- 7/5/2025
When the golden eagle watches for prey while gliding over its hunting ground, hardly flapping its wings, snow and black grouse, groundhogs, hares and other animals had better watch out. Even the quick kestrel can't escape when the golden eagle has it in its sights. The fox and the common raven may be more intelligent than the golden eagle, but if they aren't careful they might also end up as a meal for the young eagles in the eyrie. The golden eagle is an extremely crafty hunter: optimally exploiting all cover, it glides close to the ground over knolls and low hills along hillsides and attempts to surprise its prey from a short distance. When it spies prey, it swoops down onto it in a nosedive. The eagle has already killed the surprised prey before it even realises what is happening to it.
video credit: Free Documentary Nature
This documentary gives an intimate portrait of this large bird of prey and tracks the birth and coming of age of two Golden Eagle chicks in the High Tatra Mountains, from the hatching of the eggs, until the moment when the young birds leave the nest. Tragic and funny moments make this movie an entertaining trip into the treetops of the European forests.
#goldeneagle,#goldeneaglelogandtimberhomes,#goldeneaglehunting,#goldeneaglethrowsgoatoffcliff,#goldeneaglesound,#goldeneaglehuntingdeer,#goldeneaglevsbaldeagle,#goldeneagleattack,#goldeneaglecall,#goldeneaglevsgoat,#goldeneaglevswolf,#goldeneagleshuntinggoats,#j
video credit: Free Documentary Nature
This documentary gives an intimate portrait of this large bird of prey and tracks the birth and coming of age of two Golden Eagle chicks in the High Tatra Mountains, from the hatching of the eggs, until the moment when the young birds leave the nest. Tragic and funny moments make this movie an entertaining trip into the treetops of the European forests.
#goldeneagle,#goldeneaglelogandtimberhomes,#goldeneaglehunting,#goldeneaglethrowsgoatoffcliff,#goldeneaglesound,#goldeneaglehuntingdeer,#goldeneaglevsbaldeagle,#goldeneagleattack,#goldeneaglecall,#goldeneaglevsgoat,#goldeneaglevswolf,#goldeneagleshuntinggoats,#j
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00In the north of Europe, winters are hard, but the misery of some secures the survival of others.
00:14In Scandinavia, golden eagles live in the mountains and the lowlands.
00:31They are capable hunters, but still they can't survive without the victims which cold and snow claim every winter.
00:44Golden eagles are unsocial. They don't tolerate other eagles near their loot.
01:01One of them is driven away in the end, even though there is enough for both of them.
01:13Who would think of love in such harsh conditions?
01:17It remains to be seen if it is love, but golden eagles begin their courtship when it's still winter.
01:28Long before the spring sun melts the snow, the ice is broken for the two eagles.
01:37They mate up to 30 times before the female lays her eggs in early April.
01:43But we'll come back to that.
01:50Survival is paramount.
01:52An elk cow has fallen victim to the Scandinavian winter and is lying on the edge of a fjord, well preserved thanks to the icy cold.
02:02Eagle eyes have quickly discovered the huge food reserve.
02:08Now they are racing to get the first and biggest chunks.
02:11The fully grown golden eagle gets to the cadaver first and starts to feed on it.
02:26But before he gets to the coveted meat of the mammal, he has to work through the elk's dense winter coat.
02:37A sea eagle is keeping an attentive eye on the scene.
02:41He would love to fight the golden eagle for the prey.
02:48It seems to be worth a try.
02:50But then it appears that the sea eagle is losing heart.
03:09One plucky flap of the golden eagle's wings and the sea eagle takes off.
03:18A second sea eagle swoops down from the perpetual dark grey Nordic winter sky.
03:35This one is making more of an impression on the golden eagle.
03:39But he's full anyway, and leaves the field to his cousin with a large yellow beak.
03:50In Nordic mythology, Reis Velgia is a giant in the shape of an eagle who brings wind over the land.
03:58Golden eagles need vast, untouched landscapes where nature is still relatively intact.
04:15Today, golden eagles mainly live in the mountainous regions of the Alps and the Carpathians.
