Wild Nahani
The Golden Eagle
Biology, ethology and conservation
"Oh you, golden eagle you live in the near sky in Ukan-Tanka, how strong are your wings!
You are the One who takes care of the sacred becoming
of our tribe and all that makes it live. May all peoples be happy and enlightened! "
Sioux song
Synopsis
The undisputed ruler of the skies and the living symbol of untouched wilderness: the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). In this rigorous and captivating scientific monograph, expert naturalist Wild Nahani, with over twenty published nature books and decades of experience living in the Deep North, delivers a comprehensive and up-to-date portrait of one of the planet's most extraordinary apex predators. Striking a perfect balance between scientific precision and ecological sensitivity, this work explores the species' biology, complex behavioral dynamics (ethology), and breeding strategies. The book provides a detailed and current overview of the conservation status and population trends across Italy, English-speaking nations (Great Britain, the United States, Canada), and the remote landscapes of Finland, carefully analyzing the delicate balance between wildlife and human impact. An essential reference text for biologists, ornithologists, and students, as well as an inspiring read for all wilderness enthusiasts who wish to understand and protect the sacred harmony of the natural world.
Author's note
This book is intended to be a compendium of the observations and research that I have done directly on the field during the turn of over twenty years. The reader will find the description of the natural history of the Golden Eagle , presenting the biological and ethological aspects of the raptor as well as the protectionist issues on the species. For strictly protectionist reasons the whole text never refers to the specific locations of the eagles except occasionally in a totally general form.
Another aim of the work is to direct the reader's attention to environmental problems, since it is not possible to deal with the biology of wildlife species, as is the real Golden Eagle, without taking into account the intimate relationship between alteration and / or destruction of a specific environment and extinction of the fauna that lives in that environment. In fact, the threat that currently weighs on the life of many animal species, including eagles with other birds of prey, the wolf, brown bear, lynx, otter, etc. it does not derive only from direct killings, already in itself full of serious consequences, but also derives from the progressive degradation of the territory in which those species live.
With this paper we hope to be able to contribute to the knowledge of the natural history of the Golden Eagle and its preservation in addition to that of the environment as a whole. Of course, this modest work can only fulfill that marginal commitment, but one could nevertheless be proud if it had only contributed to the definition of the true identity of a bird of prey which, in the noble appearance of the same solemnity of the mountains, appears as the 'emblem of the wonderful and delicate random balance that holds the ecosystem. In truth, in these pages, the Golden Eagle is not observed as a passive object, but becomes itself a subject, and takes on the role of protagonist of a fascinating story.
The places of the study were numerous, above all for a useful comparison of the various couples settled in completely different territories from each other, and have had their fulcrum in the European context (Scandinavia, Scotland, French Alps, Swiss, Spanish Pyrenees , Polish Carpathians) although the prevalence of the Italian one (Central Apennines and some Alpine districts) is clear, where, among other things, I have carried out my work as a naturalist with the State Forestry Corps. Finally, it must be remembered that this work does not claim to represent a complete study of the life of the Golden Eagle, but simply a stage in the difficult journey towards the knowledge of natural phenomena.
