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Golden Eagles: My attempts to see over the years, until 12/09/24 (1 Viewer)

Dr.Boletus

Well-known member
Spain
In Russia, it is a grisly and incredibly rare inhabitant of raised bogs surrounding islets of forest. In the UK and Spain, it is a majestic bird of rugged mountains and mountain woodlands. This is a very shy and wary species of majestic beauty and attire which is hard enough to see in the distance, and virtually impossible to see up close.
I always wanted to see this bird, but never had the time or luck. This most majestic of eagles, as I thought, was constantly outshone by others, like the white-tailed eagle, or that craze of my mind-life, the two subspecies of imperial eagle, so similar to a golden eagle, and yet so dissimilar as well.
My first brush with this bird, an oh what could have been, was at Lake Baikal in 2017, when I visited Arshan, where I stirred the entire tour bus up with ideas and claims about imperial eagles in the valley. I am still confused as to whether I indeed saw one, or if it was an unusual black kite.
The trail up to Arshan and out of it led into the mountains to a majestic waterfall, where mum hand-fed a burunduk and a larch suillus lurked opposite the path nearby. As we entered the area, I saw photos of golden eagles soaring over the valley, and thought I saw a golden when I visited Olkhon and passed a group of big birds fighting for some prey, almost certainly one of which was a white-tailed eagle. But I was not in luck- I could have had the steppe eagle of my dreams but I turned away, and only later realised what had just flown overhead.
The next year came quickly, and with it came the summer, and in the summer I set out on my first adventure to see the golden eagle- to a nature reserve called Kivach. However, when we arrived, hoping to see the eagles there, I was told the golden eagle only occurred during migration. The area was beautiful nonetheless, but no golden eagle.
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Despite this, the country looked exactly how that of an eagle should be like raised bogs, and among them tall pine trees for nests. Or were the bogs too small? I will never know.
On the way to the Volga-Kama nature reserve, where we found the deserted nest of an eastern imperial eagle, I asked about a golden eagle, but was told they lived far to the east of there, ‘in the steppe lands’. I wanted to visit the Central Forest nature reserve, where a pair of golden eagles lived, but could not get to it!
My interest in the eagle stewed until 2019, when I found a beautiful reserve- Vodlozero National Park, to see the golden eagle. I was told white-tailed eagles were abundant and the osprey rare, but no golden eagles bred on the territory of the park. My interest was lost soon after. I tried to see the eagles on the cruise in 2019, but nothing was seen at all.
Come 2020, and again the same thing. I looked for it in the mountains of Spain, and then I saw one, hovering over Sierra del Maigmo as we took a bus to the Sierra Mariola and its griffon vulture colony. I am sure it was a golden eagle- a majestic bird with a huge fan-shaped tail. Or maybe I was wrong, and it was something else. But, I believe this to have been my first-ever sighting of a golden eagle.
2021 then came, and here my interest in the golden eagle indeed skyrocketed. When I got to Russia, I went to Taldom and the swamps at Craneland, where the greater spotted eagle lived. I never saw the spotted eagles because we were in the wrong place, but I did see a white-tailed eagle overhead. The landscape of the swamps, however, made me think and feel of the sort of areas the golden eagle calls home in Russia.
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This was August- and soon after, I went to Ostashkov and we took a detour at a swamp where a golden eagle pair bred. I spent too little time here- the threat of bears loomed, and there was a fatal bear attack in the immediate area a few days prior. As we drove out, however, I noticed a large bird stooping beyond the trees, and the next day a bird soaring at immense height over the area of the swamp. I always thought this was my first sighting of a golden eagle. Whilst it was not, I always dreamt of seeing it in the wilderness I myself would call home- a raised bog and forest island of the immense Chistik swamp, where a pair of eagles lives.
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In 2022, I was offered a trip to anywhere in Spain by car. I chose the Sierra Espuna, and off we went, seeing Montagu’s harriers along the way. We ascended to the Collado Pilon, and I immediately saw a pair of golden eagles! And they were close as well. Just a pair silently drifting through the skies in mid-April.
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This was my first sighting of the bird which resulted in more than a distant look, and I was immensely overjoyed. In July, I saw the bird again- on the way to the Pyrenees from Barcelona a golden eagle flew quite close over the car, and then near the top of Coll de Pal, a downpour passed, and a golden eagle rose from somewhere nearby and began hunting through the air. For years, this was my best sighting of the bird, but the day was stolen by a bearded vulture an hour later over Coll de Pal.
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This was 2022- and 2023 was stolen by other birds of prey. First a Spanish imperial eagle near Madrid, and then a couple of days later the immensely elusive (to me) short-toed eagle at El Hondo. Greater spotted eagles were easy, if distant, at El Hondo.
In 2024, I decided to look for the golden eagles for real. I re-visited the Sierra Espuna and, although the eagles were seen that day, they were always distant, and never came as close as I would have liked.
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I tried for the final time in September, and, during this trip, I got incredibly lucky, and saw a family of golden eagles scavenging a sheep carcass, at less than 20 meters away from me! Finally, I saw the golden eagle, far better than I ever hoped.
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But one final wish remains- an in flight photo taken over a large raised bog :)
 

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