Bald eagle Facts

About the bald eagle

Despite the name, this eagle is not bald. The word comes from an older meaning, white-headed, which fits the adult, whose white head and tail contrast with a brown body. Its big hooked beak is yellow. Males and females look alike, but females are roughly 25% larger. Bald eagles live near large open waters with plenty of food and old-growth trees for nesting, from Canada and Alaska through all the contiguous states into northern Mexico.

Fish make up most of the diet, snatched from the water with the talons after a swooping dive. The nests are enormous, the largest of any North American bird, up to 4 m (13 ft) deep and weighing as much as 1 metric ton. In the late 20th century the species nearly vanished from the contiguous United States. Bans on hunting it and on the pesticide DDT helped it bounce back.

Did you know?

• The bald eagle was moved from endangered to threatened in 1995 and taken off the list in 2007.
• Bald eagles reach sexual maturity at four to five years old.
• The bald eagle appears on the seal of the United States.