Wild Nahani
Introduction
Beyond its great naturalistic importance, the Golden Eagle is universally considered a symbol of strength and domination, so much so that many countries have appropriated its image to represent it on flags or on coats of arms. Honored by the poets, the undisputed sovereign of the highest peaks, so as to deserve the appellation of "queen of the mountains" , the Eagle is in the messenger mythology of Zeus, and moreover guardian of his lightning (the North American Indians called it "l 'bird of thunder'). The Jowa ended their war dances with the "dance of the Eagle", symbolizing movements and verses in imitation of the divine bird (Baumgartner, 1988) while the Pueblo of the south-western United States maintained the Golden Eagle, the eagle of the war, to collect its feathers during the pack (Burnham, 1991). The same Indian amulets presented aquiline symbols and the eagle feathers decorated headdresses and diadems. When the alliance to Moses was presented, the Eagle represented the protection and strength of God. Shakespeare himself in his writings often refers to the quotation of raptors in general and L'Aquila in particular. Even the advertising images are largely appropriate to the figure of L'Aquila. The examples could continue for a long time. W. Fischer writes, referring to the Eagles held by falconers (in Baumgartner, 1988) "L'Aquila is an animal with a strong personality that is located on a very close relationship plan, almost of equality with the owner. is able to record negative experiences turning them into lasting impressions. " He recognizes his master even after years of separation and forgets rudeness and good deeds (Baumgartner, 1988). L'Aquila's fascination with its gliding flight, which seems to escape the laws of universal gravitation, with the rapidity of its attack that catches its prey with the speed of lightning, has always stimulated the popular imagination with the strangest beliefs, including one that concerns its inaccessible and mysterious nest (Pedrini, 1987) or the one that, in times not too far away, told of an Eagle with powerful claws that kidnaped babies from cradles. But neither the innate pride of the bird of prey nor the halo of legend that surrounds it has been able to preserve it from a centuries-old, systematic persecution that has threatened its very existence. If you think that the Eagle (like many other predators) was not too far in time still listed among the "harmful" species to be destroyed by any means (traps, shotguns, poisoned bites, destruction of nests, egg collection, etc .. ), we realize the great risk of extinction that the species has run. Fortunately, in recent decades, thanks to the pressure exerted by the scientific world and protectionist associations, many countries have taken measures to protect them, which has obviously been extended to other birds of prey. However, serious dangers persist for the survival of the Golden Eagle, deriving not only from the killing of poaching, but also from the tampering with the mountain territory made more and more accessible (read tourism); in this way large parts of the territory have definitively lost tranquility and peace, essential requisites for nesting and for hunting by the raptor as well as for the rest of the wildlife; such a reality will only undermine the free existence of the golden eagle and will jeopardize the last vestiges of its habitat. Paolo Pedrini (1987) writes in this regard: "... It is a fact that must be considered in the policy of management and use of mountain environments, if we do not want to frustrate in the future how much the Golden Eagle managed to rebuild, by itself , repairing the damage caused by centuries of persecution ".
It is therefore essential for the protection of animal or plant species, and in our case of the
Golden Eagle, to actively protect the environments as a whole. But can the natural world have a future? The answer seems to be negative, because man is now a prisoner of a model of development that leads to irreparable environmental imbalances and is, moreover, the protagonist of a frightening demographic explosion that has made him overcome the maximum limit of the number individuals-environmental burden. To this we
add that a large part of the population of the planet leads a standard of living that involves the use of a huge amount of energy as well as the consumption of precious metals that are starting to a progressive impoverishment.
The environmental degradation has reached such a high level and the problems are so complex that hypothesizing their solution within a single country means consuming itself in an unrealistic effort, since the degradation is, so to speak, ecumenical and not s really stops before customs barriers. In fact it is necessary to observe that the degradation is not uniformly distributed on the planet, as it presents a distribution that we could define as "leopard spot"; it would be a fallacious hope, however, to try to reconstitute the general ecological balance by means of measures that treat the "spots" on a case-by-case basis, since it is necessary that the negative influence exerted by human activities on environmental equilibrium is drastically reduced everywhere.
It is then necessary to clear away the field of naturalistic studies from a preliminary ruling that is of such importance that it assumes the value of a contradiction in terms, since this is precisely the claim of those who insist on considering the environmental problem exclusively as a function of man. Man is a part, a piece of the ecosystem, is not the navel of nature, so it falls into a grave error who subordinates the protection of the environment to the primacy of man. For example, if someone says, "if the destruction of the forests continues, the damage will affect the man" ... "if we continue to poison the fields, the man will also be poisoned". In short, there is the risk that our inveterate anthropocentrism always re-enters in our discourses, always and for man. It is necessary to overturn such a concept to place the global interests of life on Earth at the center (holistic vision). The rule must tend to save an age-old forest not for man, but for the forest itself; in the end, even the man will take advantage of it, but it will be a reflection, not the purpose of that rescue. The wilderness must be preserved for its value in itself! Franco Zunino writes in this regard: ". Man must respect nature for its value in itself, and must know how to pull back
as soon as its presence affects you negatively, not find quibbles and temporary remedies to justify the necessity or, worse, the 'right' of his presence ".