04:22There are many different prey animals for the golden eagle between forests and mountain meadows.
04:40Although there are fresh twigs in the Eyrie, the nest is not yet in use.
04:50A caper ceilidh also makes an attractive prey for the eagle.
05:11While the smaller female is well camouflaged and rarely leaves the protection of the forest,
05:17the conspicuous male caper ceilidh makes for easy prey, at least during the mating season.
05:23The hen rarely shows herself openly on the mountain meadow.
05:27And the male caper ceilidh had also better retreat back into the protection of the mountain forest.
05:33A warm wind is blowing through the forest. Nature is waking from hibernation.
05:55It's thawing.
05:56There are more and more mountain forests where you can find large feathers of this size.
06:12Eagle feathers once again.
06:14Breeding golden eagle couples are back in the heart of Europe.
06:19The eagle population also depends on the prevalence of their preferred animals of prey.
06:40Loose feathers are drifting across the ground.
06:43A caper ceilidh has become the victim of his testosterone levels.
06:59During the mating season, large amounts of testosterone flow through a caper ceilidh's body and makes it careless.
07:07Golden eagles keep returning to their kill and feed on it until nothing is left.
07:16This way, every last bit of the prey is used.
07:23Eagles hardly make a dent in the caper ceilidh population.
07:26Wherever its habitat is intact, the caper ceilidh produces enough offspring to make up for these losses.
07:34Once a species of prey becomes rare, the predators will change over to other, more common species.
07:57It's a clever and highly functional policy of nature.
08:12The eagle cruises above his territory.
08:16But this time, he is not on the lookout for prey.
08:18The breeding season is upon them, and the eagles need to prepare.
08:27They have been making regular courtship flights in their territory since the winter,
08:32in order to strengthen their partnership.
08:34Free as a bird.
08:53The phrase has never seemed so apt.
08:55The�� sea winds is always almost half-leashed.
08:58The第一
09:13ne îale
09:14The terrains were equipped with a ungible
09:20Somewhere, on a scraggy tree, the two golden eagles finally land.
09:44And they mate yet again.
09:47Breeding stands in the way of a new generation of eagles, or so it seems.
10:08This is the ideal habitat for a golden eagle, a varied hunting ground and old mixed woodlands
10:15for breeding.
10:17Here is where the story of our eagle chicks begins.
10:22The male golden eagle has been incubating the egg for a few hours now.
10:38It's the only egg the female laid a few days earlier.
10:43It's the end of April, and all over the forests birds have been looking for hiding places
10:57for their nests.
10:59In the neighbouring valley, to the golden eagles, at a safe distance, the black stalk
11:04is floating back to its nest.
11:19Since the day that spring has sprung, the eggs need to be kept warm at all times, on both
11:25sides.
11:32Both eagle parents will keep their precious egg warm day and night for some 45 days.
11:41For the black stalks, it takes five weeks until the chicks hatch.
11:50Body heat is the most important factor.
11:54But without sufficient padding and insulation, the egg can't develop.
12:16The male golden eagle has a ring.
12:20While it was assumed that it's the task of the mother bird to incubate the eggs, our eagle
12:25couple take regular turns.
12:29The eagle egg was only exposed to the cold of the April day for a few minutes.
12:35Now the female is flying towards the eerie.
12:56Carefully, the ringless mother eagle settles on her egg.
13:10The eagles are nearly motionless when they incubate the eggs.
13:14And their neighbours, the black stalks, are no different.
13:20A bit further down, Eurasian pygmy owls are one step behind.
13:25They still haven't laid any eggs.
13:30Not all golden eagles make their eerie in old trees.
13:34Rock islands in an ocean of trees and shrubs.
13:39The main thing is that the breeding place is not easily accessible to predators.
13:45Up in the rock eerie, the eggshell has already been broken.
13:57Here two eggs were laid, from which two golden eagle chicks have already hatched.
14:05It's mainly the mother who keeps returning to the eerie with green twigs of coniferous
14:10and deciduous trees.
