Assessment of Potential Risks from Renewable Energy Development and Other Anthropogenic Factors to Wintering Golden Eagles in the Western United States

Predicting the spatial distribution of wintering golden eagles to inform full annual cycle conservation in western North America

“…While many recent studies have focused on the influence of flight subsidies on migratory movements at fine temporal scales (e.g., [ 54 , 55 ]), our results were more similar to studies of breeding habitat selection [ 10 , 19 ], which have shown that golden eagles in more sedentary stages of their life-cycle also select areas with long-term average wind and orographic uplift conditions favorable to flight. Our study confirms the importance of flight subsidies as a component of winter habitat for golden eagles, building upon previous winter-season studies that inferred the importance of wind and uplift from topographic variables [ 56 – 59 ]. Taken together, these results suggest long-term wind and uplift conditions influence habitat selection for all life-history groups of golden eagles year-round, which has implications for siting of permanent hazards, especially wind energy projects, strings of wind turbine generators, and perhaps even individual wind turbine generators.…”

“…Taken together, these results suggest long-term wind and uplift conditions influence habitat selection for all life-history groups of golden eagles year-round, which has implications for siting of permanent hazards, especially wind energy projects, strings of wind turbine generators, and perhaps even individual wind turbine generators. The vegetation and land-cover variables in our model were also broadly consistent with other studies of winter-season habitat selection by golden eagles in the western U.S., which found strong positive associations with tall sagebrush and shrubland vegetation, and other variables potentially representative of prey habitat, and some evidence for avoidance of agriculture [56,59]. By contrast, an analysis of subadult winter habitat selection in the Great Basin found higher winter use in mid-elevations, with more use of ridges, in shrub and woodland areas, closer to roads and powerlines, and at lower median wind classes [60].…”