Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
Description: The Bald eagle is known for its majestic appearance and its place as our national mascot. Both male and female Bald eagles have a brown chest, white head, and yellow/gold beaks and talons. Juveniles however, are a mixture of brown and white all over and it will take them until the age of five, the reproductive age, for the head and tail feathers to turn white. The female bald eagle is larger than the male with their body length between 35-37 inches, and a wingspan of 79-90 inches. This is compared to the male body length between 30-34 inches, and a wingspan between 72-85 inches. Both male and females however, usually weigh between 10-14 pounds, with birds living in the North noticeably larger than those in the south. This large body structure gives the eagle the ability to have a lifting power of roughly four pounds. The sound of the eagle is not what most people believe. Rarely described as screeching, most experts refer to the sounds as a high-pitched “twittering”. The sound does not match the intimidating nature of the bird and for that reason is commonly dubbed over in movies by sounds of hawk of falcons with a more impressive screeching sound.
Habitat: Bald eagles like to live in areas where there is clear and easy acess to water. This allows them not only to feed on fish, but also on animals that drink at the body of water. More eagles will usually be found by large bodies of water, but can also be found in areas such as marshes so long as the area has tall trees upon which they can nest and roost.
Diet: Bald eagles are most known for their dietary staple, fish, which they obtain from the bodies of water they live near. However, it is not uncommon for these eagles, whose diving speed is roughly 75-100 MPH, to snatch ducks, small birds, small mammals such as squirrels, mice, voles, and even the rare case where they can eat large animals such as goats or baby cows. With a lifting power of only four pounds many times these larger kills can’t be taken away forcing the eagle to stay in a potentially dangerous area. The only thing that has tainted the eagles image is the fact that many times they will eat carrion, even if the animal has been dead for multiple days. The eagle will skim the body of water and snatch fish out of the water. The eagle has the ability to open and close its talons at will allowing it to drop prey to strong or heavy to carry away. On occasion however, the eagle will be seen getting dragged underwater due to the fact it either can’t let go of the fish, or in cases of hunger it desperately needs the food. Once a bald eagle is in the water, it is unable to take flight until it reaches the shore, and because of this the bald eagle is actually a very strong swimmer and will use its wings to swim to shore. However, this tactic is risky and while trying to catch overly large fish eagles have been reported to have drowned or caught hypothermia.
Behaviors:
Miscellaneous:
Habitat: Bald eagles like to live in areas where there is clear and easy acess to water. This allows them not only to feed on fish, but also on animals that drink at the body of water. More eagles will usually be found by large bodies of water, but can also be found in areas such as marshes so long as the area has tall trees upon which they can nest and roost.
Diet: Bald eagles are most known for their dietary staple, fish, which they obtain from the bodies of water they live near. However, it is not uncommon for these eagles, whose diving speed is roughly 75-100 MPH, to snatch ducks, small birds, small mammals such as squirrels, mice, voles, and even the rare case where they can eat large animals such as goats or baby cows. With a lifting power of only four pounds many times these larger kills can’t be taken away forcing the eagle to stay in a potentially dangerous area. The only thing that has tainted the eagles image is the fact that many times they will eat carrion, even if the animal has been dead for multiple days. The eagle will skim the body of water and snatch fish out of the water. The eagle has the ability to open and close its talons at will allowing it to drop prey to strong or heavy to carry away. On occasion however, the eagle will be seen getting dragged underwater due to the fact it either can’t let go of the fish, or in cases of hunger it desperately needs the food. Once a bald eagle is in the water, it is unable to take flight until it reaches the shore, and because of this the bald eagle is actually a very strong swimmer and will use its wings to swim to shore. However, this tactic is risky and while trying to catch overly large fish eagles have been reported to have drowned or caught hypothermia.
Behaviors:
- Eagles often will soar high above the treetops to attain a maximum height before plunging straight down and swooping up prey
- When eagles are looking to mate, the most peculiar behavior is the locking of talons mid-flight. Scientists are not 100% sure that this is a courtship ritual, but many eagles have been seen to fly at one another and lock talons in mid-flight while continuing to hover
- Eagle nests are generally built in a cylindrical shape and high up in trees, however, nests on the ground are not uncommon
- The female will lay the eggs and for the next 35 days will stay with the eggs for 98% of the time. Males will bring back food, and green conifer leaves, for a reason still unknown to scientists
- Often if the first hatched is a female she will eat her sibling to cut-down on resource competition. The parents will make no attempt to stop this behavior
Miscellaneous:
- Bald eagles have 7,000 feathers
- Bald eagles can live up to 30 years
- Bald eagles have an average hunting area of 1,700 acres
- Bald eagles mate for life
- Bald eagles give birth to an average of two chicks a year
- Bald eagles became the national emblem in 1782
- There are approximately 9,789 breeding pairs of bald eagles
- Average flying speed is 30-25 mph