Bald Eagle

 

Animal Unique | Bald Eagle | Bald eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It's name in Latin means "sea eagle with white head." It is one of the largest flying birds seen in the United States. It is the national bird of the United States of America and appears on the Seal. Benjamin Franklin had suggested that the national symbol of the Wild Turkey, as the Bald eagle was "a bird of bad moral character", but he was overruled. Today it is seen on many things in the United States, such as money, seals and other patriotic symbols. The range of Bald eagle 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 name "Bald eagle" does not mean that the bird is really bald. From a distance it looks bare because of the contrast of light and dark feathers. To the first settlers in the United States, the word bald meant white, not bald. By its appearance, its name came to be of the Bald Eagle. It can not have amazing colors to four or five years old. Before that time, the immature Bald eagle seems to have a brown head and tail with a yellow beak. The beak is large and hooked. Bald eagle has a body that is intermediate between rigid and bulky. The plumage of the immature is brown, speckled with white until the fifth (rarely fourth, very rarely third) year, when it reaches sexual maturity. Immature Bald eagle are distinguishable from the Golden Eagle in that the former has a more excellent head with a larger bill, straighter sharp wings held flat (not slightly raised) and with a stiffer wing beat, and feathers that have not completely covering the legs. 

 

Like many other raptors, has an unusual feature that is called "reverse sexual dimorphism." This means that the female is generally greater than the male. The fascinating thing about the Bald eagle for me is that span of the Bald eagle can reach eight feet. It is between 30.4 and 36.4 cm high, or about as high as an average office desk. It has a five and a half to eight feet wingspan. That's about as long as a large dining table. Bald eagle lives generally forty-five to fifty years in prison and twenty-five years in the wild. Bald eagle is a powerful kite, and rises by thermal convection currents. It reaches speeds of 56-70 miles per hour when gliding and flapping, and about 48 kilometers per hour while carrying fish. The dive speed is between 120-160 miles per hour though it seldom dives vertically. Bald eagle selects migration routes which make use of thermals, updrafts, and food sources. During migration, the rise in a thermal and then glide down, or it may ascend in updrafts with the wind against a rock or a different field. Migration usually occurs during the daytime, when thermals are produced by the sun. 

 

Scientific classification
Kingdom:     Animalia
Phylum:     Chordata
Class:     Aves
Order:     Accipitriformes
Family:     Accipitridae
Genus:     Haliaeetus
Species:     H. leucocephalus

The adult Bald eagle is between four and six years old. It chooses a partner for his life. The climate affects life in the reproduction. Bald eagle has a tendency to breed in winter in the south, and in the spring in the north. It raises her family in large nests are usually built near water. It may nest alone or in an area where many Bald eagles live also. This hawk usually nests high in live pine trees higher than the things that surround them. Occasionally, the Bald eagleto build its nest on the ground and there is nothing in the neighborhood in jeopardy. The female eagle typically builds up the major part of the nests. They are obsessed with working on their nests. The nests are made of natural materials such as sticks, mud and pieces of grass and can weigh a ton. The nests are sometimes bigger than two meters in width. 

 

Bald eagle's diet is opportunistic and varied, but most feed mainly on fish. In the Pacific Northwest, spawning trout and salmon most of the Bald eagles' diet. Locally, eagles depend largely on carrion, especially in winter, and will scavenge carcasses to the size of whales, but it seems that carcasses of ungulates and large fish are preferred. They can also sometimes eat subsistence scavenged or stolen from campsites and picnics, and garbage dumps. Mammalian prey includes rabbits, hares, raccoons, muskrats, beavers, deer and roe deer. Preferred avian prey includes grebes, alcids, ducks, gulls, coots, herons and geese. Most live prey are much smaller than the eagle, but predation is included for the animals to the size of adult swans, raccoons and young adult ungulates, all of which are larger than eagles. Reptiles, amphibians and crustaceans (especially crabs) are preyed on when available. 

 

To hunt fish, easily their most important live prey, the Bald eagle swoops down over the water and grabs the fish from the water with its claws. They eat by holding the fish in one claw and tearing the meat with the other. Bald eagle have structures called spicules on their toes that allow them to fish to grab. It has been estimated that the grip (pounds per square inch) of the bald eagle is ten times larger than that of a man. Sometimes when the fish is too heavy to lift, the eagle will be dragged into the water. Bald eagle is a great predator. This is an environment helper. It helps the environment by eating all kinds of fish and other animals. This is good for the environment because eating a variety of different animals. Like the Osprey, the Bald eagle returns to its nest each year. It would not be able to do this if it to more than the prey hunting in its area. 

 

Bald eagle has five distinctive features very well in the jobs that have to do to survive, these are called special adaptations. The first adjustment of the Bald eagle is that it can see four to eight times better and farther than humans. The second special adaptation is a bony overhang above their eyes. This overhang protects the eyes from the sun and the potential damage, and helps when flying and searching for food. The colors of the bird's eye of each gloss and makes it possible to see in the water more easily in the search for fish. The third modifications to the small bumps on the underside of the foot called spicules. This excellent bumps along with sharp claws, help hold the fish eagle in flight. The last obvious adaptation of the Bald eagle is their very curved beak. This is used to fish from tearing each other to help when eating. 

 

Bald eagle is a sacred bird in some North American cultures, and the springs, such as the Golden Eagle, are central to many religious and spiritual practices among Native Americans. Eagles are considered spiritual messengers between gods and humans by some cultures. Like many pow wow dancers use the Eagle Claw as part of their regalia as well. Eagle feathers are often used in traditional ceremonies, particularly in the construction of regalia worn as part of the fans, bustles and head dresses. The Lakota, for example, give an eagle feather as a symbol of honor to someone who achieved a task. 

 

For many years the Bald eagle was close to extinction. This close call was caused by a chemical that has now been declared illegal by the U.S. government. The chemical causes them and many other birds of prey are threatened with extinction. It affects the eggs they produced. They all had very thin shells that would break during incubation. This would ensure some baby Bald eagle, causing a large decrease of the eagle population. There was a bounty put on eagles. People thought they were killing livestock and reducing the amount of fish available for fishermen. Other things that have jeopardized the Bald eagles are the result of our daily lives. As more shops, buildings, houses and shopping centers are built, eagles and other animals lose their homes. They live in trees are felled and food they eat is poisoned.

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