Bald eagles are majestic beasts that wreak havoc in the sky without any interruption. Because of their strength and fierce battle tactics, they are often associated with the symbol of power and position.
In northern america, bald eagles are highly revered. American people have accepted the bird as their own emblem to express their deep emotions and customs which is visible in many of their national objects.
Although the bird was severely endangered a couple of years back, the population of them is now booming thanks to numerous efforts of conservation centers.
These enigmatic birds have a lot of secrets hidden inside their tapestry of feathers. So today, let’s embark on a journey with me to decipher every little secret to know what they truly are.
Contents
Bald Eagle: The Trick To Identify Them
Source: @johnluciano_goodnight
Although the name suggests that the bird is bald, they are not exactly bald per se. The upper part of their head is far more shiny compared to the other parts leading many people to presume that they are bald.
The overall appearance of the bald eagles are quite distinct with whimsical colors appearing in every single part. There’s absolutely no way you will mistake it for another bird. So, let us have a quick glance at some interesting information about them.
- Scientific Name: Haliaeetus leucocephalus
- Domain: Eukaryota
- Size: 71.12 to 83.82 cm (28 to 40 in)
- Average Weight: 3 to 6 kg (106 to 211 oz)
- Wingspan: 1.8 to 2.3 m (5.9 to 7.57 feet)
- Tail: 0.7-0.9 meters (2.5 to 3 feet)
- Life-span: 20-30 years
- Maturation: 8 weeks
- Conservation Status: Least Concern
- Area: North America
Coloration: The outer color of the bald eagles seem to change at different stages of their life. In adult bald eagles, the plumage is a dark brown color with subtle whites here and there creating quite a unique aesthetic. It also helps them to camouflage because of the rugged exterior.
The immature bald eagle has a similar plumage but it is much more messy. The head of a typical bald eagle consists of a snowy white color with a pair of intense eyes. They have a yellowish eye with a pitch black cornea. Some bald eagles have some dark circles around their eyes.
Beak: The beak of the bald eagle is similar to the nails of a velociraptor. There is a curve at the edge of the beak which makes it a dangerous weapon to dismantle the prey. The yellow color of it adds much ambience to the overall appearance of the bald eagle. Sometimes when they are feasting, the beaks get fully covered in blood making it a scene that feels like a horror movie.
Wings: The wings of bald eagles are gigantic to say the least. When they fully stretch their wings, it feels like there is a hurricane that is going to erupt.
As for the appearance, the wings feel like the creator has surely taken their time to construct these enigmatic beasts. The unique blend of feathers from start to finish with significant gaps in between enables them to quickly close the gaps between their prey while flying. The color of the wings match the plumage quite well.
Tail: The tail of the bald eagles is what enables them to be such extraordinary flyers. They can maintain the rough winds by angling their wedge shaped tail without any hassle. The tail has a unique zig zag shape with spikes protruding from each segment. It also has a snowy white color just as the head.
Legs and Feet: It seems like the practice of pedicure and manicure has even taken over the avian species as bald eagles themselves have no feather in their legs or feet. They have a mellow yellow color with razor sharp talons protruding from them.
The talons are quite developed compared to many of their closely related species which enables them to grab the prey efficiently.
Overall Shape: The overall shape of the eagle is hard to describe in mere words. It’s something that you have to witness to fully appreciate. The pro touring wings along with a snowy head and razor sharp talons make it a sight to behold. The coloration of each segment shouldn’t work but the proportionality of each of the components of the bald eagle makes it so majestic.
Male Vs. Female Bald Eagle The Visual Differences
Source: @dragon_rider_2022
At a glance, you may not be able to differentiate between a male and a female bald eagle as they have nearly identical plumage. However, upon further inspection, you will start to notice some apparent differences.
For starters, the females seem to be 25 percent larger than the males. They are normally 5 to 8 pounds heavier than their male counterparts. Furthermore, the normal wingspan of a male is recorded to nearly 6 feet whereas the wingspan of a female goes up to 8 feet. You may be wondering what’s the reason for this. Wel the females have grown to be bigger so that they can protect the nests and eaglets much more effectively.