14:12This way the nest keeps growing during the two and a half months of raising the chicks.
14:20The father's task is to provide food.
14:24He regularly supplies the eerie with prey animals, which the female divides up and feeds to their
14:30offspring.
14:34This time it's a mouse, which is torn into even smaller morsels and shed out by the mother.
15:0295% of all golden eagles hatch in a rock eerie.
15:15The rest of them see the light of day in an eerie on a tree.
15:19Like our eagle couple, with their eerie and an old fir tree, who only have one chick to
15:25look after.
15:30The adult birds take turns in hunting for prey.
15:40Whenever wild prey animals become scarce, the fowl kept by humans suddenly become very
15:46obvious to the golden eagles.
15:50It's the perfect sitting game with a view of the pigeon loft.
15:57It's a warm day at the end of April.
16:00The eagle chick is plagued by annoying flies, just like the Eurasian pygmy owl a bit lower
16:06down.
16:08The largest and the smallest predatory birds of the mountain forests are tormented by the
16:14same pest.
16:16The female golden eagle is still sitting high above the pigeon lofts, waiting patiently for
16:32an opportune moment.
16:44In the meantime, the male has been successful, returning to the eerie with what's left of a slain pigeon.
17:00Then he flies off again, leaving the rest of the work to the female.
17:19It's always she who tears up the prey and feeds it to the chick.
17:31Although individual eagles may prefer certain animals of prey, pigeons are not a golden eagle's
17:37regular target.
17:39They are usually too quick.
17:41It's the young, inexperienced pigeons which tend to become the victim of the Hrysveldgeer
17:47bird.
17:48It's a kind of natural selection.
17:57The eerie of the golden eagle is slightly smaller than that of a sea eagle.
18:03It's 1.5 metres in diameter and roughly 1 metre in height, similar to that of the black stalks
18:10in the neighbouring valley.
18:12Here three insatiable young birds are waiting for their meal.
18:19In the eagle eerie, the mother has to present tiny morsels of prey to her little one.
18:29At the black stalk families, whole fish is again on the menu.
18:33In total, the eagle mother will feed some 40 kilograms of prey to her offspring over time.
18:56After feeding, the little snowy white black stalks can play with each other, while the eagle
19:05chick has to make do with his mother.
19:12And when it gets cooler, the female offers warmth and comfort.
19:25When it gets cooler, the female offers warmth and comfort.
19:33There's another breeding bird in the eagle's territory, a common tree creeper.
19:46Even if the Eurasian pygmy owl is tiny, it is a highly specialised and dangerous bird hunter.
20:00There's another breeding bird in the eagle's chase.
20:28A Eurasian pygmy owl will kill over 200 songbirds and small mammals
20:34to raise the offspring of one hatch.
20:38The tiny owl has seven chicks to look after.
20:44All the waste from the nursery is just thrown out of the door.
20:47The eagle mother keeps taking green twigs of coniferous and deciduous trees to the Eyrie.
21:03We don't know why she does that.
21:06Maybe fresh twigs are a better building material than dry branches.
21:17She is always keen to keep her Eyrie spic and span.
21:29Some biologists suspect that the green twigs and leaves have an antiseptic effect.
21:36But there is no proof for this theory as yet.
21:47The struggle to feed their offspring and to maintain the nest's furnishings completely fills the eagle's day.
22:08The eagle couple will use this Eyrie for many years.
22:11They will keep repairing and expanding it, just like the black storks do.
22:17The eagle mother is leaving the Eyrie to go hunting.
22:41It's early May and warm.
22:44And the chick doesn't need to be constantly kept under her wings anymore.
22:52In Europe's mountainous forests, it's not only the eagles and storks who breed now.
22:58The plant kingdom is also all about passing on its genes.
23:04Old Lacunae's mixed beech forests are also the home of Europe's most magnificent orchid.
23:10The lady's slipper orchid.
23:11The lady's slipper orchid.
23:12The lady's slipper orchid.
23:40Wherever lady's slipper orchid blossom, and golden eagles have their Eyries, nature is at least to some degree still intact.
