Local-Scale Movement Patterns Indicate Persistent Urban Avoidance by Airborne Golden Eagles in Western Nevada, USA

Despite many raptors establishing urban populations globally, Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) tend to avoid urban areas, including while in flight. The contiguous cities of Reno and Sparks, NV, USA, host a dense guild of breeding raptors (>10 species) but Golden Eagles only nest in trees and cliffs in the wildlands immediately adjacent urban development. We affixed GPS transmitters to nine non-breeding Golden Eagles to monitor their local-scale movements from 2015 to 2017, and investigated whether they use the airspace associated with the urbanized landscape. We found that they moved throughout the wildlands adjacent to, but rarely entered (0.17% of point locations), the urban area. Given that the wildlands around the urban area contain montane forest, sagebrush, and grassland habitats, which support some of the prey that Golden Eagles consume the most (Lepus, Sylvilagus, Otospermophilus, and Marmota spp.), it is likely that they use the wildlands for dietary and nesting resources but avoid the urban habitat itself. Our study provides a snapshot of a single geographic area but parallels existing research elsewhere.