On the other hand, the males are smaller in size so that they can fly much more swiftly. This helps them to catch more prey and feed the family.
The females have been noticed to have much more developed and elongated talons which enables them to become more fierce hunters. They have a more low tempo vocal as well which is quite apparent in most species.
Male Vs. Female Bald Eagle Behavioral Differences
Apart from the usual difference in the visual aspects, the male and female have some behavioral differences as well in terms of courtshop attitude or nesting function. So, let’s take a gander at them.
The Role In Nesting
Source: @nicolasdory
Nesting is a crucial task which enables the bald eagles to lay eggs much more safely. Because of their humongous shape and size, the nests of the bald eagles are typically quite large. Although both male and female play an important role in the construction of the nest, it is observed that the females play a more dominant role from collecting the twigs to the organization of the interior.
Courtship Behavior
Before laying the eggs, the pairs need to establish their territory. Usually, females guard the nest while the males look out for any sort of enemies in the proximity by roaming around the fence.
The pairs also will perform many acts including the famous cartwheel to establish dominance in the area.
Eating Habits
This is rocket science to be honest. As the females are larger in size, they seek for prey that are more on the bulkier end. On the other hand, the males are opportunistic feeders that don’t really need as much energy as the female counterpart to function properly.
During the nesting, the males are mainly seen to hunt and collect the food while the female stays in the nest.
Maturity Rate
The maturity rate of bald eagles is quite similar to that of humans. Most females gain maturity and are able to reproduce at the 4 to 5 years of age whereas the males gain the ability to breed much later usually at the age of 5 to 6.
The maturity rate doesn’t seem to have that much influence on life expectancy as both males and females live up to 20-30 years of age in the wild.
Incubation
Both male and female parents incubate the eggs from time to time however the females sit on the eggs for most periods because of their larger size and better insulation capability. While the females sit on the eggs, the males look for food and bring them to the nest.
Migration Patterns
The migration routes are pretty much the same for both sexes but the females tend to migrate faster than the males. This is mainly attributed to the extra resources that the females require because of the larger size.
The migration occurrence as well as the patterns correlate with the availability of foods and competitors in the area. Therefore, the patterns change from time to time depending on the situation.
Male Vs. Female Bald Eagle: At A Glance
I know how difficult it gets to read through each of the descriptions. So to ease your mind, I have made a complete list of all the differences. Give them a quick glance if you are in a hurry.
| Category | Male Bald Eagles | Female Bald Eagles |
| Size | Relatively smaller | Relatively larger |
| Weight | Slightly Lighter | Slightly heavier |
| Plumage | Dark brown | Identical as males |
| Nest-building | Plays a more submissive role | Plays a more dominant role |
| Eating Habits | Smaller preys | Larger preys |
| Incubation | Helps in incubation however does not sit on the eggs | Primary incubator |
| Age of Maturity | 5-6 years | 4-5 years |
| Migration Patterns | Less migratory | More migratory |
Range And Migration
Source: @schultzcaptures
Bald eagles usually want to keep themselves as far away as possible from the humans. The constant noise from the vehicles as well as the construction sites perturbs their mating practices. That’s why they refrain themselves from populous cities and opt for places with high trees and water bodies.
However, there are exceptions where they are occasionally seen to nest in busy cities. This is mainly due to the lack of proper trees or preys in the area.
Bald eagles are partially migratory which means that they migrate when it becomes absolutely necessary. So, the main reason for their migration is because of the location. If they live in a region close to a water body and during winter it freezes, they will move to another location with less cold.
They also migrate after breeding, sometimes looking for additional food for the babies. Bald eagles usually migrate during the day time as it is viewed that flying in the night leads to many sort of unfortunate circumstances such as injuries.
Food Habits
Source: @kevinfeenstra
Bald eagles are predatory raptors that are known to run terror in the sky. They absolutely love to devour fish ranging from salmon, shads to our very own catfish. Bald eagles also divert to other food sources such as insects, small birds, crabs and even animals like muskrats.
- Hunting Tactics: They have quite some eyes which can locate food from a long distance. Their tactics of hunting is something that is frequently studied by academicians all over the world. Usually, when they are searching for fishes, they will go to the absolute peak of the tree.
