A golden eagle's wingspan can reach over two metres — wider than a family car is long. Despite this huge size the eagle weighs only about four to six kilograms, because its bones are hollow, making it light enough to fly. It can soar for hours without flapping by riding thermals — columns of warm air that rise up the mountain slopes — and its sharp eyes can spot a hare from up to two kilometres away.
Golden eagles build their nests, called eyries, on rocky ledges high on cliff faces where nothing can reach them. The same pair of eagles may use the same eyrie for decades, adding new sticks each year until the nest becomes enormous. Eagle chicks grow quickly — in about ten weeks they go from tiny fluffy hatchlings to birds nearly as big as their parents.
In Montenegro the golden eagle is a symbol of wild, unspoiled mountains. It sits at the very top of the food chain in the high mountain ecosystem — meaning nothing hunts it. Its presence in a mountain area is a sign that the whole ecosystem is healthy, because eagles need plenty of prey and clean, undisturbed habitat to thrive.