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an environment very similar to proposed project site. I have also seen bald eagles taking
prey items from hawks such as ferruginous hawk. Only two weeks ago I photographed
two bald eagles foraging far from lacustrine or riverine habitat, and one was eating from
food it held in one foot while kiting over a ridge covered by annual grassland. If those
who prepared the SEIR believe that bald eagles only eat fish, they are wrong. There is
no reason why bald eagles would not forage over the project area. According to eBird,
bald eagles have been reported in the project vicinity.

Golden eagle

Golden eagles were seen on the project site (SEIR 2017:5.2-23), and there are a number
of sightings reported in the area on eBird. Bon Terra Psomas (2015) claims that
although foraging habitat occurs on site, nesting habitat does not. It says, "Broad
expanses of open country are required for foraging, while nesting is primarily
restricted to rugged mountainous areas with large trees or on cliffs." Whereas nesting
habitat often can be characterized as mountainous with large trees or cliffs, golden
eagles also nest on shallower terrain, such as in the foothills of the Altamont Pass where
I do much of my work. Golden eagles often nest in trees within the annual grasslands of
California's foothills. In fact, one of our hatch-year golden eagles from just such a nest
on shallower terrain was fit with GPS telemetry by my colleague Doug Bell of East Bay
Regional Park District. This eagle left our study area on 15 October 2016 and within two
weeks flew right over the Northlake project area (unpublished data) (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Flight path (purple line) of hatch-year golden eagle flying from the Diablo
Range to the outskirts of Las Vegas, and along the way passing near the proposed
Northlake project area (East Bay Regional Park District, unpublished data; Google
Earth imagery). The flight path depicted was sometime between 15 October and 7
November 2016, and positions were recorded every 5 minutes, so our eagle spent
about 25 minutes over the project area.

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