Our destructive actions are manifold and almost never fully understand the implications connected to the interventions that disturb the natural balance: if for example the killing of a Golden Eagle by a poacher constitutes a dramatic wound to the environment, a disturbance even greater is inherent in those acts which, in modifying the environment in itself, determine, with time, the disappearance of all the Eagles in the territory examined. These considerations on the Golden Eagle lead us to reflect again on the interconnection of environmental problems. In nature there are no vital phenomena which exhaust in themselves the reason for being; all the phenomena are chained together, a bit like the single musical scans of a symphony. Having kept this principle in mind, it is quite intuitive that in such a natural concert the territorial structure exerts an impact that overpowers the other factors, to the likeness of what happens with the "leitmotif" of a musical text.
In nature each species plays its part in a dialectical process that tends to achieve a state of equilibrium; this is obviously not perennial, and has in itself the ability to settle on the parameters that will gradually be defined. It should be noted that every single biological specificity, when it enters the evolutionary process that will determine the equilibrium point of the ecosystem, assumes its own well-defined role. In theory, man should also participate in the evolutionary process with equal rights with other species, both animal and vegetable, but this does not actually happen because man, due to his intellectual development is, among other things, able to modify and change the structure of the territory through gigantic works, such as - for example - dams that block rivers, thousands of kilometers of highways, the drying up of lakes, the construction of cities; to this it is added that, thanks to its sophisticated technology, man has the possibility of exterminating, in a short period of time, any other living form. Man has therefore emerged from the
harmonious relationship with natural resources and, independently, has increased his population and his needs to the total detriment of nature.
From these considerations it is clear that, given the extreme gravity of the environmental degradation, it is necessary to intervene radically, without compromise, placing the protection of the environment in a pre-eminent position with respect to any other interest; this can only be achieved by activating a different current of thought that has at its base a will opposed to the current one: that of conserving. But only if we acquire this new form of mentality in our conscience, can we really protect nature and then, ultimately, ourselves, otherwise no law or compulsory coercion can guarantee a true and real protection of the environment. Until we consider, for example, a forest or any other natural resource as something "united" to us and to the whole, no result or protection of a territory will have value and above all concreteness.
It is sad to have to admit it, but the impact that man exerts on the territory is in dramatic contrast with the needs of the natural economy (which always dominates the human economy). It would be desirable to achieve a substantial reduction in population pressure, but such an auspice is unfortunately colored by mad utopia. To drastically reduce the demographic pressure: a great act of altruism towards nature (but also towards ourselves), this is the precept that each of us should learn by heart, but we know well that the invocation has little chance of being heard. It is useless to discuss the reduction of consumption, the reversal of trends or the control of pollution: these are just words that go away with the wind. Reality is a raw "aut-aut", or man or nature is reduced. He is the man who must adapt to the needs of nature and not vice versa. Nature must be saved and respected for its value in itself, not for our interest, material, spiritual or ethical.
As long as humanity perseveres in the current pattern of development, wild animals will
see their living space reduced day after day to make room for the "lord man" king of creation. "Like the winds and the sunsets, wild life was considered safe until the so-called progress began to take it away. Now we are faced with the problem of whether an even higher level of life is worth its frightening cost in all that is natural, free and wild " (A. Leopold).
Only the total disappearance of anthropocentrism will save life on planet earth! Any other compromise will be doomed to fail. And yet "There is only hope to reject the tyrannical ambition of civilization to conquer every place on earth. This hope is the organization of the people most sensitive to the values of the spirit, so that they fight for the free continuity of the wild nature " ( Robert Marshall).
Man is therefore responsible for providing for the protection of nature (because he is the man who destroys it and therefore it is he who must preserve it), unless one wishes to consider man as a mere component of dialectical materialism , which would have been entrusted with the task of subverting the natural environment handed down to us by the biblical "creation": only this could be ironically the essence of anthropocentric philosophy. John Muir rightly asserted that "civilization" can not ignore the wilderness, the wild and uncorrupted nature.
To comment on these observations we would like to underline, concluding with the Golden Eagle, that behind the proud pride and the admired energy of the bird of prey there is in reality a nature of unsuspected fragility, fragility that on the other hand is found in the whole ecosystem , all focused on a casual balance extremely sensitive to all that disturbs "the love that moves the sun and the other stars".
