Golden Eagle Training Delays: Causes and Concerns

Committee For Eagle Rehabilitation Excellence

Recommended Benchmarks for Falconry Trained Eagles for Release

Written for CERE by Joe Atkinson

Eagles that enter the free flight raptor rehabilitation program for release back to the wild, must be fit and skillful to ensure survivability once released. The following document outlines the benchmarks the eagle in training should accomplish and the average amount of time to fulfill each benchmark. Certainly, the eagle’s prior medical issues, personality and environmental factors may affect the timeline. Regardless, for the release of the eagle to be successful in its ability to survive, these benchmarks should be met.

  1. Feeding on the glove inside, then outside, and accepting the hood and lure. Jumping to the lure outside. Up to 3 weeks to achieve.
  2. Increasing the flight distance and introducing movement to the lure. Flying to the moving lure at a speed of 18mph or faster and building up to 60 yards or more, five-six times in succession. This will start the conditioning process and sharpen the eagle mentally by reacting to the movement of the lure. Up to 4 weeks to achieve.
  3. Taken to hunting field, hunting either off-the-fist or slope soaring. Up to 4 weeks to achieve.
  4. Success at catching wild game or bagged pheasants. 6-10 head of game. Up to 3-4 weeks to achieve.
  5. Allowed to learn to soar and find thermals and continue to hunt. Up to 8-12 weeks to achieve.
  6. Soaring time built up to 1h 40m average, up to 1,600ft or more. Do this for 4-8 weeks.
  7. Release

As the young inexperienced eagle is trained, a GPS tracking system, such as Marshall’s GPS is recommended for each training flight. The data captured would include flight duration, speed, altitude, distance traveled per flight, and climb rate. The data obtained with each flight will give invaluable information to the young eagles’ endurance and ability to soar. This data can then be compared to a known experience eagle trained for the sport of falconry

Below is an example of Marshall Radio Telemetry GPS data averages taken from 30 flights with a trained female golden eagle.

Avg flt duration:
♦ 1hr 40 min
♦ High 2hr 29 min

Avg speed:
♦ 48.1 mph
♦ High 135 mph

Avg alt:
♦ 1,498 ft
♦ High 2038 ft

Avg dist traveled/ flight:
28 miles
♦ High 44 miles

Avg climb rate:
1,064 ft/min
♦ High 7,429 ft/min

The climb rate numbers vary dramatically depending on the weather conditions of the day, from 2ft/min to a high of 7,429 ft/min. The higher climb rate numbers indicate the strength of the thermal. This number is significant because it demonstrates two levels of condition. First, the eagle is physically fit but second, and just as important, the eagle is mentally fit and confident to handle the strongest thermals.

Delays in training result in a variety of factors, such as the general condition of the eagle when given to the falconer, weather, and feather condition to name a few. Weather: Snow, rain, wind, and heat can all play a major role, slowing down the training. Snow and rain can limit access to training areas and make retrieving a lost eagle difficult or impossible. Heat will limit time in the field for both the eagle and falconer.

Molting: It is quite common for eagles that have been held in flight chambers not to molt. They are under too much stress and are not comfortable enough to molt in the captive environment. Once they are turned over to a falconer and placed in a more stress-free environment, and as they start to understand what’s happening to them, particularly during free flight days, they relax. Many eagles will go into a dramatic molt to catch up on the molts they have missed, replacing bad or damaged feathers. Some will molt to the point that their flight capabilities are reduced, sometimes to the extreme. The complete process of new feather growth in eagles can take 5-6 weeks or more. If the molt is balanced and not involving mutable flight feathers at once, training can continue. However, if the molt does involve many flight feathers, training must be put on hold until the feathers have fully grown out.

For a comprehensive explanation of factors resulting in training delays, see the article Training Delays: Causes and Concerns

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