My affinity for bald eagles is well known, but golden eagles, well, I have to admit they get my heart beating a bit faster. They are quite a bit rarer and their size is nothing short of incredible, being even bigger than baldies.
I spotted three goldens yesterday, one of which gave me some pretty cool pics including an amazing flyby. I ended up with 20+ pics in the series and this is my favorite.
Golden eagles have, sadly, not seen the type of recovery that bald eagles have. This is largely owed to a scarcity of the types of terrain they prefer for nesting and they are very sensitive to human encroachment. Additionally, studies have shown that lead poisoning from ammunition left in carcasses that they may feed on is an issue and wind farms in areas they frequently nest in and migrate through have claimed far too many.
More needs to be done on the conservation front to help these majestic raptors recover.
