An Instrumented Golden Eagle's (Aquila chrysaetos) Long-Distance Flight Behavior

Michael Garstang; Steven Greco; George D Emmitt; Tricia A Miller; Michael Lanzone

doi:10.3390/ani12111470

An Instrumented Golden Eagle's (Aquila chrysaetos) Long-Distance Flight Behavior

Animals (Basel). 2022 Jun 6;12(11):1470. doi: 10.3390/ani12111470.

Authors

Michael Garstang¹, Steven Greco², George D Emmitt², Tricia A Miller³, Michael Lanzone⁴

Affiliations

¹ Environmental Sciences and Simpson Weather Associates, Inc., University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
² Simpson Weather Associates, Inc., Charlottesville, VA 22902, USA.
³ Conservation Science Global, West Cape May, NJ 08204, USA.
⁴ Cell Track Tech, Rio Grande, NJ 08242, USA.

Abstract

One-second-processed three-dimensional position observations transmitted from an instrumented golden eagle were used to determine the detailed long-range flight behavior of the bird. Once elevated from the surface, the eagle systematically used atmospheric gravity waves, first to gain altitude, and then, in multiple sequential glides, to cover over 100 km with a minimum expenditure of its metabolic energy.

Keywords: atmospheric waves; bird flight; energy consumption; migration.

Grants and funding

The publication costs of this paper were generously waved by the Journal Editors of Animals. This generous support is gratefully acknowledged by the authors and their respective institutions.