![]() Infrequently a subadult will mate with an adult.īald Eagle courtship involves elaborate and beautiful nuptial displays, both calls and aerobatics, including cartwheels, roller-coaster swoops, and chases. Failed breeding attempts may prompt a pair to split up and look for new mates. Some may mate for life, but if one member of a pair dies or disappears, the other will take a new partner. Generally, the adults are likely to hunt and kill, whereas the younger birds rely more heavily on scavenging and piracy. They sometimes feed in groups, although they rarely cooperate in hunting. These large predators take food however they can, stealing it from other birds (e.g., fish from the Osprey), scavenging on carrion (including road kills and fish killed passing through hydropower turbines), and hunting in flight, from a perch, on the ground, or in shallow water. When its staple foods are not available, a Bald Eagle will eat almost anything that has food value. Much of its live prey, especially the waterfowl, consists of sickly individuals or those wounded by hunters. The Bald Eagle feeds primarily on fish, aquatic birds, and mammals, which it may take alive or find dead. An annual census of wintering eagles is done in Canada and the United States in mid-January. The largest winter gathering of Bald Eagles on the continent is along the late-freezing Chilkat River in Alaska, where thousands of Bald Eagles gather from October to December to feed on salmon that have died after spawning. Wintering eagles typically congregate in groups of a few to perhaps a thousand birds. ![]() Young Bald Eagles from the population that breeds in Florida during November and December wander north in the summer, sometimes as far as the Maritimes.Ĭoastal British Columbia provides habitat for most of the Bald Eagles that winter in Canada. They may or may not frequent the same nesting grounds and wintering areas each year. Travelling alone or in pairs, birds breeding in central Canada migrate south in autumn to the west-central and southwestern United States and return north in the late winter or early spring. In the United States, this white-headed bird of prey still nests in more than half of the states. Other provinces and territories have fewer breeding Bald Eagles. ![]() ![]() In the east, there are small but important nesting populations in Cape Breton and along the Newfoundland coast. The boreal, or northernmost, forests of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and northwestern Ontario support healthy breeding populations as well. Most of Canada’s breeding population of Bald Eagles is found in British Columbia, especially along the Pacific coast. They probably hear about as well as humans do, but their senses of taste and smell are poorly developed. One of 59 species of eagles in the world, the Bald Eagle is one of two eagles in North America (the other is the Golden Eagle) and the only exclusively North American eagle.īald Eagles can see three or four times farther than people, an obvious advantage to a bird that hunts and scavenges. The majestic Bald Eagle is Canada’s largest bird of prey. Those that are forced to move in search of open water may fly from inland nesting sites to nearby coastal wintering areas, or they may migrate between a northern breeding area and a southern wintering area. Some Bald Eagles may remain in their breeding habitat year round if their fishing areas do not freeze over. To breed, most Bald Eagles choose sea coasts and lakeshores, where suitable nest trees are available. Their voice, which carries long distances, sounds something like a gull’s scream broken into a series of notes. To kill and handle prey, Bald Eagles have massive beaks, large talons, and oversized feet equipped with small spikes, called spicules.īald Eagles do not have a wide range of calls. Until then, bird watchers may confuse it with other birds, such as the Turkey Vulture and Golden Eagle. It takes a young Bald Eagle four or five years to achieve this distinctive coloration. Adults have a dark brown (almost black) body that contrasts sharply with the white feathers on the head and tail, and the yellow beak, eyes, and legs. Males and females have identical plumage. Bald Eagles that breed in the southern United States are smaller than those that breed farther north. On average, females are larger than males, and juveniles are larger but lighter in weight than adults of the same sex. When perched, the bird measures about 76 cm tall. The wings, wide and long for soaring, span more than 2 m. Haliaeetus denotes "sea eagle," and leucocephalus refers to its white head. The Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus is an enormous bird.
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