The bald eagle was adopted as the national emblem of the United States in 1782.  It now appears on every dollar bill .  Now rare, it is the country's most famous bird. The bald eagle was once a common sight throughout the United States and most of Canada, but now it is in grave danger.  Pollutants and pesticides ingested by its prey have worked their way up the food chain and are threatening the bald eagle.

Habitat: The bald eagle makes it home along coastal areas, marshes, and river banks where it has the best chance of catching fish, its main diet.  The eagle is frequently found in Florida's estuaries and pine forest.  Greater numbers live in Alaska, its last great stronghold.  Outside the breeding season, the bald eagle lives anywhere in North America where there is water.

Breeding: Breeding season lasts from December to April, although it begins earlier in Florida, the warmest and most southerly part of the bald eagles range.  It is timed so that hatching coincides with the most abundant food supplies.  Bald eagles mate for life and use the same nest each year.  They build a huge aerie (nest) of sticks and twigs in a tree, or farther north, on rocky cliffs.  The nest takes weeks to construct and is increased yearly.  The female usually lays two eggs, taking turns with her mate to incubate them over the next 35 days.  Both parents feel the young.  Each brings food in its talons and tears it into smaller pieces with its beak.  Competition for food is so great that usually only one chick survives to adulthood.  As the chicks grow they learn to tear up their own food and the parents leave them for longer periods.  The chicks practice flying form aerie, but they return nightly.  This continues until l their parents force them to leave at the end of the summer.

Food & Hunting: Watching motionless from its high perch, the bald eagle spots the silvery glimmer of fish swimming close to the water's surface.  Soaring effortlessly, the eagle plucks the fish from the water in its strong talons and carriers it off to eat.  Sometimes the eagle dives underwater to catch fish.  At other times it collects dead fish, such as salmon that have dies after spawning, or it feeds on other carcasses.  This adaptable hunter also attacks wading birds, forcing them to dive repeatedly until they are too exhausted to get away.  The osprey, also a fishing bird, will give up its catch for the eagle to scoop up.  When fish are scarce, the eagle eats anything it can find or catch.  It feeds on dead cattle and sheep.  It also hunts live rodents and mammals including foxes and young deer, and even geese in flight.

Bald Eagle and Man:  Humans are responsible for the declining population of the bald eagle.  It was once widely shot for its hunting habits.  Not it habitat is being drained for development.  More harmful rate the effects of toxic pollutants and pesticides.  Poison from contaminated prey builds up in the birds body/  Causing sterility.  This and its slow maturity rate contribute to its decline.

Key Facts: Sizes, Weight, breeding, lifestyle, related Species

Length: Male, about 2 1/2 ft, female, 3 feet
Wing Span: 6 to 8 ft
Weight: Males, 10 lbs, females, 13 lbs

Breeding:
Sexual maturity: 5 years
Mating Season: November - April depending on location
Gestation: 35 days
Fledgling: 10 to 11 weeks, usually only one chick to survive maturity
Eggs: 2 , white to pale blue

Lifestyle:
Habit: Mainly Solitary outside breeding season
Diet: Mainly fish, also rodents, small mammals, and carrion.
Related Species: Related to other sea eagles such as the African fish eagle, Haliaetus vocifer.
Distribution: The bald eagle's range is now thinly populated with breeding areas restricted to Florida, the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea, ALaska, northern and easter Canada, and the northern United States.
Conservation: An endangered species, the bald eagle is now fully protected in the United States.

Did you know:
From bald eagles the bald eagle's white head appears to be completely feather less; hence its name.
A bald eagle's aerie built in Ohio about 1890 ws used every year until storms destroyed it in 1925.
The adult eagle protests its brood from stormy weather by forming a shelter with its outstretched wings.
The largest gathering of bald eagles is on the Chilkat River in Alaska. Up to 4,000 inhabit a 10 miles stretch.
This bird named the symbol of our country in 1792, was on the verge of extinction just 40 years ago because of the pesticide DDT. When eaglets eat fish and other DDT contaminated food, they became contaminated. The ban on DDT and the strict protection of the bald eagle have resulted in its resurgence. The bird is now widespread throughout the nation and was removed  from the endangered species list in 2007 a true American conservation story.
In 1784 Benjamin Franklin wrote to his daughter lamenting the choice of the bald eagle as the main symbol of the United States. Franklin was making a case for the wild turkey instead.

Features of the bald eagle:
Flight: The bald eagle has broad wings with deeply slotted tips. These are ideal for soaring and long distance flying.
Talons:  Long and sharp for seizing prey.
Young: Fully fledged after 10 to 11 weeks.  Survival of more than one from each brood is rare.
Aerie: Massive nesting platform of sticks and twigs build in a tree or on a cliff ledge.  Weighs up to two tons' is larger than any other birds nest.
Head feathers:  Brown on juvenile. The eagle has full adult plumage after five years.
Eggs: Usually two, white or pale blue. Hatch after 35 days.