Before starting
To accomplish the complete writing of the book, I had to face the hardest task: to gather the voluminous field notes related to the life of the Golden Eagle noted over many years. It was not an easy task because, in addition to having to assemble in a harmonious and optimized form the wide range of research (a real puzzle), I also had to develop in chronological and consequential form all the annotated events that, in the notes, were present in a disjunct and extemporaneous form and in addition I had to consult a lot of existing bibliography on the subject for the necessary additions and for important confirmations. But, even if I had to work for over two years as a "little table" for this job, I never felt a sense of unease or annoyance because, while scrolling through the pages or reading the notes, my mind ran at the same time all those beautiful moments that I have lived in various places to observe the eagles. It also reminded me of the wonderful feeling of being in constant contact with the wild world, not only referring to eagles, but also, more generally, with the beautiful and often solitary places in which I moved to obtain the data of this study. I also thought that basically it was not a real study, because this definition is appropriate when we are dedicated exclusively to research related to human life (history, philosophy, etc.), but with more precision to a discovery or better rediscovery of the natural world that is not at all separated from us, as millennia of human culture have made it understand, but it is an existential unicum, inseparable from living. I understood how anthropocentric dualism, that is, nature on the one hand and man with his works and his life on another, is deeply erroneous, not only from the conceptual point of view, but above all from the real point of view, because the splitting of the two worlds has been the cause of the decline of the human race and with it that of the wild world, because it is dragged by the foolish work of man towards degradation and downsizing. The irreconcilable contrasts in the western thought between economy and nature or between culture and nature, are real mined bases because, when the fuse is lit, everything comes away.
This modest work of mine, seen in a unifying way, has therefore contributed, since I began the observations, to make me mature and above all to make me reconnect with the unicum of existence. In other words, the wilderness of places and spirit.
And, with these reflections that gradually came back to me while I was working on the writing of the text, my being was able to go beyond those phenomena of closure and unilateral vision of nature to arrive instead in holism, which always observes the general . In fact, in another of my works I said: ...... - A new environmental ethic is not recognized with the dogmas and the specialized scientific rigidities, but above all with a maturation of the spirit, of the sensations and therefore of the thought. Hargrove (1990) answers to the question of Darwin on the loss, by the evolutionist, of aesthetic tastes towards nature, affirming that this loss "is a natural consequence of his attempts to be scientific, to deal with facts alone". The development of scientific specialization has led to a sort of "specialist deafness" (Boulding in Pignatti 1994), ie the inability to perceive the general characteristics of a system due to the obsessive concentration of attention to details (Pignatti, 1994). The holistic notion of landscape (nature) tends to overcome this particular "deafness" by seeking a global representation of the system (Pignatti, 1994). In fact Kuhn (1978) reminds us that "normal science is a strenuous and determined attempt to force nature into the conceptual boxes provided by vocational education" .. -
Obviously, as mentioned, the present work can not ignore technical peculiarities inherent in the life of the eagles, but they are particularisms that I have always seen them in a general context.
Before developing analytically the various phases of the golden eagle biology and ethology, I inserted a first chapter in which I briefly summarize the "plot" of the documentary of the raptor's life, so, afterwards, even knowing the salient features of
history, " "whole" screening of the "film" will reveal and deepen all the events of this natural event.
The text, written in a direct form, is not academically interrupted by tabbels or diagrams, so that the story can follow a continuous and substantially linear conducting thread.
Good vision.
The plot of the "documentary"
The Golden Eagle colonises mostly the mountain environments with rocky walls that are not easily accessible for nesting and open environments where hunting can be carried out. In the flat areas (North Europe, Asia, etc.), or in any case without rocky walls, the Aquila builds its nest on large trees and hunts in the surrounding clearings. However, nests on trees are also found in areas where there are rocky walls; the latter case, however, is almost a rarity.
It is extremely important to ensure the tranquility of the territories occupied by a pair of Golden Eagle, because if the direct and indirect anthropic disturbance exceeds a critical threshold, the Eagle is forced to leave the area. In addition, if the impoverishment of the predabile fauna becomes particularly acute, the nesting can be suspended or put in serious danger.
In the past years, a large number of territories has seen the number of permanently settled couples reduced, both due to a strong impoverishment of prey and to direct persecution of which the species has been subject to the same number of other birds of prey. Now, thanks to an almost general protection granted by most of the States, the Eagles are recovering the lost ground even if certain localities, for a series of reasons (scarcity of prey, disturbance, permanent tampering with the territory, etc.), do not register yet a complete recovery of the staff.
