49 Fun Facts About Bald Eagle

Why is the bald eagle called 'bald'?

From an old meaning of the word: white-headed. The head is fully feathered; 'bald' once described animals marked with white, a sense that survives in 'piebald' for a black-and-white horse.

The bald eagle belongs to which genus?

Haliaeetus, the sea eagles. Despite the name, the bald eagle is no seabird: it lives just as readily far inland, along rivers and large lakes.

Which Apollo mission's lunar module was named Eagle, after the bald eagle on its crew patch?

Apollo 11. Jim Lovell suggested the bird for the patch, the lander took its name from it, and Neil Armstrong radioed 'The Eagle has landed' on touchdown.

Which sex of bald eagle is larger?

Females. They are about a quarter larger than males, and because the sexes wear the same plumage, size is the best clue to which bird of a pair is which.

The bald eagle builds the largest tree nest of any animal; one Florida nest weighed how much?

About 3 tons. Estimates for the St. Petersburg nest run from over two tonnes to nearly three; it grew 2.9 metres wide and 6 metres deep because pairs return and pile on new sticks every year.

A young bald eagle has a dark head; about how long does it take to turn white?

About 5 years. Until then the mottled brown youngsters live as nomads, and eaglets banded in Florida have turned up as far north as Canada.

Which 1962 book exposed the pesticide behind the bald eagle's decline?

Silent Spring. Rachel Carson's book showed how sprayed chemicals climb the food chain into birds, and the alarm it raised led to a US ban ten years later; by 2007 the eagle was off the endangered list.

Which US Army division's shoulder patch shows Old Abe, a bald eagle carried into Civil War battles?

101st Airborne Division. Old Abe was the mascot of a Wisconsin regiment, and the division, once headquartered in Milwaukee, took him as the model for its 'Screaming Eagle' patch.

Which close relative of the bald eagle died out in Britain in the early 1900s and was later reintroduced to Scotland?

White-tailed eagle. Scotland's birds are of Norwegian stock, brought in to restock the coasts it had vanished from, and it is once more the UK's largest bird of prey.

What colour are an adult bald eagle's eyes?

Yellow. A young eagle's eyes start out dark and lighten as it grows up, and its beak changes with them, from dark to bright yellow.

Which North American bird of prey is far larger than even the bald eagle?

The California condor. Its wings span close to three metres, yet by 1987 it was so rare that every wild bird was caught for captive breeding; releases began again in 1992.

From tip to tip, about how wide are a bald eagle's outstretched wings?

About 2 m. Those long, broad wings are held flat like a plank, which lets an eagle soar on rising warm air.

Where do the largest bald eagles live?

Alaska. Bald eagles grow bigger the farther north they live, and the largest Alaskan birds reach about twice the weight of the smallest ones in Florida.

Films give the bald eagle a fierce scream, but what does its real call sound like?

Weak, staccato chirping whistles. The thin, giggling call sounds more like a gull than a predator, which is why sound editors reach for something fiercer.

Which bird's call is usually dubbed over the bald eagle's in films and TV?

Red-tailed hawk. Its hoarse, rasping scream is far louder and more powerful than anything a bald eagle can manage, so film-makers often borrow it when an eagle is on screen.

Bald eagles were found nesting for the first time on record in which Canadian city in March 2024?

Toronto. The conservation authority kept the nest's whereabouts secret, fearing that crowds of well-wishers could make the pair abandon it.

Bald eagles have been seen passing sticks to each other in mid-air; what do observers take it for?

Play. Eagles have also been watched picking up plastic bottles and other objects and using them as toys.

Besides the United States and Canada, bald eagles are native to which other country?

Mexico. The range just reaches its northern states, where eagles have even nested on cactuses; no other eagle is found only in North America.

Roughly how fast can a bald eagle go in a dive?

About 160 km/h. For all that speed, the bald eagle rarely plunges in after a fish: it skims the water and plucks its catch from the surface with its talons.

What helps a bald eagle grip a wet, wriggling fish?

Spiky toe pads. The bumps, called spicules, give grip to a hunter that swoops low and snatches slippery fish from the water's surface with its feet.

In towns along the north Pacific coast, bald eagles crowd which unglamorous man-made feeding spot?

Rubbish dumps. Eagles put up with people when there is food to be had, and they flock to fish-processing plants too, picking over whatever is thrown out.

The habit of stealing prey from other predators, common in bald eagles, is called what?

Kleptoparasitism. 'Klepto' comes from the Greek for steal: an eagle will harass a smaller fishing bird in mid-air until it lets go, then snatch the falling meal.

What can a bald eagle do with a fish too heavy to lift?

Swim ashore, rowing with its wings. Eagles float well on their thick down, and one that will not give up a big fish rows itself laboriously to the bank rather than lose the meal.

Bald eagles can store food in a throat pouch called what?

A crop. After gorging at a carcass, an eagle can digest the stored meal over several days and go without hunting until the next chance comes.

In the bald eagle's 'cartwheel' display, what do the two birds do?

Lock talons and free-fall. The pair spin towards the earth and let go just before hitting it; it is usually read as courtship, though some keepers see a fight over territory.

