Virginia Wildlife Demo - 19

by Todd Katzner
and Jeff Cooper

nly a few of Earth's creatures
are truly evocative of wilderness. In the East, we have
driven oﬀ or assimilated the wildest of them.
Wolves and cougars were exterminated over a
century ago. Bald eagles, on the other hand,
were once rare but now are found in abundance throughout eastern Virginia and the
Chesapeake region. Even peregrine falcons
have abandoned their cliﬀ-side haunts and
now breed best in urban environments, on
the ledges of high buildings.
However, one wild and surreal creature
still roams our woods. is spectacular animal is so secretive that most easterners don't
even know it exists in remote areas of the Appalachian Mountains. It is truly indicative of
wild places, and its numbers are on the upswing.
What is it? e golden eagle.
In the rest of the world, golden eagles are
known to be a bird of high, jagged mountains and open, windswept country. ese
majestic eagles are typically found near their
prey-medium-sized birds and mammals
such as the chucker partridge, red grouse,
marmot, and jackrabbit. Here in the U.S.,
the golden eagle's closest relative is its distant
second cousin and our national bird, the bald
eagle. In Europe, Asia, and Africa, though,
there are many closer relatives-first cousins,
including central Asia's imperial and steppe
eagles, Africa's tawny and black eagles, and
Europe's greater and lesser spotted eagles.
Globally, this group of raptors is known as
the "booted eagles" because of their heavily
feathered legs. All are brown with tawny

A golden eagle ascends after release. The telemetry units used in this research were
designed by wildlife biologist Michael Lanzone. The unit collects data on its location
every 30 seconds, allowing for detailed tracking of movement. Photo courtesy of
Randy Flament. Left, Dave Kramar from Virginia Tech releases a golden eagle over the
Blue Ridge Mountains. Photo by Sally Mills.

markings, often with white on the wings and
light yellow-gold feathers on the back of the
head.
Golden eagles in eastern North America
have a long and complex relationship with
people. Like so many other species, they were
once far more common than they are today.
Years ago these birds bred in the northern
reaches of the Appalachians-in New York
and throughout New England, as far south as
Massachusetts. As recently as 1997, golden
eagles were defending breeding territories in
remote parts of northern Maine. However,
since that time there has been no record of
golden eagles nesting in eastern North America. Instead, these regal birds now breed only
in Canada, but they winter in large numbers
in the Appalachian range.
What caused the decline in eastern golden eagle numbers? Two factors primarily. e
first is a combination of persecution by people and habitat change. ere was a time
when birds of prey-not just eagles, but
hawks, falcons, and vultures too-were shot
on sight. When combined with the loss of
habitat to farming and urbanization from expanding human populations, these activities
took their toll. e second factor was chemical toxins, primarily DDT, which cause bird
eggshells to be catastrophically thin. Golden
eagles ingest DDT when their prey includes

piscivorous birds-fish-eating cormorants
and herons-that accumulate the pesticide in
their diet. DDT caused reproductive failure
over the ten years that golden eagles last tried
unsuccessfully to breed in the eastern U.S.
One of the most interesting parts to the
tale of Eastern golden eagles is their strange
history in the southern Appalachians. ere is
no reliable evidence that golden eagles have,
in recent times, bred south of upstate New
York. Nevertheless, groups of well-intentioned but misguided people have tried to
"reintroduce" golden eagles to the southern
Appalachians: in Georgia, Tennessee, North
Carolina, and even Pennsylvania. All told,
over 200 birds from western North America
were released in these states.
Because golden eagles didn't breed in the
southern Appalachians, these eﬀorts introduced a non-native breeding species to a novel
environment. Introduction of exotic species
or new bloodlines is generally considered bad
conservation practice. ink of starlings,
house sparrows (featured in the June issue),
pigeons, and nutria, all exotic species released
into this country with the best of intentions
but worst of outcomes. Additionally, and perhaps even more importantly, there already are
a couple of thousand golden eagles in eastern
North America. ese birds may have once
been genetically distinct, with their own
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