Golden Eagles of the East Bay

The San Francisco–East Bay area still harbors one of the densest nesting populations of Golden Eagles in the world. Yet all is not well. Aside from development pressure putting the squeeze on eagle habitat, wind farm operations at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area account for a high eagle mortality rate that is unsustainable. In essence, the Altamont represents a population sink to our local eagles. Doug Bell will provide an overview of the Golden Eagles nesting in the East Bay and discuss efforts currently under way to better understand this population and to lessen the impacts of wind energy production on eagles. The latter will include studies incorporating flight behavior and digital elevation mapping to inform wind turbine siting, as well as preliminary results from GPS satellite tracking of local eagles.

Early in his life, Doug Bell discovered birds and, soon thereafter, raptors. He is the wildlife program manager for the East Bay Regional Park District. His research currently focuses on the sustainability of Golden Eagles and other raptors. Doug received his PhD from UC Berkeley. He is an adjunct professor at California State University Sacramento and a research associate of the California Academy of Sciences.