Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: New Mexico
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Studies of golden eagle mortality linked to wind energy facilities are cause for concern especially when coupled with the knowledge that golden eagles move great distances between breeding and wintering areas. Thus, mortalities that occur at a particular wind energy facility may not only impact a local breeding population of golden eagles but could also impact breeding populations on a continent-wide scale. Understanding the movement ecology and landscape genetic structure of golden eagles in the western US would be critically important toward understanding the potential risks wind energy facilities pose to the continental population of golden eagles. This information is essential to understanding the distribution of breeding populations of eagles, the level of connectivity that exists among them and where individuals from these populations migrate to in the winter. Thus our objectives are to assess the relationship of western golden eagle populations using molecular genetic and stable isotope methods.