They will rotate their head 360 to find the exact spot where there is a large group of fishes. Within the next few seconds, they will stretch their gigantic wings to the fullest and gain some momentum in their knee muscles and finally take off.
To close the distance, it literally takes a blink of an eye. With immense aggression, they plunk the fish from the water using their razor sharp talons and sit on a safe spot out of sight from its competitors to eat in peace. - Locating The Food Source: Sometimes, these beautiful birds follow other birds around the area to locate the fish. They will sneakily trail them without knowing them. Eventually, the birds lead the bald eagle to the food source.
- Fasting: It has been observed that the bald eagle can survive without food for days. At one instant, they went fasting for weeks.
This is primarily because of the notion of the disparity between bald eagles and human metabolism. Unlike us, they are not ruminant based animals that require to have food at all times. They can ingest plenty of food at once and digest it for days on end. This helps them to survive.
Behaviorism
Source: @chesapeakebayfoundation
As already mentioned, bald eagles are highly tactical creatures. When it looks at you, you know that it is thinking of a particular strategy. Their cognitive and decision making abilities are through the roof. If you are not careful enough, they can bamboozle even you with their sharp wits.
- Flying Capability: The bald eagles have remarkable flying prowess which they utilize to the max to catch all sorts of prey. They can reach a tremendous speed of 56-70 kilometers per hour which decreases to nearly 45 when they are carrying something heavy such as muskrat or a fish. While some birds have trouble maintaining their body in rough air, bald eagles seem to understand just how to angle their wings to levitate without any hassle.
- Aggression: Although they have a slight disadvantage when it comes to flying compared to the golden eagles, they more than make up for it in their aggregation. Bald eagles are the most fearciest when they have something to follow either it’s a bird or any other prey. It seems like they receive some sort of heavenly power that just compels them to catch up within seconds.
Nesting
They can be quite a size queen when it comes to nesting. Because of their humongous size, they opt for large nests to build. The largest nest built by them was reported to be 1 metric ton in weight.
- The Selection Of Trees: It has been studied that bald eagles focus more on the height of the tree than the species before the nest construction process.
They search for a hardwood tree that allows them to look out for different food sources. Rather than intertwining branches, bald eagles prefer open sites which have nice visibility and that are closer to the prey. Another important factor is that they like to build their nests closer to a body of water. This behavior is evident for bald eagles of every region of North america. - Construction Of The Nest: A bald eagle pair uses sticks and twigs collected from different places to build the core of the nest. Sometimes, they will use leaves or other elements of nature to match the background so that other predators can’t notice the nest.
Reproduction
Source: @cascadesraptorcenter
The reproduction stage of the bald eagles is quite elaborate which consists of a wide range of steps. I have done my best to summarize them to make you guys understand the fundamentals.
Monogamous Nature
Although it may be a bit offensive to many of you, today’s generation has a lot to learn from the bald eagles. Unlike humans of the current era, bald eagles are typically monogamous and they only stay with one partner for the rest of their life unless they are incapable of breeding or dead.
Mate Selection
Most eagles get matured enough for reproduction around the age of four. When they reach this age, they travel to the place where they were born and look for potential mating partners. Now the selection process isn’t easy. After finding a suitable female partner, the male has to perform all sorts of acts to impress the female.
These acts involve vigorous calls and flamboyant flying displays. They will play for hours with the females in the airs doing different types of flight displays such as cartwheels and chases. The most astonishing one that you have probably seen on the national geography channel is to descend until they are just about to hit the ground and then separating paths.
Breeding Season
Unlike many of the birds, bald eagles breed quite early usually in the middle of the february month with the egg hatching in the april.
Both parents play crucial roles in the egg hatching process as they both incubate the eggs. The female generally sits on the eggs while the male guards the nest from any sort of attacks from other birds.
Bald Eagle Similar Species
The phylogenetic tree of the avian species is quite broad. Upon close inspection, we can easily notice that there are multiple sub species that have close resemblance to the bald eagle.
