The behavior of wildlife varies seasonally, and that variation can have substantial demographic consequences. This is especially true for long‐distance migrants where the use of landscapes varies by season and, sometimes, age cohort. We tested the hypothesis that distributional patterns of Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) wintering in eastern North America are age‐structured (i.e., birds of similar ages winter together) through the analysis of 370,307 images collected by motion‐sensitive trail cameras set over bait during the winters of 2012–2013 and 2013–2014. At nine sites with sufficient data for analysis, we documented 145 eagle visits in 2012–2013 and 146 in 2013–2014. We found significant between‐year variation in age structure of wintering eastern Golden Eagles, driven largely by annual differences in the proportion of first‐winter birds. However, although many other species show spatial structure in wintering behavior, our analysis revealed no latitudinal organization among age cohorts of wintering eastern Golden Eagles. The lack of age‐related latitudinal segregation in wintering behavior does not exclude the possibility that these eagles have sex‐based or other types of dominance hierarchies that could result in spatial or temporal segregation. Alternatively, other mechanisms such as food availability or habitat structure may determine the distribution and abundance of Golden Eagles in winter.

中文翻译：

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北美东部金鹰越冬年龄结构的时空格局

野生动物的行为随季节而变化，并且这种变化可能会造成重大的人口统计学后果。对于长途移民而言尤其如此，他们的景观使用因季节和年龄组而异。我们检验了金鹰（天鹰座chrysaetos）通过分析2012-2013年和2013-2014年冬季诱饵上设置的运动敏感追踪相机对370,307张图像进行分析，从而确定了北美东部的越冬结构（即，相同年龄的鸟类一起越冬）。在9个有足够数据进行分析的地点，我们记录了2012-2013年的145次鹰访和2013-2014年的146次访鹰。我们发现东部金鹰越冬的年龄结构存在明显的年际变化，这主要是受初冬鸟类比例的年度差异的影响。然而，尽管许多其他物种在越冬行为中表现出空间结构，但我们的分析显示，在越冬东部金鹰的年龄队列中没有纬度组织。越冬行为缺乏与年龄相关的纬度隔离，并不排除这些老鹰具有基于性别或其他类型的优势等级制的可能性，这些等级制可能导致空间或时间上的隔离。或者，其他机制（例如食物供应或栖息地结构）可能会决定冬季金鹰的分布和丰度。