The reintroduction of Red Kites to the UK has been a huge success. I don't get particularly excited by birds normally, but regularly seeing such large creatures (almost 2m wingspans) curving through the sky is nothing short of majestic. They're almost reminiscent of dragons.
I wonder if I'll get to feel the same about golden eagles soon too.
These 2 species of eagles are the biggest eagles in Europe.
Eagles are the biggest birds of prey which are active hunters.
A few species of vultures are much bigger than eagles, up to twice heavier.
In Europe, previously there was rather widespread a bird of prey that is intermediate in size and in appearance between eagles and true vultures, the so-called bearded vulture.
Unfortunately the bearded vulture and the true vultures have been exterminated in many parts of Europe by using poisoned dead animals.
For the bearded vulture, the Romans used a much better name, "ossifraga", which means "break-bones" (from which the word "osprey" comes, due to a confusion about the birds for which the name was used). The bearded vulture was called "break-bones", because it eats only bones, after breaking them by letting them fall on a rock from a great height.
Before the disappearances of the golden eagles and of the bearded vultures, they provided some of the most spectacular views in high mountains, due to their exquisite flying prowess.
The red kites are fun, I do enjoy seeing them and they are a great addition to biodiversity. However they also on occasion bring a packed lunch (see pigeon) to my garden, upon which time I either have to watch a somewhat horrifying nature documentary live, or in some cases they just leave an injured pigeon that I get guilt tripped into patching up and rehabilitating… I’m somewhat split about the situation…
Golden eagles have lived together with sheep-raising humans for millennia, without ever being anything else but a completely minor nuisance.
The reason is that sheep have always been guarded by shepherds and dogs.
The reintroduction of eagles can create problems only where lambs are completely unguarded, in order to save some money over the traditional methods.
So the choice between letting eagles live and exterminating them is not between raising sheep and not raising sheep, but between using a traditional level of care for them and a slightly cost-saving modern method, which has eliminated a part of the jobs associated with sheep raising.
A solution for the AI-hyped era, where paying human employees is frowned upon, would be to use robot dogs for scaring raptor birds.
Because this reply has been hidden in a sub-thread started by a flagged message, but I believe that this information should be more widely known, I repost my now hidden message, which replied to a very weird claim of someone else, that the golden eagle does not have cultural importance:
I do not understand to what you are referring by "is hardly known and of little importance culturally".
Your statement is completely unrelated with the parent article. Contrary to what you say, the golden eagle is by far the best known species of eagle and the one with the greatest cultural importance. In a large part of Eurasia, for at least 5 millennia or more the golden eagle has been the most culturally important species of bird.
The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is the species of eagle that has become the state symbol of the late Roman Republic and then of the Roman Empire.
Inspired by the Romans, during the last couple of millennia many other states have included the golden eagle in their heraldic symbols and several of them are still using it today.
Even much earlier than the Romans, at all Indo-European people the golden eagle had a special importance, being the bird used as a messenger by the God of the Sky, later known as Zeus in Greece and as Jupiter at the Romans. Already the Hittite texts from 3500 years ago have many references to the golden eagle.
The golden eagle is also the species that has been the most valued as a domesticated hunting bird in Central Asia.
The use of the "bald" eagle by USA has also been inspired by the Roman golden eagle, but the original species was replaced with a native American species. The golden eagles have survived in small pockets spread over a very large area from Western Europe to USA, so they were not representative for USA alone.
While the sea eagles, to which the American "bald" eagle also belongs, are bigger than the golden eagle (whose preferred habitat are the high mountains), the golden eagle is stronger for its size and she is able to hunt bigger prey in proportion to its size. Only some jungle eagles, like the harpy eagle, are definitely stronger and able to carry heavier prey.
8 comments
[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 28.8 ms ] threadI wonder if I'll get to feel the same about golden eagles soon too.
On the best days (like yesterday) I had them hovering over my garden, facing the wind, maybe 2-3 metres above the roof level.
So beautiful.
I don’t see it mentioned in the article but was our largest bird of prey?
EDIT: found it; the white tailed eagle[1].
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/white-tailed-eagl...
Eagles are the biggest birds of prey which are active hunters.
A few species of vultures are much bigger than eagles, up to twice heavier.
In Europe, previously there was rather widespread a bird of prey that is intermediate in size and in appearance between eagles and true vultures, the so-called bearded vulture.
Unfortunately the bearded vulture and the true vultures have been exterminated in many parts of Europe by using poisoned dead animals.
For the bearded vulture, the Romans used a much better name, "ossifraga", which means "break-bones" (from which the word "osprey" comes, due to a confusion about the birds for which the name was used). The bearded vulture was called "break-bones", because it eats only bones, after breaking them by letting them fall on a rock from a great height.
Before the disappearances of the golden eagles and of the bearded vultures, they provided some of the most spectacular views in high mountains, due to their exquisite flying prowess.
The reason is that sheep have always been guarded by shepherds and dogs.
The reintroduction of eagles can create problems only where lambs are completely unguarded, in order to save some money over the traditional methods.
So the choice between letting eagles live and exterminating them is not between raising sheep and not raising sheep, but between using a traditional level of care for them and a slightly cost-saving modern method, which has eliminated a part of the jobs associated with sheep raising.
A solution for the AI-hyped era, where paying human employees is frowned upon, would be to use robot dogs for scaring raptor birds.
I do not understand to what you are referring by "is hardly known and of little importance culturally".
Your statement is completely unrelated with the parent article. Contrary to what you say, the golden eagle is by far the best known species of eagle and the one with the greatest cultural importance. In a large part of Eurasia, for at least 5 millennia or more the golden eagle has been the most culturally important species of bird.
The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is the species of eagle that has become the state symbol of the late Roman Republic and then of the Roman Empire.
Inspired by the Romans, during the last couple of millennia many other states have included the golden eagle in their heraldic symbols and several of them are still using it today.
Even much earlier than the Romans, at all Indo-European people the golden eagle had a special importance, being the bird used as a messenger by the God of the Sky, later known as Zeus in Greece and as Jupiter at the Romans. Already the Hittite texts from 3500 years ago have many references to the golden eagle.
The golden eagle is also the species that has been the most valued as a domesticated hunting bird in Central Asia.
The use of the "bald" eagle by USA has also been inspired by the Roman golden eagle, but the original species was replaced with a native American species. The golden eagles have survived in small pockets spread over a very large area from Western Europe to USA, so they were not representative for USA alone.
While the sea eagles, to which the American "bald" eagle also belongs, are bigger than the golden eagle (whose preferred habitat are the high mountains), the golden eagle is stronger for its size and she is able to hunt bigger prey in proportion to its size. Only some jungle eagles, like the harpy eagle, are definitely stronger and able to carry heavier prey.