Aquila chrysaetos

		Size: 1 m long from beak to tail for a female (female birds of prey are larger than males) with a wingspan of nearly 2 metres. Weight: 4.4 kg (female) Distinctive features: its feet are covered in feathers, and in flight, its wings form an obtuse angle above its back.

Reproduction: in the mountains, eggs are usually laid in March or early April and hatch in May. One or two eaglets test out their wings in July. Food: eagles are hunters. Though their main food is marmots, they may also attack a young izard or capercaillie. They may also eat carrion.

Habitat: the royal eagle's habitat extends from the maquis and garrigues of the Mediterranean level to the forests and grasslands high up in the Pyrenees (up to 2,350 m). Couples occupy territories of 40 to 120 square kilometres depending on the topography and quantity of prey. Eagle eyries are huge, solid affairs built with branches usually on rock faces but very occasionally in trees. In the Pyrenees: this territorial, non-migrant bird of prey is found in most of the Pyrenees. The French Pyrenees and foothills host 52 to 54 couples, 34 to 36 of these being found in the Hautes-Pyrénées, Haute-Garonne and Ariège departments.

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