Bald Eagle
- Status
- Critically Endangered
- Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- This animal is currently Least Concern
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) are classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Currently, they have a large range, large population, and an increasing population trend. During the mid-1900s, bald eagles were close to extinction due to habitat destruction, habitat degradation, illegal shooting, and the contamination of their food source from an insecticide called DDT. Due to the Endangered Species Act protecting some of their habitat, the banning of DDT, and the help of conservationists, the bald eagle population was able to recover. They were removed from the list of threatened species in 2007 but are still protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
What are they like?
Physical Description: Bald eagles have a body size of 34-43 inches for females and 30-35 inches for males with a wingspan that can reach nearly 8 feet. Their standing height is about 2 feet. Their plumage varies with age, starting mostly black in their first year then turning dark brown with a white head, neck, and tail as they reach adulthood.
Life Span: In the wild, bald eagles live for about 20 years. The oldest recorded wild bald eagle was 38 years old. In zoos, bald eagles can live for about 30 years. The oldest recorded bald eagle living at the zoo was 50 years old.
Diet: In the wild, bald eagles eat fish (over half of their diet), frogs, small mammals, insects, birds, carrion, and sometimes snakes. At the zoo, our bald eagles are fed a vitamin and mineral-rich diet. They are offered whole prey items each week that can include rabbits, rats, and quail. They are also sometimes given solid beef, liver, or trout. For training, they are offered pieces of mice.
Social Structure: Pairs of eagles will mate for life. During cold winter months, the birds favor communal roosting. There have been reports of cooperative hunting, in which one eagle will flush a prey towards another eagle.
Habitat: Bald eagles occupy virtually any type of wetland habitat with access to large bodies of water for fishing (seacoasts, rivers, lakes, marshes, etc). They also require very tall, sturdy, old growth trees to build their nests in.
Where do they live?
Bald eagles are found throughout the United States, Canada, and Alaska. The southern subspecies can range as far south as northern Mexico.
United States, Canada, Alaska & Mexico
Did you know?
- The Zoo's bald eagles, Ritz and Glory, have wing injuries that prevent them from being reintroduced into the wild. Ritz came to the Zoo in 1993 from a wildlife rehabilitator in Minnesota, and Glory came to the Zoo in 2004 from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh.
- A bald eagle's eyesight is 5-6 times sharper than that of a human.
- Bald eagles build exceptionally large nests, using tree branches, plant stalks, seaweed, and other organic materials to build nests that normally stretch five to six feet wide and two to four feet tall.
- The bald eagle's cry is often replaced by that of the red-tailed hawk in movies and tv shows; their actual cry is meek and high-pitched.
