Justin Streit If we can get down there, it will be good.
Diego Johnson I think that's a good line, don't you think?
Justin Streit I think we'll be able to get there, Diego.
Narrator High in the Mojave Desert, scientists have
a new eye on Golden Eagles.
What they're learning will help with the placement of new green energy developments in the future.
Diego Johnson We're doing a large-scale eagle study across
the Mojave Desert, and we're looking specifically at the diet of nesting Golden Eagles.
Really, no one knows what Golden Eagles are eating out in the desert, and so this is kind
of a preliminary study, a baseline study to try to understand what the diet is for Golden
Eagles in the Mojave Desert."
Narrator The scientists are focusing on 16 Golden Eagle
nests across the Mojave Desert, where they are installing motion-activated nest cams.
Getting to these eagle nests-perched on the edge of cliffs-is not so easy.
Diego Johnson We set up our two anchors with a main line
and then a safety line, so I'm clipped into the main line, and also the safety line.
I'll rappel off both those lines.
The nest is about 15, 20 feet after that lip.
You just rappel over the lip, down to the nest.
Narrator To the scientist, that looks like this.
Diego Johnson We're going to figure out where to install
the camera-on the right side or the left side of the roof-to give us the best shot.
Justin Streit Right now we're just trying to get all lined
up so it catches the whole nest, but especially the front of the nest.
A lot of times the time the delivery will be directly at the front edge of the nest.
If you could see what I'm seeing right now, we've got a gopher snake and a jackrabbit
head looking right at me, right at the front of the nest, then the chick is back in the
nest just a little bit, a three-week old, all-white, fuzzy, Golden Eagle chick."
Narrator Out in the field, other research is going
on as part of the same study.
Pairs of scientists do nighttime counts.
They're identifying Golden Eagle prey.
They're looking for eye shine and counting numbers of individual prey on specified survey
routes.
In the meantime, the nest cams are clicking away.
Diego Johnson There's 7,166 photos taken.
So that should be some pretty good ones.
Each nest, we have anywhere from maybe from a thousand to 15,000 photos.
When the nesting season's over, we have gathered all our cameras from all the nest locations
we have.
We go back in the office and we look through all those thousands of pictures-close to a
million pictures, over two years.
We've captured somewhere between 700 and 800 prey deliveries.
Diego Johnson Okay, another chuckwalla.
And that comes in on the same date, at 13:28, and it's whole.
Narrator Prey numbers and type vary from nest to nest
across the Mojave.
Diego Johnson Black-tailed jackrabbits, and cottontails,
and different types of reptiles.
Narrator These data are combined with ground-available
prey counts to create a prey Availability Habitat Model that shows potential Golden
Eagle prey across the Mojave desert.
The work is identifying which areas in the Mojave Desert are most important for Golden
Eagle survival.
Knowing that solar installations will completely replace natural habitats wherever they're
installed means that careful consideration must go into siting these new solar developments.
The USGS Prey Availability Habitat Model can be used for choosing good sites for solar,
with the least impact on Golden Eagles.
It's providing a clear picture of the best options for alternative energy and the future
of the Golden Eagle.
Diego Johnson Okay, I'm good.
I'm done.
Narrator And so, on to climb to the next Golden Eagle
nest.