THE BALD EAGLE
SYMBOL OF AMERICAN PATRIOTISM
Click on any thumbnail to see a larger image.
Click on any thumbnail to see a larger image.
NEXT PAGE
BALD EAGLE FACTS The Bald Eagle was declared our national symbol in 1782 by a committee that included Benjamin Franklin who had first suggested the turkey. The Philadelphia Zoo has had successful hatchings in 1995 and 1996 with the chicks successfully placed for adoption into wild nests in New England and Pennsylvania. TAXONOMY Class Aves, Order Falconiformes, Family Accipitridae, Genus species Hiliaeetus leucocephalus alascanus. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS A fish eagle brown/black in color with a bright white head and tail, large size between 30 to 40 inches, sharply down-hooked beak, large powerful talons, bright yellow bill, feet and eyes. Typically for raptors the female is larger than the male. GEOGRAPHIC RANGE AND HABITAT North America but as a fish hunting eagle generally restricted to waterways such as the coasts, rivers and lakes. Most plentiful in Alaska with limited populations elsewhere. SOCIAL HABITS Often found in mated pairs that perform aerial acrobatics and, where food is plentiful, will gather in groups. They will "attack" other fish hunters such as the osprey causing the bird to drop its catch and the eagle to recover it in mid- flight. REPRODUCTION Eagles mate for life and return to same territory each year for breeding, construct a sizable nest of twigs known as an aerie which is lined with softer material, female lays 2 eggs which incubate for 31 to 46 days, hatched young are fed by both female and male and stay in nest for 10 to 11 weeks. DIET In the wild: fish, carrion, birds and small mammals. In the Zoo: fish and raw meat. CONSERVATION Protected by federal law. Endangered in the Eastern US although recovering from its lowest population after the banning of DDT. In this area there are nesting sites in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and along the Chesapeake Bay.
Information obtained from
|
To Email Me
E-mail me at starwishing40@hotmail.com
Page created and © by Friday Wisher
Changes last made by FW on: Monday June 21, 1999