Known Breeding Distribution and Abundance of Golden Eagles in Eastern North America

Abstract

Aquila chrysaetos (Golden Eagle) breeds in both eastern and western North America. However, the former population has received much less attention than the latter. The purpose of this paper is to document the known distribution and abundance of eastern Golden Eagles within their breeding range and to identify gaps in knowledge for future studies. Eastern Golden Eagles breed in Labrador, Québec, and Ontario, Canada. The species has been extirpated as a breeder from the eastern US. In 2013, 187 Golden Eagle territorial pairs were documented in eastern Canada. Most territorial pairs occur in Québec (65.8%) and Labrador (26.7%). However, probably less than 16% of the total area of these regions has been surveyed. Based on the number of pairs observed and the proportion of area surveyed, we estimate that the total number of territorial pairs of eastern Golden Eagles to be ∼1236. The large area of unsurveyed landscapes and the corresponding lack of precision of the estimate highlight an important next step for future research.