Bald Eagle Trivia
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49 free Bald Eagle trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States, and this quiz covers the animal behind the emblem. It explains why a bird with a full head of feathers is called 'bald', why females are a quarter bigger than males, how it snatches fish with spiny toes and a grip ten times a human's, why it steals from ospreys, and how it builds the biggest tree nest of any animal, including a Florida monster that weighed three tons. It also follows the eagle's rise, fall and comeback: the Great Seal of 1782, Benjamin Franklin's letter calling it a bird of bad moral character (and the myth that he wanted the turkey), the 70,000 shot in Alaska, the 1940 protection act, the DDT crash to 412 nesting pairs, delisting in 2007, and the 2024 act of Congress that finally made 'national bird' official. There are questions on eagle feathers in Native American traditions, the National Eagle Repository, and why Hollywood dubs in a red-tailed hawk's scream. Easy questions ask what it eats and what colour its head is; hard ones want dive speeds, wing chords and Bergmann's rule. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's article on the bald eagle, and each question carries the sentence that supports it. Our Birds and Peregrine Falcon quizzes go wider.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Why is the bald eagle called 'bald'?
From an old meaning of the word: white-headed
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.
Q 02The bald eagle belongs to which genus?
Haliaeetus, the sea eagles
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.
Q 03Which Apollo mission's lunar module was named Eagle, after the bald eagle on its crew patch?
Apollo 11
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.
Q 04Which sex of bald eagle is larger?
Females
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.
Q 05The bald eagle builds the largest tree nest of any animal; one Florida nest weighed how much?
About 3 tons
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.
Q 06A young bald eagle has a dark head; about how long does it take to turn white?
About 5 years
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.
Q 07Which 1962 book exposed the pesticide behind the bald eagle's decline?
Silent Spring
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.
Q 08Which US Army division's shoulder patch shows Old Abe, a bald eagle carried into Civil War battles?
101st Airborne Division
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.
Q 09Which close relative of the bald eagle died out in Britain in the early 1900s and was later reintroduced to Scotland?
White-tailed eagle
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.
Q 10What colour are an adult bald eagle's eyes?
Yellow
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.
Q 11Which North American bird of prey is far larger than even the bald eagle?
The California condor
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.
Q 12From tip to tip, about how wide are a bald eagle's outstretched wings?
About 2 m
About 2 m. Those long, broad wings are held flat like a plank, which lets an eagle soar on rising warm air.
Q 13Where do the largest bald eagles live?
Alaska
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.
Q 21In towns along the north Pacific coast, bald eagles crowd which unglamorous man-made feeding spot?
Rubbish dumps
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.
Q 22The habit of stealing prey from other predators, common in bald eagles, is called what?
Kleptoparasitism
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.
Q 23What can a bald eagle do with a fish too heavy to lift?
Swim ashore, rowing with its wings
Q 14Films give the bald eagle a fierce scream, but what does its real call sound like?
Weak, staccato chirping whistles
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.
Q 15Which bird's call is usually dubbed over the bald eagle's in films and TV?
Red-tailed hawk
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.
Q 16Bald eagles were found nesting for the first time on record in which Canadian city in March 2024?
Toronto
Toronto. The conservation authority kept the nest's whereabouts secret, fearing that crowds of well-wishers could make the pair abandon it.
Q 17Bald eagles have been seen passing sticks to each other in mid-air; what do observers take it for?
Play
Play. Eagles have also been watched picking up plastic bottles and other objects and using them as toys.
Q 18Besides the United States and Canada, bald eagles are native to which other country?
Mexico
Mexico. The range just reaches its northern states, where eagles have even nested on cactuses; no other eagle is found only in North America.
Q 19Roughly how fast can a bald eagle go in a dive?
About 160 km/h
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.
Q 20What helps a bald eagle grip a wet, wriggling fish?
Spiky toe pads
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.
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.
Q 24Bald eagles can store food in a throat pouch called what?
A crop
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.
Q 25In the bald eagle's 'cartwheel' display, what do the two birds do?
Lock talons and free-fall
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.
Q 26Who keeps a bald eagle's eggs warm during the five weeks before they hatch?
Both parents, in turns
Both parents, in turns. The female does most of the sitting, and the off-duty bird hunts or fetches fresh material for the nest.
Q 27In winter, bald eagles often gather at which man-made structures, where fish are easy to catch?
Dams
Dams. The water below them stays free of ice and the turbines send down stunned fish, so eagles wait in the trees nearby.
Q 28What is the traditional word for a bald eagle's high nest?
An eyrie
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.
Q 29Bald eagles nest on the ground on the treeless islands of which chain?
Aleutians
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.
Q 30What is the average lifespan of a wild bald eagle?
About 20 years
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.