Sixty Years of Studying Golden Eagles in Southwestern Idaho: What Have We Learned?

Mike Kochert will present major findings of studies of golden eagle nesting in southwestern Idaho that have continued uninterrupted since 1966, including golden eagle biology, eagle-prey-habitat relationships, and the responses of the nesting eagle population to 45 years of massive habitat and environmental changes in southwestern Idaho.  He will also relate these changes to conservation challenges facing managers of the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in southwestern Idaho where he has worked for 55 years, and share some of his experiences from a half-century of studying golden eagles.  The Herrett Center will also offer a display of eagle eggs from its natural history collections.

Time & Location

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Cost: Free

Doors open: 6 p.m.

Presentation starts: 6:30 p.m.

Location: Rick Allen Room in the Herrett Center, Twin Falls, ID

Presenter

Mike Kochert is a scientist emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey in Boise, Idaho, and an affiliate faculty member at Boise State University.  He has been studying birds of prey for the last 55 years, primarily in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (NCA).  He received his bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in wildlife management and his master’s degree in wildlife science at the University of Idaho, where he studied nesting golden eagles in southwestern Idaho.  The Bureau of Land Management hired Mike in 1972 as the first biologist for what is now the NCA, where he led the research that provided the biological basis for its establishment.  Over the years he has also worked for the National Biological Service and the U.S. Geological Survey, focusing on the raptors in the NCA, especially golden eagles.