The Golden Eagle is one of the most beautiful birds of prey in the world. Young Golden Eagles often have lots of white feathers in their tails, but they lose these when they are older. Then they have the typical brown and gold colouring. An adult Golden Eagle can be as long as 85 cm from the end of its beak to the tip of its tail and its wingspan can be up to 2.3 m. Golden Eagles are like mountains that have upwardly blowing winds. The eagles soar on these and then glide down. They rarely have to flap their wings!
The Golden Eagles in Britain breed in March or April. They build nests high up in the mountains or on very tall trees. These eyries can be 2 meters across. The Eagles return to the same nest each year. The females usually lay two eggs. It takes about 14 weeks for the eggs to hatch and chicks to emerge.
Golden Eagles feed on small mammals such as rabbits and birds. They have very good eyesight, which helps them to look for their prey, and very strong toes with a sharp, curved talon to catch it. The Golden Eagle is an endangered species, but now these lovely birds are protected and their numbers are increasing.
Answer these questions.
Q 1: What colour is an adult Golden Eagle?
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Q 2: What is the distance from the tip of one wing to the other?
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Q 3: What sort of countryside do Golden Eagles like to live in?
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Q 4: Where do Golden Eagles prefer to nest?
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Q 5: How many eggs does a Golden Eagle usually lay?
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Q 6: What do Golden Eagles usually eat?
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Q 7: Look at these words from the text. What do you think they mean?
a: bird of prey __________________
b: wingspan ____________________
c: eyries _______________________