Finding the similarities and differences between them has been the focus of many scientists around the world. Today, we will look at some of the most closely related species along with their characteristics to know more about the alluring bird.
Golden Eagle
Source: @maro_835
- Scientific Name: Aquila chrysaetos
To the common people, the main difference between these species is that one has a white head while the other has a rather golden head. But there are many hidden secrets other than the hue of their head.
Perhaps the biggest similarity of the golden eagle and bald eagle is that they are basically of the same size growing up to 2.5 feet. The wingspan of them are also quite close ranging anywhere between 5 to 7 feet.
Like the bald eagles, the females are much larger than the male. The behavior as well as the mating time is identical as well.
Key Differences
The biggest difference between the species is the availability of them. The bald eagle has been on the verge of extinction back in the day. In the current era, the population has seen an uprising. On the other hand , the golden eagles are the most common raptors seen in the sky. However, they are not as common as the bald eagle in the United states.
Young golden eagles have white feathers on their tails whereas the bald eagles have a much more clean tail. On the contrary, bald eagles have a much longer beak than the golden eagles which makes them formidable hunters.
Red Tailed Hawk
Source: @soup_sf
- Scientific Name: Buteo jamaicensis
Because of their similar shape, it’s easy to confuse these two piece avian species. The feathers along with the dark brown plumage makes them look quite identical.
Key Differences
Although the size may not be that substantial, bald eagles are bigger than the hawks which enables them to apply more force to the prey, dismantling them easily.
The wings of the hawks are shorter than the bald eagle. There are some overall difference in the morphology of their wings as well with hawks having a much more rounded shape
There are also some slight differences in the color of the body and wing. Scientists have observed that red tailed hawks tend to have paler color than the bald eagle.
Mind Blowing Facts About The Bald Eagles
Bald eagles are full of idiosyncrasies that make them so mysterious. So, let’s take a quick look at some facts about them to pique your interest.
- The eldest eaglet gains a sense of superiority and starts to attack the younger siblings. Sometimes, they even break the eggs. It has been studied that nearly 50 percent of eggs get destroyed or eaglets die because of the elder siblings.
- Back in 1930, it was theorized that these majestic creatures took human toddlers from the ground to their nesting grounds where they viscously gouged on them and fed them to their babies.
- The primary cause of bald eagle death is found to be none other than trauma.
- The oldest bald eagle in the wild was reported to be 38 years old at the time of death.
- Bald eagles have an insane grip strength of 400 psi.
- After being born, bald eaglets grow immensely fast gaining anywhere between 150-170 grams per day.
FAQ
After reading the entire article, there may be questions revolving in your brain about the bald eagles. It’s difficult to cover each aspect of the alluring bird even though I have tried my hardest. That’s why I have compiled a list of questions and their comprehensive answers to soothe your brain.
Q: Do Bald Eagles Carry Human Babies From The Ground?
Ans: The cargo capability of a bald eagle is not more than 5 pounds so it is not feasible to carry a human baby. Therefore, the remarks of bald eagles carrying human babies are nothing but bizarre speculations.
Q: Do Bald Eagles Live More In Proximity?
Ans: Yes, they do. In the wild, bald eagles live only up to 30 years of age. The oldest bird in proximity was reported to be 50 years of age. This is mainly due to the improved diet and nutrition provided to them.
Q: When Do Eaglets Mature?
Ans: It is reported that eaglets mature within nine weeks when they have the ability to fully stretch their wings. During this time, the mother bald eagle keeps close watch to them so that nothing unfortunate occurs. After nine weeks, the eaglets become a lot more independent.
Final Thoughts
We all know how much america as a nation loves the bald eagle. It is viewed as a symbol of courage and peace. The bird can be seen on the passports, flags and many other objects of the nation. It has become an emblem of americans pleple’s beliefs and customs.
The alluring appearance along with the flamboyant behavior of the bald eagles has transcended the borders. Now, people all over the world appreciate the majestic creature.
Back in the day, the situation for bald eagles was quite bad. The population was deteriorating fast and there was no solution to it. But because of the remarkable efforts of many conservation centers, the population is again increasing. We are now able to get mesmerized by their beauty without any worries.
