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Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus |
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Courtesy of: Sedgwick County Zoo |
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Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus |
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Courtesy of: Sedgwick County Zoo |
The "Southern" American bald eagle is a very unique bird. The American bald eagle is a bird of prey. The bald eagle lives in the sawgrass habitat. The bird is a member of the Accipitradae family, which includes all of the hawks, kites, and old-world vultures. There are four different groups of eagles. This particular eagle is a member of the sea or fish eagle group. Wild eagles can live up to be forty years old, but the average life span for them is in between fifteen to twenty years of age. The American bald eagle is an interesting bird of prey.
The eagle has large eyes. A young bald eagle is spotted brown and white. Its white head and tail is created when it is four to six years old. A young eagle has a mix of brown and white colors. A young eagle's bill is black and a mature eagle's feathers develop at four or five years of age. The eagle is not bald but is named the bald eagle because of the snow-white color on its head. The female can range from thirty-five to thirty-seven inches in height and a wingspan of seventy-nine to ninety inches. The male could be thirty to thirty-four inches in height with a seventy-two to eighty-five inch wingspan. The female is a little larger than the male. The male bald eagle weighs seven to ten pounds and the female weighs about fourteen pounds. The bald eagle's body is very intricate.
The grown bald eagle has a blackish-brown color on their back and breast. The grown-up eagle also has a white head, tail, and neck. Its feet and bill are both yellow. The beak is yellow in color. There are not any other large birds in this continent that have white heads and tails.
The eagle's skeleton is only five or six percent of its weight being about a half-pound. The feathers of an eagle weigh two times as much as its skeleton does. The bones are light and hollow.
Keritan, what our hair and nails are made up of, is the material the beak, and feathers are made up of so they grow continuously. The bird's big and black talons are very important for hunting and defense.
The beak has a hook at the tip of it. There is the upper mandible behind the hook, which is sharp enough to slice tough skin. It is used for tearing food. The beak can be a strong weapon, but it is tender enough to take care of its mate's feathers or feed a young bald eagle. The female's beak is deeper that the male's beak. On both sides of the bill, there are outer nares. The upper mandible crosses the lower mandible, which makes a scissors effect.
The bird's wings are long and broad which makes them effective for flying. The eagle has approximately seven thousand feathers. The feathers are lightweight and hollow yet very strong and very flexible. The feathers trap layers of air, which protects the bird from the cold as well as the heat from the Sun. The bald eagle changes the position of the feathers to keep a good and normal body temperature, which is one hundred and two degrees Fahrenheit. When the American bald eagle suns on a cold morning, it ruffles and rotates its plumes. The plumes are either opened to the air or drawn together to minimize the insulating effect. The feathers provide waterproofing and protection, but are most important for flying. The feather structure helps the eagle easily stay in the air. When plumes overlap, they can make a dense covering in which the bird can freely open or close. There are many feather layers, each layer serving a different yet important part for the American bald eagle. There are two main layers of feathers, outer and inner layers. There are smaller feathers that are under the outer layer of feathers. The feathers allow the eagles to live in extremely cold regions.
The bird's tail is extremely important for flight and maneuvering. While the eagle is flying, its tail feathers are spread out, in order to keep the biggest surface area and raise the effect of thermals and updrafts. The tail also helps to stop the bird when it lands and helps the bird in stabilization during a controlled flight. The strength of feathers and follicles is interesting, while watching the tail move during maneuvers.
The "southern" American bald eagle has a wide range. The bald eagle ranges along the southern Gulf Coast. It is found south of forty degrees north latitude. The "southern" American bald eagle has a long range across the United States.
The bald eagle has a special diet and a special way of finding its diet. The American bald eagle is at the top of the food chain so that makes this bird an indicator for measuring the health of the ecological system. The eagles migrate for food reasons only and migrate during the winter season. There is a hook at the tip of the eagle's beak used for tearing food. The upper mandible is behind the sharp hook, which can slice tough skin. The bald eagle mainly eats fish but will also eat small mammals, waterfowl, dead fish, dead deer, dead rabbits, other animals in fields and woods, small live birds, carrion supplement, and other animals especially when fish are not plentiful. The good eyesight of the eagle allows it to see fish up to a mile away. They catch their prey by swooping down to grab it in their talons, which also stabs the flesh of the prey and then it carries it off. Eagles can only lift half their weight. The eagle can swim to shore with its fish using its wings to paddle but the eagle could drown if the fish weighed too much. During the winter, eagles hunt in groups along waterways so that they do not freeze. When eagles want fresh fish, they steel the osprey's catch. American bald eagles migrate to get food, not for temperature reasons. The American bald eagle's food habits make it an interesting bird.
The American bald eagle mates like most other animals. Married eagles will remain together until one dies. The survivor will not hesitate to accept a new spouse. When the eagles mate, they involve amazing shows of diving eagles locking talons. The American bald eagle begins mating in early April. The American bald eagle mates the same way as many birds.
The nest is the main object that the American bald eagle needs to know how to make because without the nest, the eagle would not survive in its population. The American bald eagle lays one to three eggs but usually two. The eggs hatch between late May and early June. The eggs are incubated for thirty-four or thirty-five days. After summer ends, the mature eagles suffer from "empty nest syndrome" as the young are off on their own. The nests are on the tops of tall trees and tall rocky ledges. The nest is a very important object for a bird.
The eagle's lung and air sac system is adequate for its size. Air moves through the lungs and into the air sac before it moves through the lungs and out again. Air goes through the lungs two times with each breathing cycle, which is twice as much as a mammal's air would.
The eagle flies very well. The American bald eagle's wings are long and broad which is helpful for the bird to fly easily. The tips of the wings allow air to pass through them and help the eagle to fly faster. For help soaring, the American bald eagle uses thermals. Thermals are currents of hot air and updrafts created by the terrain. Soaring is done with little wing flapping, which helps an eagle to conserve energy. An eagle accomplishes long flights by climbing high in currents of warm air, and then glide down to catch the next currents of warm air, in which the process is repeated. Lots of eagles soaring together are also known as a "kettle of eagles". The American bald eagle never reaches any speed that interferes with its regular breathing. It flies up to thirty miles per hour and can dive at the speed of one hundred miles per hour. The bald eagle flies uniquely.
The American bald eagle has a high-pitched, shrill, and twittering voice. The eagle does not have vocal chords; instead the sound is made in the syrinx, which is where the windpipe divides to go to the lungs. The bird's calls are used to reinforce the bond between married eagles or to warn predators that an area is defended. The bald eagle has a high yet interesting voice.
The eagle has many interesting features. The American bald eagle is the only eagle that only lives in North America. This eagle is the national bird of the United States of America. There is also the "northern" American bald eagle that also is the national bird. The "northern" and the "southern" eagles are similar. The bald eagle does not live by itself. In 1978, the American bald eagle was put on the endangered species list. The eagle was endangered because of the loss of habitat and because it is killed as a pest. It was updated to a threatened species on August 11, 1995. Many people are trying to replenish the American bald eagle population. The bird is protected under the Bald Eagle Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Loss of Habitat: Causes and Solutions