Young Golden Eagles Actually Improve Their Flight Skills As They Age, Allowing Them To Explore Much Larger Areas Of The Central European Alps

For the most part, flying is a skill that comes naturally to birds. They usually become experts at a young age.

However, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, the Swiss Ornithological Institute in Switzerland, and the University of Vienna in Austria discovered that young golden eagles improve their flight skills as they age.

As juvenile golden eagles hone their flight skills, they gain the ability to explore a broader range in the central European Alps. So, it appears that instinctive behaviors are not always fixed and unchangeable. They can be improved upon and require some learning.

Golden eagles are soaring specialists. They travel by riding on upward-moving air currents with open wings. The method helps them conserve energy while covering large distances, which is essential for survival in a region as vast as the Alps.

“However, locating these invisible uplifts and positioning their bodies within the uplifts to gain height is not a simple task. The eagles literally need to learn to fly, at least when it comes to using uplifts,” said Elham Nourani, the lead author of the study.

The scientists used GPS tracking technology to monitor 55 juvenile golden eagles from nests in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia. They followed the birds for up to three years after leaving their parents’ territories and took off flying across the central European Alps on their own.

The research team found evidence in the young golden eagles’ flight patterns that showed flying was a learning process. Initially, the birds liked to fly close to mountain ridges, where the upward winds create reliable and predictable soaring conditions.

But over time, they started to fly in more open areas where uplifts are not as predictable.

The shift in behavior suggests that as the eagles grew, they gained more confidence and improved their ability to locate and utilize uplifts. As a result, they became less dependent on mountain ridges for flight.

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