It should be noted that the Golden Eagle, like other great birds of prey, is very sensitive to the direct disturbance, especially during the nesting; the slowness of population growth is counterbalanced in nature by the longevity of adult individuals, obviously not considering man's destructive interventions.
My field observations took place in many European territories, but mainly in Italian ones (especially in the Apennine area and in a minor form in the Alpine area).
Each couple has its own territory whose extension can vary from a few tens of km 2 to several hundreds. This in close relation with the characteristics of the places, the availability of the prey, the orography, the anthropic disturbance, etc.
The altitudinal bands of presence vary according to the season. In fact, during the winter season, especially if there is a load of snow at high altitude, the altitudes also lower substantially. Outside the reproductive period the Aquila, while maintaining their basic presence in the heart of their range, the area of the nests, have more freedom of movement and it is not rare to observe them even at a considerable distance from where they usually show themselves. The possession of the nests is reiterated since the autumn- winter, so that with regularity you can observe them while practicing accurate works of rearrangement of the nests by the contribution of dry or green branches. There is a clear preference for nests protected from the weather, although I have recorded several cases where the nests were far from protected. The main hunting site is preferably placed above the nests, this for obvious reasons of facilitating the carryover of the prey to the nest. In the Scottish highlands in some circumstances I did not detect this feature, which is practically absent in the flat areas of the Scandinavian, Siberian or Canadian taiga (just to give some geographical examples).
In the rocky places the morphology of the nesting territory is often articulated and
spectacular, even though there are no nests located in less showy environments on small rock faces. Generally, the upper part of the wall is the part involved in the placement of the nest and this is to ensure maximum inaccessibility to the site. With regard to orientation it is difficult to give particular importance. Normally the pairs have on average 2-4 nests,
used in rotation with often the preference for one or two of them. A couple in particular, despite having 4 nests available, all in excellent condition, almost always chose one. One of the couples often followed by me has as many as 10 nests even if only 3-4 are those who prefer over the years so that some are practically abandoned. On one occasion I found a nest only mentioned in the construction and no longer completed nor used. Within its vital territory the Eagles have not only hunting grounds and nesting sites, but also many preferential resting places for rest, feeding or to hunt for stalking. Obviously in addition to these habitual perches there are also plenty of occasional and impromptu.
The couplings between the Eagles almost always take place near the breeding site and do
not have particular characteristics. Great showmanship, however, ensure the bridal parades visible during almost the entire year but more frequent in the period between the end of autumn and the beginning of spring. They are divided into vaulting, aerial acrobatics, gliding in pairs, beaten by the male on the female and conjunct in flight with the claws; then suddenly one of the two drops, immediately followed by the partner; Frequent wavy flights and the classic "festooned flights" that consist of lightning up a candle, followed by beaten with closed or semi-enclosed wings. The festooned flight is carried out by the Eagles also to reaffirm the territorial possession against intruders. Sometimes I noticed the participation of the young person of the previous year, without the adults having ever shown annoyance for such participation.
In the period prior to the deposition, the eagle, especially the female, continuously supplies new material to the nest (dry twigs, branches, green leaves) without bothering to camouflage. On the other hand, when the brooding begins, it can be noticed how often the Eagle in going out, but above all in entering, performs particular evolutions in order to make less visible its relationship with the nest (often it borders the rocks to camouflage its own figure). It has been observed that the more the nesting goes on the more the phase of entry to the nest is enriched with caution, cautions that reach the maximum when the chicken is already in the nest. In any case, the final entrance to the nest is almost always from the bottom up.
The contribution of green material to the nest, also carried out in the breeding phase, certainly has the purpose of refreshing the nest, softening the litter, and protecting any food remains from the sun, but has also the purpose of reaffirming the territorial domain both towards conspecifics and towards potential predators. For the same reason it may happen that the contribution of green material is also made in favor of other nests available, despite that for that year they have not been selected for breeding. This I noticed in all the couples held under my continuous observation. Even if the Eagles a year decide not to reproduce they also bring woody material to the nests both before and during the breeding season (usually, however, to a lesser extent). The Golden Eagle often sails at great heights by taking advantage of the ascensional thermal currents or by gliding in a straight line from one side of the valley to the other. The stationary flight is extremely rare and quite occasional.
