NATURE NOTES
Iremember my first time like it was yesterday. I am, of course, talking about my first golden eagle sighting. The sun was shining and I was in a canoe on a loch up in the far north-west of Scotland, with Suilvan as a backdrop. The setting couldn’t have been more epic. Then, as if it had been there for all time, with its huge, outspread wings, was, unmistakably, a golden eagle. I seem to remember it passing in front of the sun and putting the world in shadow for a week as it glided by, but that might just be my overactive imagination…
If you want to see one, then you have to travel to Scotland or the north-west of Northern Ireland. They favour the upland habitat of which Scotland abounds, particularly the Highlands, and there are currently over 500 pairs. It’s the grandeur of this environment that magnifies the spectacle of an eagle in our minds. To see one though, you need to know how to identify them. And by far the best tip is to learn what a buzzard looks like, then, when you really do see an eagle, you’ll know.
Like many birds of prey, females are up to a third larger in size than the males. Wingspan tops out at 220cm, body length at 88cm and weight at 6.5kg, and in this country only the white-tailed eagle is bigger. An adult bird has a dark brown appearance, with the undersides of the wings darkish, but the back of the head and the nape are a golden/buff colour that leaves you in no doubt about where its name came from.
The powerfully huge talons are yellow in colour. The bill is black and yellow and powerfully hooked, while the large eyes are hooded by prominent brow ridges, giving the bird that noble, slightly grumpy, not-to-be-messed-with appearance. Juvenile birds have white patches on the undersides of the wings and tail. These get smaller and less distinct as they mature over several years.
The wings are long and broad, and completed by primary feathers making the shape of outspread fingers at the wings’ extremities. I was lucky enough to find one of these primary feathers a few years back – it’s an incredible 50cm long.
Golden eagles nest on crags or in trees.
The nest is made from sticks, heather and bracken, and could be lined with grass or rushes. Two or three nest sites can be used in rotation, though traditional nest sites can be used for
