Golden eagles use their agility and speed combined with powerful feet and large, sharp talons to hunt a variety of prey, mainly hares, rabbits, and marmots and other ground squirrels.

[4][10][12] The small-bodied Wahlberg's eagle (H. wahlbergi) has been traditionally considered a Aquila species due to its lack of change from juvenile to adult plumage and brownish color but it is actually genetically aligned to the Hieraaetus lineage.

[29][30][31] Similarly, an ancestral golden eagle, with a heavier, broader skull, larger wings and shorter legs when compared to modern birds, has been found in the La Brea Tar Pits of southern California.

[5][15] For some time, the largest known mass authenticated for a wild female was the specimen from the A. c. chrysaetos subspecies which weighed around 6.7 kg (15 lb) and spanned 2.55 m (8 ft 4 in) across the wings.

[26][41][42] Adults of both sexes have similar plumage and are primarily dark brown, with some grey on the inner wing and tail, and a paler, typically golden colour on the back of the crown and nape that gives the species its common name.

[36] Occasionally, juvenile eagles have white patches on the remiges at the bases of the inner primaries and the outer secondaries, forming a crescent marking on the wings which tends to be divided by darker feathers.

The voice of the golden eagle is considered weak, high, and shrill, has been called "quite pathetic" and "puppy-like", and seems incongruous with the formidable size and nature of the species.

[15] Most known vocalisations seem to function as contact calls between eagles, sometimes adults to their offspring, occasionally territorial birds to intruders and rarely between a breeding pair.

Although less agile and manoeuvrable, the golden eagle is apparently quite the equal and possibly even the superior of the peregrine falcon's stooping and gliding speeds.

[15][54] Among raptorial birds that share the golden eagle's range, only some Old World vultures and the California condor are distinctly larger, with longer, broader wings, typically held more evenly in a slower, less forceful flight; they often have dramatically different colour patterns.

[15] The plumage is very distinctly different, however, as Verreaux's eagles are almost entirely jet-black except for some striking, contrasting white on the wing primaries, shoulders and upper-wing.

Native vegetation seems to be attractive to them and they typically avoid developed areas of any type from urban to agricultural as well as heavily forested regions.

In Western Europe, golden eagle habitat is dominated by open, rough grassland, heath and bogs, and rocky ridges, spurs, crags, scree, slopes and grand plateaux.

In Sweden, Finland, the Baltic States, Belarus and almost the entire distribution in Russia all the way to the Pacific Ocean, golden eagles occur sparsely in lowland taiga forest.

In central Europe, golden eagles today occur almost exclusively in the major mountain ranges, such as the Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, and the Caucasus.

In Tibet, golden eagles inhabit high ridges and passes in the Lhasa River watershed, where they regularly join groups of soaring Himalayan vultures (Gyps himalayensis).

[58] In the mountains of Japan and Korea, the golden eagle occupies deciduous scrub woodland and carpet-like stands of Siberian dwarf pine (Pinus pumila) that merge into grasslands and alpine heathland.

[60][61] In Washington state, golden eagles can be found in clear-cut sections of otherwise dense coniferous forest zones with relatively little annual precipitation.

Here, grassland on low rolling hills and flat plains are typical, interrupted only by cottonwood stands around river valleys and wetlands where the eagles may build their nests.

[67] In the Eastern United States, the species once bred widely in the Appalachian Plateau near burns, open marshes, meadows, bogs and lakes.

[70] Though they do regularly nest in the marsh-like peatland of the boreal forest, golden eagles are not generally associated with wetlands and, in fact, they can be found near some of the most arid spots on earth.

[5] The diet of golden eagles is composed primarily of small mammals such as rabbits, hares, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and marmots.

[76] During the peak of summer in Utah, hunting and territorial flights occurred mostly between 9:00 and 11:00 am and 4:00 and 6:00 pm, with the remaining 15 or so hours of daylight spent perching or resting.

Golden eagles are very hardy species, being well adapted to cold climates, however they cannot abide declining available food sources in the northern stretches of their range.

[89] 46% of undulating displays in Montana occurred shortly after the juvenile eagles left their parents range, suggesting that some residents defend and maintain territories year-round.

This courtship includes undulating displays by both in the pair, with the male bird picking up a piece of rock or a small stick, and dropping it only to enter into a steep dive and catch it in mid-air, repeating the maneuver 3 or more times.

[49] The whitish down continues until around 25 days of age, at which point it is gradually replaced by dark contour feathers that eclipse the down and the birds attain a general piebald appearance.

[106] On the Isle of Rùm in Scotland, there are a few cases of red deer trampling golden eagles to death, probably the result of a doe having intercepted a bird that was trying to kill a fawn.

An attempted capture of a great blue heron by a golden eagle resulted in the death of both birds from wounds sustained in the ensuing fight.

[117] It was only after the Industrial Revolution, when sport-hunting became widespread and commercial stock farming became internationally common, that humans started to widely regard golden eagles as a threat to their livelihoods.