The members of the couple are distinguished by their size; in fact, the female weighs a couple of kilos more than the male and has a wingspan of at least 20-30 cm. This difference is not very evident to the observer, unless the Eagles do not fly in pairs and on the same level. Coloring and size differences are also highlighted among the various subspecies.
The coloration of individuals varies with age. In fact, in the young and subadult eagles the plumage is dark brown, almost black, with large white spots above and below the wings (remiges) and on most of the tail
(helmsman), at the end of which a dark band is clearly visible. This coloring changes gradually over time until, towards the fourth or fifth year, the Eagle has a brownish coloration, which is lighter overall with golden reflections in several points of the body, particularly in the head. The white colors of the tail and wings disappear completely in adulthood; however, it should be noted that some adults may retain traces of the white plumage of the helmsmen and the primaries, so much so that the observers (mismatch between the color of the plumage and actual age) are misled. At times there are also anomalies of the plumage from the young age (partial or total lack of white patches, very small extension of the same, etc.). The adult age of 4-5 years, which we have just referred to, also represents the age of sexual maturity; in the juvenile age or in that of immature-subadult the Aquila can not reproduce and if it does the nesting will not go in port. The plumage pack generally lasts from April to September. On one occasion I observed a young man of the year without the clear side of the helmsman, while in another circumstance a young man from another couple was devoid of the wing stains.
The hunting phases are spectacular and articulate even if assisting to the final "catch" of the prey is anything but a common event. On the contrary, it is easier to observe the general phases of hunting: the eagles fly over the territory at low altitudes near the ground, skirting the valley sides, the ridges, the grasslands of altitude letting themselves be guided by the undulations of the ground; in this way the bird of prey can surprise the prey that is almost always caught on the ground, even if it is not rare to observe the Eagle while catching some birds in flight. In the latter case it can perform turns and sudden changes in direction that leave you astonished by the agility shown by the bird of prey despite its size. In addition to this type of hunting, the Golden Eagle uses to capture its prey even with the technique of the nesting. In this last case, the raptor, placed on a rock, tries to identify the possible movements of some animal on the ground or in the air. When this occurs, the Eagle suddenly starts by using powerful flywheels if necessary.
After long observations in the field I have had the opportunity to record in some pairs a slight gap between the success rate achieved by the stalking hunt and the one obtained by raiding hunt, but the data collected are however insufficient for any "hunting" evaluation of the 'topic. But now we are going to develop some considerations on the two hunting techniques.
As we have just seen, the bird of prey in the stalking hunt remains motionless on a dominant roost, carefully scrutinizing the surrounding areas. If he identifies a probable prey, he swoops down with closed or half-closed wings according to the speed he wants to reach (his powerful sight allows him to see a hare even a mile away!). When it is about to seize the prey, it leans forward its claws with its powerful claws and spreads its wings to stop the race. This is the decisive moment: if he succeeds in capturing the prey, this has no chance of escape; but if the prey, aware of the arrival of L'Aquila, succeeds in evading the trap, the useless bird of prey can hope for a second attempt. In fact, when the Eagle is on the ground is extremely awkward and awkward, and takes a considerable time to resume the flight in an attempt to capture the prey on the run. Sometimes, however, especially if the victim is a hare, the second attempt is successful. When it comes to a fox, I could see that if the first attempt fails, it is extremely difficult for Aquila to capture the cunning mammal in the second measure. In fact the behavior of the hare and that of the fox diverge in a relevant way (this only in reference to particular
non-generalizable observations): when the hare undergoes the attack of the Eagle flees immediately at great speed, sometimes allowing the raptor to resume flight to ghermirla a little further. The fox, on the contrary - especially if it is in open territory that does not offer a safe shelter nearby - once it has undergone L'Aquila's hunting attempt, it hardly ever flees to the first attempt of predation but controls the situation at close distance (1-2 meters), waiting for the further moves of L'Aquila; sometimes the fox, often with its tail up, merely makes a few turns around the bird of prey to disorient it. Once the now resigned Eagle resumed the flight a bit 'hard, the fox trotting and always keeping under control the situation, moving away with relative tranquility to gain the first safe haven. On one occasion I happened to see a fox flee immediately to the eagle hunting attempt to get inside a grove only about ten meters away. This happened because the natural shelter was a very short distance away.
