The king of the birds, the lord of the sky is a symbol of power. People did not stint on the epithets, describing this beautiful bird. Golden Eagles inhabit almost all of Eurasia, with the exception of the south and southeast, the savannas of Africa, a significant part of Canada, the United States and Mexico.
In Turkmenistan, the golden eagle is found almost everywhere, but avoids close proximity to a person. His number in recent years, unfortunately, is declining. The species is listed on the IUCN Red List (2009), Red Book of Turkmenistan (2011), CITES List (2011).
Golden eagles are large birds of prey with a body length of up to one meter, a wingspan of more than 2 meters and a weight of up to 6 kilograms.
They are armed with strong beaks and paws, on the back fingers of which there are fighting claws, at least 5 centimeters long.The color of the plumage of adult birds is dominated by brown tones, not counting the caps on the head of pointed reddish feathers.
The young birds are darker, sometimes almost black, with a white marble base of the tail, white plumage of the tarsus and light spots on the wings.The final adult outfit the bird "puts on" in the fourth year of life.
Golden eagles live sedentary, nest in the same places, couples are constant, but in the absence of feed they may not breed, wandering in search of prey.Already in February, they put their nests in order, laying a pair, rarely 3 dirty-white, with brown spots of eggs.
Chicks appear in April and 70 days are in nests under the care of parents.Golden Eagles are friendly spouses and very caring parents.The male brings food to the incubating female and the chicks, but she divides the prey into portions.
Departure of the young from the nest is a family ritual: the male is circling above the nest, often with loud cries carefully examining everything around, and the female carefully helps the clumsy young chicks to master the air element.
In the Caspian Sea, I saw my first golden eagle in the Gubadag gorge on the northern shore of Soymonov Bay in June 1972, and in May 1973 I discovered a marl eaves with natural niches from 1.5 to 2.5 m deep, which were well protected from weather perennial nests.
At this site with breaks they nest for many years.Later, I was lucky again.In the north-west of Turkmenistan, on the cape of Sue Cape, they managed to meet an adult golden eagle and it became clear that the birds here, although intermittently, also produce offspring.
Both sites are characterized by similar conditions — well-protected nesting stations from the weather, land-based predators and humans, and a number of populations of tolai, ground squirrels, gerbils and other rodents, which provide a good and accessible food base.
It could be given these sites the status of natural monuments of local importance knowing how much attention is paid to nature conservation, biodiversity conservation and the development of eco-tourism, given the rare geological structure, the diversity of flora and fauna.
Such a measure will preserve the beautiful places, their Red Book and other inhabitants for many years to come.