23:52The male golden eagle is bringing another rodent to the Eyrie.
23:56This time it's a huge water vole.
23:58And the female is bringing another twig, but she immediately takes over control of the nest.
24:09Black storks have little to fear from golden eagles.
24:14They are able to defend themselves and never let the chicks in their Eyrie out of their sight.
24:21Here, both adult birds are responsible for feeding the young chicks.
24:34The eagle chick, on the other hand, is only ever fed by the female.
24:39The prey, rich in protein and energy, which is brought to the nest for weeks on end and is then digested here and there, means the concentration of nutrients is enormously high.
24:55Leftover food and manure fertilised the surrounding forest ground.
25:15That's why there are nutrient loving plants, such as the common nettle, growing underneath the Eyrie.
25:29Wherever the common nettle is thriving, the red admiral also flourishes.
25:35The caterpillar of this butterfly feeds exclusively on common nettles.
25:45This way, the large birds in the forest involuntarily cater for the offspring of a little butterfly.
26:03Whereas the storks need a total of 100 days to develop from edge to fledgling, the admiral takes less than a fortnight.
26:15Rain showers move across the hilly landscape of central Europe.
26:25Some of the mountain dwellers only wake up properly in this muggy warm weather.
26:37The eagle is patrolling the edge of the forest.
26:40He doesn't particularly like hunting inside the forest.
26:45Most of the small animals live in the mountain meadows between the old trees.
26:49The female eagle has spotted something.
26:50The female eagle has spotted something.
26:51The female eagle has spotted something.
26:56Sometimes, even the large birds have to make do with very small prey.
26:57The male eagle has spotted something.
26:59Sometimes, even the large birds have to make do with very small prey.
27:00The male eagle has been watching what's going on and glides across the meadow towards his partner.
27:05The male eagle has been watching what's going on and glides across the meadow towards his partner.
27:12The male eagle has been watching what's going on and glides across the meadow towards his partner.
27:33The male eagle they have planted, should have traced to the Mother a few times its nitrates.
27:38The male eagle has found the enemy of wild- Kay produit.
27:39Interesting.
27:40There is a large deer in the prize bound of light.
27:43Apparently, there is a one Resource Layer.
27:45The male bird then a little centro of i GG.
27:47The male whale rather than the pray-si proud of the worden bush.
27:51The male herd is also τοvenus.
27:53The male fox and his Mark Mill will show.
27:55The male nuclear is because of its notихthouselara soluble.
27:59And here's another inhabitant of the mountain meadows.
28:16The corncrake with his funny song.
28:27The eagles have demolished their prey.
28:30They fly back towards the Eyrie with a full crop.
28:46Although temperatures no longer drop so much in early May, a young eagle can quickly cool
28:53down when his downy plumage gets drenched in the rain.
28:57At least the chicks in the rock Eyrie have a massive roof over their heads.
29:03But in the tree Eyrie, the eagle mother mustn't leave her offspring alone for long periods.
29:08The chick with his delicate downy plumage doesn't fit.
29:14The chick with his delicate downy plumage doesn't fit under the adult bird anymore.
29:21He snuggles up to his mother, where it's warm and reasonably dry.
29:31The chick with his delicate downy plumage doesn't fit under the adult bird anymore.
29:41He snuggles up to his mother, where it's warm and reasonably dry.
29:48Sooner or later, the rain will stop.
30:13The forest is drenched.
30:17And the eagle chick?
30:22He has survived the shower unscathed.
30:28In rainy years, lots of eagle chicks die in their nests, for at some point the female
30:36has to leave the Eyrie.
30:38But as long as the May sun is shining, there is no danger.
30:42While the adult bird glides across her territory high in the sky, the young eagle busies himself
30:59with the food leftovers in the Eyrie.
31:29He still has to learn what is edible and what is not.
31:44Daily eagle routine prevails in the rock Eyrie too.
31:49The biggest distraction for the young ones is the adult birds arriving with food.
32:02Wooded precipices are popular breeding territory for other bird species too, like the common
32:09raven for instance.
