Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

Before moving to California, I hadn’t seen a golden eagle. Even now, when I actively watch the skies, I see the great birds just once or twice a year. Infrequent though the sightings may be, the bird has a sweeping range; it’s the most widespread of all 68 eagle species. It occurs in North America, Europe, North Africa, and Asia – absent on only three continents.

Because of its size and broad geographical distribution, the golden eagle figures prominently in many peoples’ lore and culture. Sometimes, the bird is portrayed as awesome, a creature to revere and honor. In other cases, the bird is understood as something to fear and loathe. The latter attitudes are largely due to the golden eagle’s reputation as a threat to human agriculture, especially as a killer of large livestock, but golden eagle diet studies in North America show that the lion’s share of mammalian prey items are rabbits, squirrels, prairie dogs, or other small to medium-sized mammals. Golden eagles do feed extensively on large ungulates, both wild and domestic, but these are most often instances of carrion foraging. (When they do kill ungulates, the eagles generally target young or small animals, which means sheep, goats, and calves *are* on the menu.)

Unlike the conservation success story of the bald eagle (see last week’s release for more info), golden eagle nesting populations are declining in North America. Humans continue to kill eagles (illegally) via trapping “bycatch,” shooting, poisoning, power line electrocution, and collision with buildings and cars, but habitat loss and human encroachment (even just recreational) are considered to be the greatest threats to the species. One study from the 1990s showed that golden eagles were more stressed by human presence, even just passing hikers, than other raptor species, and that human proximity can cause nesting failure. The increasing development of wind farms also poses a grave risk for golden eagles. On the flip side, it’s been noted that logging can actually *increase* the golden eagle population, as they thrive in recently cleared areas and suffer when reforestation projects are implemented. Conservation is complicated.

This color column is based on the North American golden eagle subspecies (Aquila chrysaetos canadensis). The most notable difference between our North American golden eagle and the European subspecies (A. c. chrysaetos) is that the nape (back of neck and top of shoulders) of A.c. canadensis is rusty whereas the nape of A.c. chrysaetos is a mix of radiant beiges and wheats – thus, the species name.

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.