Who keeps a bald eagle's eggs warm during the five weeks before they hatch?

Both parents, in turns. The female does most of the sitting, and the off-duty bird hunts or fetches fresh material for the nest.

In winter, bald eagles often gather at which man-made structures, where fish are easy to catch?

Dams. The water below them stays free of ice and the turbines send down stunned fish, so eagles wait in the trees nearby.

What is the traditional word for a bald eagle's high nest?

An eyrie. Americans usually spell it aerie; bald eagles build theirs in tall trees that stand above the forest, for easy flight access and a clear view of the water.

Bald eagles nest on the ground on the treeless islands of which chain?

Aleutians. With no trees and few land predators to fear, pairs on islands such as Amchitka pile up kelp and driftwood right on the turf.

What is the average lifespan of a wild bald eagle?

About 20 years. In human care, with steady food and a vet on hand, bald eagles can live past 40, and the oldest known wild bird reached 38.

One US territory paid bounties on more than 100,000 bald eagles from 1917 into the 1950s at the urging of which industry?

Salmon fishing. Fishermen claimed the birds were eating into their catch, and the 1940 law that protected eagles elsewhere left the territory out, so the bounty ran on for years.

Which fishing bird is the bald eagle's best-known victim, harassed in mid-air until it drops its catch?

Osprey. It does the diving and the eagle does the stealing: a pirate will even snatch the fish straight out of the smaller bird's talons.

Which motto does the Great Seal's eagle hold in its beak?

E pluribus unum. The Latin means 'Out of many, one', and on the seal adopted in 1782 it stood for thirteen states joining into a single nation.

On the Great Seal of the United States, the eagle grasps 13 arrows and what?

An olive branch with 13 leaves. The law names only the branch, which is usually drawn with 13 leaves and 13 olives, and the eagle looks towards it to show a preference for peace.

In a 1784 letter, Benjamin Franklin called which bird 'much more respectable' than the bald eagle?

The turkey. Writing to his daughter, Franklin called it 'a bird of courage' that would not hesitate to attack a British guardsman who strayed into its farmyard in a red coat.

In a 1784 letter, Benjamin Franklin called the bald eagle 'a bird of' what?

Bad moral character. Franklin complained that the eagle was too lazy to fish for itself and lived by robbing other birds of their catch.

Benjamin Franklin's 1784 letter mocking the bald eagle really targeted which organisation?

The Society of the Cincinnati. Membership in the officers' club passed from father to eldest son, and Franklin feared it would plant a hereditary nobility in the new republic.

Under US eagle feather law, who may legally possess bald eagle feathers for religious use?

Enrolled members of recognised tribes. They apply to a federal repository outside Denver, which takes in eagles found dead across the country and sends out the feathers and parts.

Sam, a cartoon bald eagle in a stars-and-stripes hat, was the mascot of which Olympic Games?

Los Angeles 1984. The organisers first chose a bear, California's emblem, but Moscow had just used one, so a Disney artist drew an eagle instead.

A bald eagle pair's bond usually lasts until when?

One of them dies. Pairs generally mate for life and return to the same nest year after year, though a bird that loses its partner will take a new one.

Which raptor from another continent shares the bald eagle's white head and tail?

The African fish eagle. It behaves like its American lookalike too: besides catching its own fish, it bullies herons and other fishing birds into giving up theirs.

When bald eagles are old enough to breed, where do they usually settle?

Near where they hatched. Young eagles roam widely, sometimes hundreds of miles in a day, yet most return to breed in the area where they were raised.

A 2016 federal plan offered which industry 30-year permits covering bald eagles killed by accident?

Wind energy. The plan raised the yearly cap to 4,200 bald eagles and stretched permits from five years to thirty, to give wind farms firmer financial footing.

What do northern bald eagles do when their lakes and rivers freeze over?

Move south or to the coast. Eagles with open water all year stay on their territory; it is ice locking away the fish, not the cold itself, that sends the others travelling.

Which pesticide, banned in the United States in 1972, is blamed above all for the bald eagle's collapse?

DDT. It built up in the fish the eagles ate and thinned their eggshells until they cracked under the weight of the brooding adult.

A study of nearly 1,500 bald eagle deaths in Michigan found the leading cause was what?

Being hit by cars while scavenging roadkill. Deaths peaked in autumn, at the height of the deer rut, and the authors urged road crews to drag carcasses well back from the tarmac.

Which Canadian province hosts one of North America's biggest winter gatherings of bald eagles, at Squamish?

British Columbia. From November to February the birds line the Squamish and Cheakamus rivers to feed on spawning fish, and a 1994 count there found 3,769 eagles, a world record.

Immature bald eagles are most easily confused with which other North American raptor?

Golden eagle. A mottled young bald eagle is a close match for it at a distance, and since 1962 the law that protects bald eagles has covered golden eagles too.

Outside the breeding season, how do bald eagles often spend the night?

Roosting together in groups. A hunter that works alone by day may share its winter roost with scores or even hundreds of others, all jostling for position.