The golden eagle's scientific name is Aquila chrysaetos. An adult golden eagle is brown, with golden feathers on the back of its head and neck; a golden eagle's wings spread about two meters (6.5 feet) from tip to tip. A female golden eagle weighs roughly 4 to 6 kilograms (about 9 to 13 pounds), and a male weighs less.

Golden eagles live across North America, Europe, Asia and northern Africa; golden eagles live in open country such as mountains, plains and foothills. Golden eagles live throughout most of Alaska as far north as the Brooks Range. As of November 2026, in the United States about 5,000 golden eagles live east of the Great Plains, and more than 20,000 live in the western states.

Golden eagles have sharp eyesight, and they can see much better than a person can. Golden eagles see in color and can spot movement from a long distance; they see extremely well in daylight but no better than people at night. A golden eagle has a clear extra eyelid that protects its eyes from dust and dirt.

A golden eagle hunts by soaring high, by flying low over slopes, or by watching from a high perch; when a golden eagle spots food, it makes a sharp, fast dive. Golden eagles use sharp talons to snatch up their food. Golden eagles often hunt in pairs, with one bird driving the food toward its partner.

Golden eagles eat mostly small mammals such as rabbits, hares and marmots, and they eat birds, reptiles and fish less often. If live food is scarce, golden eagles also eat carrion, which is an animal already dead.

Golden eagles fly with slow, powerful wingbeats alternated with gliding and soaring. They use mountain ridges to ride thermal updrafts that sweep up from the valleys and deserts below; golden eagles tend to migrate at midday, along north-south cliff lines, ridges and escarpments, and in the East they funnel south along narrow Appalachian ridges.

Scientists track golden eagles with GPS transmitters: one migration study used locations the tags recorded every 15 minutes. In a GPS study, spring migrant golden eagles traveled on average 139.75 km a day and 25.59 km an hour. Autumn migrants traveled 99.14 km a day and 22.18 km an hour; a telemetry study followed more than 500 golden eagles over 10 years in western North America. Northern golden eagles move south late in fall and return north early in spring.

A study of migrating golden eagles used GPS tracking in three dimensions, including altitude, to sort flight into five behaviors; in that study the tracked eagles spent 2%, 31%, 38%, 9% and 20% of their daytime in the five behavior states, among them gliding and orographic soaring. Orographic soaring, which uses air pushed up by hills, was less energy-efficient and more frequent in autumn, when thermals were less available. Adult golden eagles were better than subadults at using the flight mode that saved the most energy.

As of November 2026, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its colleagues have regularly surveyed golden eagles since 2006, mainly in the interior western United States. As of November 2026, a survey in four bird conservation regions of the western U.S. estimated 20,722 golden eagles of all ages; the survey years were 2006 to 2009; as of November 2026, the survey has only four years of data, 2006 to 2009, which limits how well researchers can judge long-term trends. As of November 2026, a study of western U.S. golden eagle trends from 1968 to 2010 concluded that golden eagles were not declining widely.

As of November 2026, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated about 40,000 golden eagles in the United States in 2014, counting Alaska; as of November 2026, its newest estimate, from data through 2016, is 31,800 golden eagles in the interior western United States, very similar to the estimate in 2014. That count covers the interior western United States, while the 2014 estimate covered the whole United States, counting Alaska. As of November 2026, Partners in Flight estimates the global breeding population of golden eagles at 300,000.

Alongside bald eagles, golden eagles are protected by three federal laws; as of November 2026, golden eagles are listed as Least Concern overall, but they are declining in some places, including parts of the United States. As of November 2026, in other areas golden eagles are common and populations are presumably stable.

Power lines are a known risk to golden eagles that perch on them; habitat loss, shooting, trapping, poisoning and nest disturbance are among the human-caused dangers to golden eagles.

A golden eagle pair stays together, often for life. Golden eagles usually build their nests on cliff ledges, and sometimes in large trees; each year golden eagles add more sticks to their nest, so it gets bigger and bigger. Golden eagle nests can be built from ground level up to about 107 meters off the ground. As of November 2026, the largest golden eagle nest on record measured 6.1 meters tall and 2.59 meters wide; Alaska Department of Fish and Game says golden eagle nests, called eyries, can be as large as 10 feet across.

Golden eagles breed once a year. A golden eagle pair usually has two eggs in a nest; the eggs take about 40 to 45 days to hatch. A golden eagle sits over its newly hatched chicks, which is called brooding. It keeps them warm when it is cool and shades them when it is hot. Baby golden eagles are called eaglets; young golden eagles leave the nest at about 10 weeks to three months old.

A golden eagle gets its full adult feathers at about age five and does not breed until it is four to seven years old. As of November 2026, golden eagles in the wild live about 30 years on average, and San Diego Zoo says up to 38 years; as of November 2026, golden eagles in human care have lived 46 years or more: Animal Diversity Web names 46 years as the oldest known, and San Diego Zoo says up to 50.

Words to know

• telemetry: remote tracking
• orographic: hill-lifted
• subadults: young eagles
• eyries: eagle nests
• escarpments: steep slopes