Golden Eagles in a Changing World

Golden Eagles are a well-studied, widely distributed raptor species. Long-term monitoring of Golden Eagle populations have revealed several current and emerging threats, including landscape-mediated diet shifts that may increase the potential for disease infection, and warming temperatures that may increase the distribution and abundance of eagle ectoparasites. This presentation will cover the prevalence of the disease trichomonosis and the abundance of ectoparasitic Mexican chicken bugs, and the risk factors associated with disease and ectoparasitism. Management to mitigate these threats requires first identifying and understanding factors that influence individual susceptibility within populations, and how eagles may adapt to these threats physiologically or mechanically through the use of aromatic nest material. Given the projections of current climate trends and the increasing human ecological footprint, monitoring threats to raptor populations and the ability of birds to respond to these threats, is important in a changing world.

Speaker: Ben Dudek is a wildlife biologist.