32:12Having neighbours with them is not entirely free of conflicts.
32:27Surprisingly, it is the common raven who wears the pants in short bursts of exhibition fights
32:34in the air.
32:35But this encounter doesn't have any consequences.
32:42He may be the king of the mountains, but the golden eagle is not the absolute ruler of
32:48his kingdom.
32:50Neighbours which make life hard for him are not the only problem for this large bird of prey.
33:00Even in natural forests, it is not always easy to catch prey.
33:05The times when huge herds of ungulates, followed by large predators, migrated through these valleys,
33:13are well and truly gone.
33:16But wherever man cultivates the meadows, uncut animals like hares and fawns inevitably appear.
33:25Other eagles keep returning to the Eyrie with food from the Valley of the Humans.
33:45There is another troublemaker near the Eagle Eyrie, a common buzzard.
33:52Eagles are easily disturbed near their Eyrie.
33:55The female keeps a keen eye on her environment.
34:02The common buzzard is the most prevalent bird of prey in Central Europe.
34:07Some 200,000 common buzzard couples breed here, half of them in Germany.
34:16But why is the common buzzard so prevalent, while the golden eagle is said to be an endangered
34:22species?
34:27The female eagle is leaving the Eyrie.
34:35The fact that golden eagles are so rare, is hardly due to the relatively small, common
34:42buzzard's bravery.
34:44He will even attack the large and dangerous golden eagle when he gets near the buzzard's
34:49nest.
35:03The downfall of eagles in Europe is well documented.
35:08It started as early as the 17th century.
35:12First, they disappeared from the east of Germany, and in the following century, from the centre
35:19of Germany.
35:21Soon afterwards, there were no golden eagles left in the south-west, and, at the end of
35:27the 19th century, the heraldic bird had also disappeared from the huge forests of the north-east
35:34of Germany.
35:41In the end, the last eagles had withdrawn to Europe's mountain areas, which were difficult
35:48to access.
35:50But why?
36:13For centuries, man hunted eagles mercilessly.
36:19They were seen as hunting competition, as a loathsome enemy of the farmer and his animals.
36:27Mankind wanted to eradicate them, just like it had eradicated wolves, brown bears and lynxes.
36:37The state even handed out rewards for dead golden eagles.
36:42Today, birds of prey are strictly protected.
36:55Illegal shootings are rare.
37:02But the golden eagle still does not manage to leave the area of its retreat in the Alps
37:08and Carpathians, and settle in the lowlands again.
37:12Instead of the eagles, lumberjacks arrived in the forests.
37:16First, with axes and saws.
37:19Later on, with ever bigger and ever more efficient machines.
37:27Society, eager for growth, has rediscovered the timber business.
37:33Never before was it possible to cut and process so much wood in so little time.
37:40In some places, logging has doubled in the past ten years.
37:44The demand for raw materials is ever increasing, leaving no room for natural, slow growth.
38:14and decay.
38:15Our forests are becoming ever younger, denser, darker.
38:22The forest is increasingly an industrial estate for the timber industry.
38:33It's no wonder that the last eagles have their territories in regions that are difficult
38:38to access and in national parks.
38:45Black storks and numerous other species also suffer from the economic pressure on our forests.
39:01Since hunting, the mighty bird of prey was banned, the golden eagle is at least no longer in
39:07acute danger of extinction.
39:10But how many eagles breed on this continent in the future will also depend on how the European
39:17forests are used.
39:18While the young black storks immediately divide everything their parents bring to the nest, the eagle
39:43eerie is usually full of leftovers of the prey or even whole animals like this doormouse.
39:54The female eagle goes out to hunt again, while the chick is busy with the doormouse.
40:10It still seems to be a good year for eagles and the other birds breeding in these forests.
40:24Some two months after they hatched, the young eagles in the mountain eerie have grown a lot.
40:33The eagles have a lodger and in their monotonous daily routine they welcome every distraction.
40:52The bank vole seems to find something special in the eerie.