With rake hunting the technique changes radically as, as we have seen before, the bird of prey must perform an active search by flying over a vast territory, staying at low altitude to scrutinize all the folds of the ground. With this technique Aquila tries to catch the prey that, when it is discovered, escapes in order not to be seized (sometimes the capture takes place without the prey being able to escape). Often this type of hunting is performed simultaneously by both individuals of the couple (hunting in tandem): one of the birds of prey shows off to distract the prey and push it into the open; the other bird of prey collects the fruits of deception, suddenly plunging into a grim flight over the unfortunate victim. Tandem hunting fascinates by the perspicacity that distinguishes it, meaning an important evolutionary goal achieved by the species.
The direct observations of the couples followed confirmed the statistical data on the success of the predation by the Eagles, in the sense that it, as in the other predators, is rather low, since it does not go beyond 25-40% of the total predation attempts ( it seems that the hunting success is still greater where the prey is very abundant). In fact, on numerous attempts to predict (or presumed such) to which I have witnessed (36) only 8 have been successful and of these 5 were the result of rake hunting, against 3 from stakeout. The observations on the hunting activities of the Eagles followed have shown that the stalking hunt seems to be favored during the winter period when it is very important for the Eagle, as indeed for most other wild animals, to minimize the expenditure of calories. In fact, in this period it is not rare for the raptor to remain fasting for more than a dozen days, while to compensate for the low temperatures a greater caloric intake would be necessary. What was stated is obviously only an indicative consideration that is anything but generalizable. Some researchers claim that Eagles prefer to pursue ambush. It is also important to remember the great importance that hunting experience has for the Golden Eagle, thus encouraging an in-depth knowledge of its territory, which is also essential for raising small children.
On one occasion during the breeding of the chicken, I observed a male eagle transiting in a vault with a hare between the legs just predated in front of the nest in which the female was placed on the edge to partial protection of the child who was 20 days old. After a long performance, which lasted about 4 minutes, the raptor went away disappearing at sight behind a rocky profile. After about twenty minutes, the Eagle reappeared at the sight always with the hare between the legs; after a further broad vault, about 3 minutes, in a slip and without hesitation he headed for the nest leaving the prey on the edge.
After leaving the male, the female, always positioned on the edge, remained inactive for over 2 hours before tearing the meat of prey to feed the chicken.
The diet is closely related to the available prey, which in turn correlates with the latitude of the area and with the seasons. In the following pairs I found that mammals are the staple food; then follow the birds, reptiles and carrion that are a good source of food, especially if there is a shortage of live prey (important winter incidence). During the summer season, especially in the southern areas (Italian Apennines, Spain, etc.), a large number of reptiles are preyed. It should be noted, however, that carrions are never given as food to the chickens in the nest and only shortly before the flight there are rare cases of feeding with meat from fresh carrion. On the Polish Tatras, for example, the Eagles rarely report any kind of reptile to the nest, while in the northern areas (eg Scandinavia), birds are almost always the dominant prey.
In areas where there is not an excessive presence of prey, probably because in the past exterminated by an irrational hunting activity and a significant alteration of the territory, it conditions not a little the reproductive phases of the pairs of Golden Eagle, reproduction often disturbed by human presences favored by accessibility of places frequented by the Eagles. It is no coincidence that only two eagles are rarely raised (probable synergy of conditions: food scarcity-disturbance). However, due exceptions remain. In fact, I could verify that a couple settled in a territory apparently "insignificant", quite often crowned their annual breeding with the flight of two specimens. Another couple, however, despite living in a protected area and apparently rich in prey, often could not even complete the hatching!
In recent years many territories are increasingly protected (national parks, regional parks, reserves, etc.), the hunting practice prohibited or strongly regulated and other human activities kept under control (at least on paper). In this way it is hoped that the territories will be able to rebalance at least in part by a few years. However, the "environmentally friendly" activities increasingly widespread within the protected areas and often promoted by the same administrations that manage these areas, in reality are not compatible at all (read tourism) causing a serious disturbance to the fauna and a taming of the quieter territories and wild. It is good to think carefully before "favoring" in any way the human presence in the mountain territory or in those equally delicate.....
* * * *
....During the breeding of the chicken the female cleans the nest from the remains of the prey. On many occasions I have seen the female take away the intestines advanced from the feeding of the pullo; on one occasion, however, an eagle brought into the nest, where there were two 40-day-old chicks, the fresh intestines of a hare.
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