A sharp eye peering in the direction of the open blue skies above the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center will many times provide glimpses of raptors such as white-tailed kites, sharp-shinned hawks, red-tailed hawks and others. The "Master of the Sky" however is the magnificent Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) with its over 6-foot wide wingspan.
The golden eagle's huge size is always reaffirmed in my mind whenever I hear the common ravens' heckling call ... a gutteral low "agh, agh, agh" ... and I look to the skies to see one or two ravens chasing a golden eagle. The wingspan of the eagle dwarfs that of the raven's ... and the ravens have almost a 4-foot wingspan.
HREC has traditionally had two pair of resident golden eagles that have territories over the Center. In some years we are able to locate the nests ...other years not, such as this year. The appearance of a young-of-the-year always confirms successful nest attempts, and the newly fledged birds are always quite vocal and easily spotted with their bright white "windows" in the wings and bright white tail with a dark terminal band. Almost without fail, when one spots a young bird in the air, a closer look reveals one or two parents keeping watch over the youngster. Sometimes the adult is far above and beyond their youngster, but almost always within line-of-sight, keeping a watchful eye as good parents should.
