Introduction to the Bald Eagle
Native to North America the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), is a predatory bird. It is a sea eagle with two recognized subspecies that coexists in the Palearctic in the same niche as the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla). Its range encompasses the contiguous United States, northern Mexico, and most of Canada and Alaska. It inhabits areas with wide open water, plenty of food sources, and old-growth trees suitable for breeding.
Diet and Hunting Techniques
The main food source for the savvy bald eagle is fish, which it swoops down on and snatches with its talons from the water. Just about 4 m (13 ft) in depth, 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in width, and a weight of 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons), it makes the largest nest of any North American bird and the largest tree nest ever reported for any animal species. It reaches sexual maturity between the ages of 4 and 5.
Physical Characteristics and Sexual Dimorphism
Bald eagles are not bald; rather, “white-headed” has an ancient meaning. The adult has a white head and tail, otherwise brown. Although the plumage of the sexes is the same, females are roughly 25% larger than males. The yellow beak is hooked and quite large. The immature bird’s plumage is brown.
The national symbol of the United States of America is the bald eagle, which can be found on the country’s seal. It was in danger of going extinct in the continental United States in the late 20th century. Following a period of population recovery, the species’ status was changed from “endangered” to “threatened” in 1995, and it was taken off the list entirely in 2007.
Nesting Habits and Reproduction
The bald eagle’s nest is a sizable stick platform situated on a sizable, solitary tree or rock pinnacle that is easily accessible by air. Older nests can measure nearly twice as large as the typical 1.5 m (5 ft) broad nests. It takes a little more than a month for the two or three eggs deposited within to hatch. The young are raised and incubated by both parents. When the birds are four to five years old, their pure white head and tail plumage finally emerge from their brown, whitish tail and wing linings.
Bald eagles use their talons to catch fish out of the water, and they occasionally use seabirds as a guide to find fish. Additionally, bald eagles steal fish from ospreys. Bald eagles hunt not just live fish but also other birds, small mammals, snakes, turtles, crabs, and carrion.
Historical Significance and Population Decline
When bald eagles were designated the national bird of the United States in 1782, their numbers may have been in the hundreds of thousands, but persecution and human activity caused a steady drop in the species’ population over the following two centuries. The federal and state governments provided bounties for hunting the birds, and it was believed that they posed a threat to livestock, so people hunted them for fun.
In Alaska, bounty hunters killed almost 100,000 eagles between 1917 and 1952 because the birds of prey sat on fish traps and scared off salmon, a problem that was eventually resolved by installing devices on the traps to prevent perching. Birds with heavy contamination produced fewer offspring and their shells were easily broken. Less than 450 nesting pairs of bald eagles could be found in the conterminous United States during the early 1960s.
Bald Eagles in Captivity and Falconry Regulations
In the US, permits are needed to keep bald eagles in captivity. The public educational institutions are the main recipients of permits, and the eagles on display are for all the time damaged birds that are not allowed to return to the wild. In addition to having staff members with eagle handling and care skills, eagle facilities must have sufficient cages.
In captivity, it can live a long life if given proper care, but even in ideal circumstances, it cannot reproduce well. Bald eagle falconry requires a license in both Canada and England. In the US, it is illegal to keep bald eagles for falconry; nevertheless, several states may grant licenses for the use of these birds in birds-of-prey demonstrations.
Conservation Efforts and Population Recovery
The United States government outlawed the use of DDT in 1972 and designated the bald eagle as an endangered species in all but a few of the country’s northernmost states in 1978. These actions allowed the birds to increase in number in the wild by the late 1980s. In 1995, the bald eagle was reclassified as threatened, out of an estimated 4,500 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states, from endangered. More than 6,300 pairs of bald eagles were living in the United States by 2000, and the bird was officially removed from the list of vulnerable and endangered species in 2007.