143. Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)

Within the UK, Golden Eagles are found mainly in Scotland due to historic persecution, but in recent years there have been breeding attempts further south.....they are widely distributed throughout Europe though, being resident in most parts of their range except for the far north where they are migratory. They are found in a variety of habitats, often inaccessible or undisturbed areas where persecution by humans occurs, such as mountains and hills and large upland forests. Juveniles can be distinguished from adults by the white patches on their wings and inner tail, which become progressively smaller as the bird matures. In flight Golden Eagles have long, broad wings but with narrow bases where they join the body, a fairly long tail, and wings often held in a shallow V or sometimes flatter or slightly arched.

Golden Eagle, ©Arne Kuilman, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Golden Eagle painting.

I actually did this over 2 nights, the colour was taking me a while but I thought it was worth persevering as it seemed to be going well. Looking at the finished sketch it's much redder than in the photo, hopefully it's still a plausible Golden Eagle colour though! Sometimes I wish I had longer, it's all very well restricting myself with a time limit, but I feel like with more time I could come up with something really proper!