Aquila chrysaetos
One of the most fascinating, though relatively little studied, aspects of the golden eagle's biology is how it interacts with other predators in a natural environment, especially other large predatory birds. The golden eagle is a powerful hunter with few avian rivals in size or strength, although what it gains in these areas it loses somewhat in its agility and speed. Golden eagles are avian apex predators, meaning a healthy adult is not generally preyed upon. There are several other large birds of prey that inhabit the Northern Hemisphere that may be attracted to the same prey, habitats and nesting sites as the golden eagles. Two examples are the common raven and peregrine falcon ("Falco peregrinus") as these are two fairly large-bodied, mostly predatory birds that co-exist with golden eagles in almost every part of their range, although the former occurs in much larger numbers and the latter has a much larger natural distribution in more varied habitats. Both the raven and the peregrine are often attracted to much the same precipitous habitat as the golden eagle. However, both are generally dominated by the much larger eagle and will actively avoid nesting in the same area as a golden eagle pair. Ravens and peregrine falcons have both been robbed of food on a few occasions by golden eagles. Both species have turned up widely in the diet of golden eagles, much more so the raven than the peregrine. However, these conspecific species follow no set "rules". Ravens often vigorously and successfully displace golden eagles from their nesting territories. Peregrine falcons have also displaced golden eagles from their nesting territories and, in one instance in Utah, even killed a golden eagle that had breached the area of their nest. In another case, a peregrine falcon kleptoparasitized a willow ptarmigan from a golden eagle. In a study of four cliff-nesting raptor species in Spain, the golden eagle was not observed to engage in agonistic encounters with the other species but the peregrine falcons but were dominated by and occasionally killed by a relatively small race of Eurasian eagle-owls ("Bubo bubo hispanus"). Both ravens and peregrine falcons appear to easily outmaneuver golden eagles in flight.