The Bald Eagle

Last night, I offered some trivia on Independence Day. Today, though, I thought I would offer some facts about our nation's symbol, the Bald Eagle .

The Latin name for this majestic bird is Haliaeetus leucocephalus.

The Bald Eagle was officially declared the National Emblem of the United States by the Second Continental Congress in 1782. It was selected by the U.S.A.'s founding fathers because it is a species unique to North America. However, Benjamin Franklin wanted the wild turkey to be our national bird, because he thought the eagle was of bad moral character. (Can you imagine a wild turkey for our national symbol? Today, we eat turkeys at Thanksgiving and Christmas! Some honor that would be!)

The feathers of a newly hatched Bald Eaglet is light grey, turning dark brown before it leaves the nest at about 12 weeks of age. During its third and fourth years, the Bald Eagle has mattled brown and white feathers under the wings and on the head, tail, and breast. The distinctive white head and tail feathers do not appear until they are about 4 to 5 years old. The beak and eyes turn yellow during the fourth and fifth year, and are dark brown prior to that time.

Bald Eagles are about 29 to 42 inches long and can weigh 7 to 15 pounds, having wing spans of 6-8 feet. This makes them one of the largest birds in North America.

Females are larger than males.

Bald Eagles residing in the northern U.S. are larger than those that reside in the south.

They have a life span of up to 40 years in the wild, and longer in captivity.

Bald Eagles live near large bodies of open water such as lakes, marshes, seacoasts, and rivers, where there are plenty of fish to eat and tall trees for nesting and roosting.

Bald Eagles have a presence in every state except Hawaii.

Bald Eagles use a specific territory for nesting, winter feeding, or a year-round residence. Its natural domain is from Alaska to Baja, CA, and from Maine to Florida. Bald Eagles that reside in the northern U.S. and Canada migrate to the warmer southern climates of the U.S. during the winter to obtain easier access to food, especially fish. Some Bald Eagles that reside in the southern U.S. migrate slightly north during the hot summer months.

While the primary food source of the Bald Eagle is fish, they also feed on: ducks, coots, muskrats, turtles, rabbits, and snakes. Occasionally, they feed on carion. When they swoop down to catch their prey, their talons possess approximately 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch in each foot. Although they can carry off with their food in flight, they can only lift about half their weight.

Bald Eagles have been recorded at 44 m.p.h. in level flight.

Their diving speed is estimated at 75 - 100 m.p.h., and they can fly to altitudes of 10,000 feet ore more, and can soar aloft for hours using natural wind currents and thermal updrafts. They can also swim to shore with a heavy fish using their strong wings as paddles, but drowning is always possible if the fish weighs too much.

Bald Eagles are monogamous and mate for life, only selecting another mate if its companion dies.

Their nests are called "eyries." The nests become larger as the eagles return to breed and add new nesting materials every year. New nests average 2 feet deep and 5 feet across. Eventually, some nests attain sizes of more than 10 feet wide and can weigh several tons. The nests are rebuilt nearby when the old one is destroyed by natural means. They are made of twigs, soft mosses, grasses, and feathers.

Females lay 1 to 3 eggs annually in the springtime, and they hatch after about 35 days of incubation. Both parents share in the hunting, incubation, nest watching, feeding, and brooding until their young are strong enough to fly at about 12 weeks of age, when they become full-sized.

Only about 50% of hatched eaglets survive their first year of life.

In the 1700's, the Bald Eagle population was estimated at 300,000 to 500,000, but by the 1950's, the population had plummeted to less than 10,000 nesting pairs. By the 1960's, there were fewer than 500 nesting pairs. Humans were the cause of their decline by hunting and shooting, pesticides, poisons, and pollutants, destruction of habitat, contamination of our waterways and food sources, as well as the use of the pesticide DDT which caused the thinning of eagle egg shells, resulting in breakage during incubation.

Through the endangered species and environmental protection laws, as well as active private, state, and federal conservation efforts, the Bald Eagle population has been rescued from the edge of extinction. Our national bird was listed as Endangered from 1967 to 1995, when it was upgraded to Threatened in the lower 48 states. By 2007, the number of nesting pairs has increased from 500 in the early 60's to over 10,000 pairs. On June 28, 2007, they were removed from the Threatened list.

The birds are now protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Act, as they continue to face hazards. They continue to be harassed, injured, and killed by guns, traps, power lines, windmills, poisons, contaminants, and destruction of habitat.