause most of the deaths that scientists record, through collisions with vehicles and wind turbines, electric shocks on power poles, poison and lead from bullets in the animals eagles eat.
There is good news. Laws protect golden eagles, power companies have redesigned poles so eagles are not electrocuted, and young eagles have been raised and released to rebuild populations.
The species is Least Concern globally (IUCN), and the North American Breeding Bird Survey found stable populations from 1966 to 2019; Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population of about 130,000. Since 1962 the US Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act has outlawed harming the birds, their eggs or nests.
Even so, more than 70 percent of recorded deaths are attributed to people: collisions with vehicles, wind turbines and structures, electrocution on power poles, deliberate killing, poisoned baits and lead from ammunition. Its mammal diet largely spared it the DDT eggshell thinning that hit bald eagles and other fish- and bird-eating raptors.
IUCN Red List
How is the golden eagle doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.3
Amazing facts
-
Golden eagles have feathers all the way down to their toes.
In North America, only the golden eagle and two hawks have legs feathered all the way to the toes.
The golden eagle, rough-legged hawk and ferruginous hawk are the only American raptors with legs feathered to the toes.
-
The golden eagle is a symbol of many countries.
The golden eagle is the most common official national animal in the world, including for Mexico, Germany, Austria, Albania and Kazakhstan.
More countries use the golden eagle as a national emblem than any other animal, among them Albania, Germany, Austria, Mexico and Kazakhstan.
-
Golden eagles play catch in the sky.
Golden eagles have been seen carrying sticks high into the air, dropping them and diving to catch them again.
Aerial object play, dropping and retrieving sticks or prey in flight, has been recorded in single birds and pairs.
-
A golden eagle nest can be taller than a house door.
The largest golden eagle nest on record was about 6 meters tall.
Nests average about 1.5 to 1.8 meters wide; the record nest was about 6 meters tall and 2.6 meters wide.
Words to know
- bird of prey
- a bird that hunts animals using sharp claws and a hooked beak
- talons
- the long, sharp, curved claws of a bird of prey
- nape
- the back of the neck
- soar
- to fly high on rising air without flapping much
- electrocution
- being hurt or killed by electricity
- Northern Hemisphere
- the half of Earth north of the equator
Discovery challenge
-
Which part of a golden eagle looks golden?
Where are a golden eagle's golden feathers?
Which feature gives the golden eagle its name?
- The back of its head and neck
- Its feet
- Its tail tip
Show the answer
The back of its head and neck
The back of its head and neck shine gold.
Golden feathers cover the back of the head and neck; the rest is dark brown.
The golden nape and hindneck contrast with the otherwise dark brown adult plumage.
-
What do golden eagles mostly eat?
What is the golden eagle's main prey?
Which prey dominates the golden eagle's diet?
- Rabbits, hares and squirrels
- Fruit and seeds
- Insects
Show the answer
Rabbits, hares and squirrels
They mostly eat rabbits, hares and squirrels.
Small and medium mammals such as rabbits, hares, ground squirrels and prairie dogs.
Small to medium mammals, with jackrabbits key in much of North America, plus opportunistic larger prey and carrion.
-
Where do golden eagles like to live?
Which habitat do golden eagles prefer?
Which habitats do golden eagles favor?
- Mountains and open country
- Deep in the ocean
- Busy city centers
Show the answer
Mountains and open country
They like mountains, cliffs and wide open land.
Open or partly open country, especially mountains, canyons and cliffs.
They favor open and semi-open terrain with native vegetation, such as mountains, canyons and cliffs, and avoid developed areas and uninterrupted forest.
-
What hurts golden eagles today?
What causes most recorded golden eagle deaths?
Which best describes the causes of most recorded golden eagle deaths?
- Things people build and use
- Snowstorms only
- Other eagles only
Show the answer
Things people build and use
Power lines, cars and poisons made by people can hurt them.
More than 70 percent of recorded deaths are linked to people: collisions, power lines, poison and lead.
More than 70 percent of recorded deaths are attributed to people, mostly collisions and electrocution, plus poisoning and lead; DDT did little harm because their mammal prey carried little pesticide.
Places where you might see it
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K2
K2 is the world's second highest mountain, 8,611 meters tall, in the Karakoram Range of Asia. It got its short name in 1856, when a surveyor marked it as the second peak he measured in the Karakoram. It is one of the hardest mountains to climb, and its summit was first reached in 1954.
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Austria
Austria is a landlocked country in central Europe. The Alps cover much of it, the Danube River flows across the north, and about 9.2 million people live there. Its capital, Vienna, is famous for its music and palaces.
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Andorra
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Lebanon
Lebanon is a small country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Snowcapped mountains rise steeply behind its narrow coast, and its coast holds some of the oldest settlements in the world, such as Byblos. Arabic is the official language, and the capital is Beirut.
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Montenegro
Montenegro is a small country in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea. High, rocky mountains rise right behind its narrow coast, the Tara River has cut Europe's deepest gorge, and about 624,000 people lived there at the 2023 census.
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Mount Olympus
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North Macedonia
North Macedonia is a small, landlocked country in the Balkans of southeastern Europe. It is mostly mountains, the Vardar River runs through its middle, Lake Ohrid has existed for millions of years, and about 1.8 million people lived there in 2023.
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Experiments to try
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Philippine eagle
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Andean condor
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Natural wonder
K2
K2 is the world's second highest mountain, 8,611 meters tall, in the Karakoram Range of Asia. It got its short name in 1856, when a surveyor marked it as the second peak he measured in the Karakoram. It is one of the hardest mountains to climb, and its summit was first reached in 1954.
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Austria
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Red-tailed hawk
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe how the golden eagle's wings, eyes, bill and talons make it a powerful hunter.
- Locate the golden eagle's range across the Northern Hemisphere and describe its habitat.
- Describe the golden eagle life cycle from cliff nest to adult plumage.
- Explain how human structures and poisons affect eagles and how people reduce the risk.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might an eagle that eats mammals have avoided DDT harm while fish-eating eagles did not?
- Why do you think so many countries chose the golden eagle as their symbol?
- How can new power lines and wind farms be planned to protect eagles?
Try at home or in class
- Fold paper airplanes with wide and narrow wings and test which glides farther, then talk about how eagles soar.
- Measure 2.2 meters on the floor with tape and compare it with your arm span.
Key vocabulary: bird of prey, talons, nape, soar, electrocution, Northern Hemisphere
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Aquila chrysaetos (Golden Eagle), Red List global assessment 2013 , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Golden Eagle Overview , All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Golden Eagle life history , Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
- Golden Eagle identification , Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
- Eagles (Wildlife Notebook Series) , Alaska Department of Fish and Game
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 28, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.