I packed up my binoculars, warm clothes and good luck charms and traveled across Pennsylvania to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary on a quest to add the golden eagle to my life bird list.
My former Penn State roommate and present-day landscape architect, Amy Mills, and I spent a full and wonderful day in this amazing place. Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is the oldest and largest member-supported raptor conservation organization in the world and renowned spot to witness fall raptor migration.
Most of the golden eagles in the United States live west of the Rocky Mountains, but there is a small sub-species population of goldens that live in the east. Because they are shy and well-hidden in their preferred temperate forest habitat, population numbers are hard to estimate, but experts guess between 1,000 and 5,000 birds live and breed in the east.
Alas, Amy and I did not spot any migrating golden eagles, but we were fortunate enough to attend a raptor show that featured two rescued and rehabilitated female eagles – a bald and a golden – who cannot return to the wild but serve as ambassadors for their species.