Bald eagle Wikipedia. The bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus, from Greek hali sea, aitos eagle, leuco white, cephalos head is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old growth trees for nesting. The bald eagle is an opportunistic feeder which subsists mainly on fish, which it swoops down and snatches from the water with its talons. It builds the largest nest of any North American bird and the largest tree nests ever recorded for any animal species, up to 4 m 1. Sexual maturity is attained at the age of four to five years. Bald eagles are not actually bald the name derives from an older meaning of the word, white headed. The adult is mainly brown with a white head and tail. The sexes are identical in plumage, but females are about 2. Great Seal Of The Navajo Nation Patch' title='Great Seal Of The Navajo Nation Patch' />Get the latest breaking news across the U. S. on ABCNews. com. The bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus, from Greek hali sea, aitos eagle, leuco white, cephalos head is a bird of prey found in North America. Occult symbols are fast replacing Christian symbols in our culture. Therefore, we encourage you to use this list to warn others, especially Christian children who. The beak is large and hooked. The plumage of the immature is brown. The bald eagle is both the national bird and national animal of the United States of America. Great Seal Of The Navajo Nation Patch' title='Great Seal Of The Navajo Nation Patch' />Hunt was always a great runner at Toledo, he finished his college career with 4,953 yards and 6. Weve got Boog news. First, Little League World Series viewers were charmed by the presence of 12yearold Jeffrey Boog Powell Then the As called up. FILE This Aug. 11, 2009 file image provided by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography shows a patch of sea garbage at sea in the Pacific Ocean. The bald eagle appears on its seal. In the late 2. 0th century it was on the brink of extirpation in the contiguous United States. Populations have since recovered and the species was removed from the U. S. governments list of endangered species on July 1. It was removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in the Lower 4. States on June 2. Description. The plumage of an adult bald eagle is evenly dark brown with a white head and tail. The tail is moderately long and slightly wedge shaped. Males and females are identical in plumage coloration, but sexual dimorphism is evident in the species, in that females are 2. The beak, feet and irises are bright yellow. The legs are feather free, and the toes are short and powerful with large talons. The highly developed talon of the hind toe is used to pierce the vital areas of prey while it is held immobile by the front toes. The beak is large and hooked, with a yellow cere. The adult bald eagle is unmistakable in its native range. The closely related African fish eagle H. The plumage of the immature is a dark brown overlaid with messy white streaking until the fifth rarely fourth, very rarely third year, when it reaches sexual maturity. Immature bald eagles are distinguishable from the golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos, the only other very large, non vulturine bird in North America, in that the former has a larger, more protruding head with a larger beak, straighter edged wings which are held flat not slightly raised and with a stiffer wing beat and feathers which do not completely cover the legs. When seen well, the golden eagle is distinctive in plumage with a more solid warm brown color than an immature bald eagle, with a reddish golden patch to its nape and in immature birds a highly contrasting set of white squares on the wing. Another distinguishing feature of the immature bald eagle over the mature bird is its black, yellow tipped beak the mature eagle has a fully yellow beak. The bald eagle has sometimes been considered the largest true raptor accipitrid in North America. The only larger species of raptor like bird is the California condor Gymnogyps californianus, a New World vulture which today is not generally considered a taxonomic ally of true accipitrids. However, the golden eagle, averaging 4. American race A. Additionally, the bald eagles close cousins, the relatively longer winged but shorter tailed white tailed eagle and the overall larger Stellers sea eagle H. Albuquerque and New Mexicos trusted news source. Statewide weather forecasts, live streaming, investigations, entertainment, local events and living. Alaska from Asia. A recording of a bald eagle at Yellowstone National Park. Problems playing this file See media help. Power Tools Pro 5.2 Download. The bald eagle has a body length of 7. Typical wingspan is between 1. Females are about 2. This eagle has a sizeable wingspan. Great Seal Of The Navajo Nation Patch' title='Great Seal Of The Navajo Nation Patch' />The size of the bird varies by location and generally corresponds with Bergmanns rule, since the species increases in size further away from the Equator and the tropics. For example, eagles from South Carolina average 3. The largest eagles are from Alaska, where large females may weigh up to 7. A survey of adult weights in Alaska showed that females weighed on average 6. R. S. Palmer listed a record from 1. Wyoming County, New York of an outsized adult bald eagle that was shot and reportedly scaled 8. Among standard linear measurements, the wing chord is 5. The culmen reportedly ranges from 3 to 7. The call consists of weak staccato, chirping whistles, kleek kik ik ik ik, somewhat similar in cadence to a gulls call. The calls of young birds tend to be more harsh and shrill than those of adults. Taxonomy. The bald eagle placed in the genus Haliaeetus sea eagles which gets both its common and specific scientific names from the distinctive appearance of the adults head. Bald in the English name is derived from the word piebald, and refers to the white head and tail feathers and their contrast with the darker body. The scientific name is derived from Haliaeetus, New Latin for sea eagle from the Ancient Greekhaliaetos, and leucocephalus, Latinized Ancient Greek for white head, from leukos white and kephale head. The bald eagle was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 1. Systema Naturae, under the name Falco leucocephalus. There are two recognized subspecies of bald eagle 22. H. l. leucocephalusLinnaeus, 1. It is found in the southern United States and Baja California Peninsula. H. l. washingtoniensisAudubon, 1. H. l. alascanus Townsend, 1. It is found in the northern United States, Canada and Alaska. The bald eagle forms a species pair with the Eurasian white tailed eagle. This species pair consists of a white headed and a tan headed species of roughly equal size the white tailed eagle also has overall somewhat paler brown body plumage. The two species fill the same ecological niche in their respective ranges. The pair diverged from other sea eagles at the beginning of the Early Miocene c. Ma BP at the latest, but possibly as early as the EarlyMiddle Oligocene, 2. Ma BP, if the most ancient fossil record is correctly assigned to this genus. Range. The bald eagles natural range covers most of North America, including most of Canada, all of the continental United States, and northern Mexico. It is the only sea eagle endemic to North America. Occupying varied habitats from the bayous of Louisiana to the Sonoran Desert and the eastern deciduous forests of Quebec and New England, northern birds are migratory, while southern birds are resident, remaining on their breeding territory all year. At minimum population, in the 1. Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, northern and eastern Canada, and Florida. Today, they are much more common almost attaining their peak numbers pre colonization in North America, and nest in every continental state and province in the United States and Canada. Bald eagles will also congregate in certain locations in winter. From November until February, one to two thousand birds winter in Squamish, British Columbia, about halfway between Vancouver and Whistler. The birds primarily gather along the Squamish and Cheakamus Rivers, attracted by the salmon spawning in the area. It has occurred as a vagrant twice in Ireland a juvenile was shot illegally in Fermanagh on January 1. Kerry on November 1.