40:56At least, it keeps coming back to look for useful stuff between twigs, grass and leftover food.
41:03And then, there are some fortresses or the pale wildlife at least once.
41:06There are somecaps that get a lot to see and after the aging of all animals and all the beasts and
41:08Earths of all have to see.
41:09And, the queen of the earth is a treasure.
41:12The queen of the harbor got really a lot to see.
41:13The queen of the light gets a lot of nuclid.
41:16The queen of the young black storks that I always came to my own.
41:22The queen of the world has a lot to see.
41:26The red admiral is attracted by the droppings.
41:44This is where he can stock up on mineral salts.
41:47The bank vole even raises her offspring underneath the eerie.
42:10Weeks pass and it seems nothing could dull the skies above the vast habitat of the eagle.
42:17But success and ruin are often close together.
42:25The adult bird returns to the tree eerie.
42:33Today it's hedgehog for lunch.
42:36The young eagle is getting his dark youth plumage and is now largely impervious to the weather.
42:47Spells of bad weather are a danger to the birds' offspring, not just because of the wet and the cold.
42:54They can also be the reason why birds of prey suddenly have less to kill.
42:59Then, the young eagles, unable to fly, are trapped.
43:11One of the two young birds in the rock eerie is not doing well.
43:17He is on his last legs.
43:18His sibling seems to check up on him.
43:32But the little eagle is dead.
43:35He almost made it.
43:37In the mountains, the weather is more changeable and unpredictable than in the lowlands.
43:55Many of the eagles' animals of prey will stay in their hideouts during spells of bad weather.
44:03Hunting becomes more difficult.
44:06The eagle mother in the rock eerie feeds her perished offspring to the surviving one.
44:12Eagles don't know piety.
44:15They have no morals.
44:17Survival is paramount.
44:18But there are two sides to every coin.
44:36Rainy spells are a threat to the golden eagle's offspring.
44:40But the so-called bad weather, on the other hand, creates the nursery of another mountain resident.
44:46Water-logged car tracks are just what small, grey amphibians have been waiting for.
44:55Yellow-bellied toads depend on copious rainfall.
45:01As their habitat will be gone again in no time, the toads waste no time mating.
45:08However, the two of them don't display the same fervour for saying,
45:12I do.
45:16It's a steamy and warm June day.
45:24The remaining young eagle in the shady rock eerie prepares to leave the nest.
45:30The adult birds stay close.
45:39They show the little one how to fly across their territory.
45:43They try to lure him away from the eerie.
45:45From time to time, the male eagle flies to the eerie to deliver some prey.
46:01But then he is quickly off again.
46:18And finally, the young eagle, with his chocolate-coloured youth plumage, leaves the eerie.
46:44He will continue to circle and hunt with the adult birds for another five months.
46:54Now, in June, there is an abundance of prey in the eagle's habitat.
46:59Fully grown young foxes are snoozing in their den.
47:08But the animals keep interrupting their daytime sleep.
47:20Then they are off on expeditions with fun and games.
47:24For the golden eagles, the distracted foxes are an easy and frequent prey.
47:36The eagle couple don't bring any more food to the tree eerie.
47:48Now, they feed themselves.
47:50And later, place part of their prey in exposed locations in their breeding grounds
47:55to lure the young eagle from the nest.
47:57A little later, the tree eerie is empty.
48:18The young bird has left.
48:20He is already hopping and flying about his environment.
48:23Nothing goes to waste.
48:33Whatever the eagles leave will be taken by others, such as the Eurasian jay.
48:38Our young eagle from the tree eerie is still looked after by his parents.
48:53Has food served to him and is taught hunting techniques.
48:57Next year, he will be a fully grown golden eagle.
49:02And at some point, he will have his own realm.
49:05And maybe his own eerie.
49:06The black storks have made it as well.
49:13Together with the adult birds, they circle their breeding grounds in the Carpathians
49:18and get ready for the long flight south.
49:22Next year, they will return.
49:24And at some point, they will raise their young somewhere in a remote mountain forest.
49:30Jaqueline
49:53We'll see you next year.
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