Bald Eagle

                                                       Picture link                                                            

The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. The Bald Eagle is really big. Its body is about 26-28 inches long. The wing span of this bird is 72-96 inches. A female bird is about 25% larger than males. It is all brown except for the the white head and tails. Its eyes, feet, and talons are a bright yellow. The Bald Eagle's legs have no feathers. A juvenile Bald Eagle is brown until it is ready to reproduce. A male Bald Eagle is usually about 5 pounds. Females are usually about 6 pounds. In the wild it can live to about 30 years. In captivity it can live up to 50 years. The age of a wild Bald Eagle is influenced by its environment.

Diet 

The Bald Eagle's diet consists of mostly fish, but if there is free food, it will also eat it. It usually eats salmon and trout. It swoops over the water and grabs fish with its talons. These birds have really strong talons. It has been reported that a Bald Eagle carried off a 15 pound Mule Deer. A healthy adult Bald Eagle will not be preyed on, they are called apex predators. Sometimes the Bald Eagle will steal food from picnics or campsites. These birds also will eat otters, beavers, muskrats, rabbits, hares, ducks, gulls, and geese to name a few. They also may eat crustations (especially crabs) when they have the opportunity to.

Picture info.

                          In this YouTube Video, it shows a Bald Eagle attacking a bear.                                

Habit

The Bald Eagle like be near sea coast, rivers, or large bodies of water that have a large amount of fish. They nest, perch and roost in hardwood or coniferous trees. These birds are sensitive to humans so they are usually found in areas that humans don't populate. It is found in Canada, Mexico and the whole United States of America.

Reproduction

These birds are able to breed at the age of 4 or 5. When they are ready to be breed(reproduce) they will often return to the place where they were born at. Experts say that the Bald Eagle mates for life. They will get a new mate if one of them dies or if they can't produce any offspring. The nest is the largest kind out of all the birds in North America. They use their nest multiple times. It can get 13 ft deep and 8ft across. The nest will usually be found by water in tress, but if no trees are found in that area, they will put their nest on the ground. The Eagles lay about 1-3 eggs a year. Both parents take turns to watch the eggs. While one watches the eggs, the other will hunt and go look for food. The eggs hatch in about 35 days. Since the Bald Eagle has no known predators, it fiercely defends its eggs.

This video shows an IMMATURE Bald Eagle, that means it DOES NOT have the white head and tail feathers you see on an adult Bald Eagle

Back From the Brink

The Bald Eagle was on the brink of extinction in the mid-20th century. The birds where mostly affected by the pesticide DDT. The chemicals didn't affect the adult Bald Eagles but it made them unable to lay healthy eggs. The pesticide made the eggs thin so when the parents sat on them, they broke under their weight. In the early 1700 their where about 300,000 - 500,000 nesting Bald Eagles. In the 1950's there were only 412 nesting pairs in the United States. They said that the leading cause of death for the Bald Eagle was hunting, power line electrocution, and collision in flight. The Bald Eagle is also affected by oil and mercury. These bird where protected in Canada and The United States of America by the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty which was later was applied to all of North America. The 1940 Bald Eagle Protection Act protected the Bald Eagle and the Golden Eagle which makes it illegal to hunt or kill these birds. In 1972, DTT was banned from the United States and the Bald Eagle population came back. The bird where taken of the endangered species list and moved to the threatened species list in 1995.  Then on June 28th 2007, it was removed from the threatened list onto the least concerned list.

Importance

See this picture!

The Bald Eagle is really important to the United States and the Native American culture. In the United States, it is on the Great Seal of the United States. The Bald Eagle is holding a 13 leafed olive branch and 13 arrows. It is also shown on the quarter until 1999. The Bald Eagle is also shown on the Presidential flag, facing the olive branch. There is an urban myth that during peaceful times the Blad Eagle is facing the olive branch and during uneasy times, its facing the arrows. This is untrue, the flag just looks differnt when you look at it from differnt views.

The Bald Eagle is also very important to the some Native American tribes. They believe that Bald Eagles are the spiritual messengers between the Gods and humans. The feathers of these birds are often used for ceremonies. Native Americans can obtain these birds by getting a certificate to let them keep these birds for ceremonial purposes.

Reference

Bald Eagle

Date published: Feb. 19th, 2009

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald eagle

Want to see more?

If you want to see more about related topics, check out these other wiki pages! 

Birds

Fish 

Hawks

Ravens

Seagulls

Taxonomy

The Classification Hierarchy

The world of cells and organisms of life!