America’s Bird: The Bald Eagle

A huge bird just flew in over Owl Acres.  Its wings stretch to eight feet as it flies, and its dark brown body and wings contrast with its stark white head and tail. It lands in the big elm near the driveway. Clearly, it is a living representative of America’s symbol of strength, courage, and freedom—the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). America’s founding fathers chose it in 1782 as the national emblem, and today we see the bald eagle on dollar bills, quarters, passports, and hosts of other documents. When the eagle was chosen, and the great seal of the United States was being designed, Benjamin Franklin declared that the eagle looked more like a turkey. He went on, writing to his daughter, to say that the “Bald Eagle…is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly…[he] is too lazy to fish for himself.” He went on to praise the turkey as “a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America…He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage.” As we shall see, Ben did not have all his facts straight.

The bald eagle is, in fact, native to North America. Its range encompasses most of the continental United States. In the summer, these large, powerful birds are commonly seen in Alaska, along the east and west coasts, and along the Mississippi River. Considered partial migrants, they will migrate far enough south to find open water and fish in winter.

Although bald eagles will consider a dinner of carrion if it’s fresh enough, they prefer fish. In her recent book “Bird Cloud,” Annie Proulx describes a pair of bald eagles sitting in a tree above a river, watching for fish. When a fish comes along, one of the pair will swoop down with grace and precision to pluck the fish out of the water. Fish is a bald eagle’s preferred food, and they are expert at obtaining it. When fish aren’t available, they will prey on smaller birds and mammals, but only very rarely on lambs or calves.

Because of their penchant for fish, bald eagles usually live within a short distance of water. The bird in our elm tree most likely has a nest somewhere in the dense trees along the nearby river or, a bit farther away, near a large lake. Owl Acres doesn’t have sufficient habitat or water to support a nesting pair, but we are delighted to see them in the neighborhood occasionally.

Bald eagles mate for life. As juveniles, they are all brown, including their heads and tails. The young eagles live on their own, and go through several molts and color changes. When they’re about five years old, they’re old enough to mate. That’s when their head and tail feathers become the iconic white that earn them the misnomer of “bald,” and their beaks turn yellow.  The adult bird stands about three feet tall and weighs between ten and fourteen pounds. The female is somewhat larger than the male, but otherwise they look alike. The bird has a distinctive curved yellow beak, yellow rings around the eyes, and yellow legs and feet with sharp black talons.

In the wild, bald eagles live for 25 to 35 years. A pair of bald eagles will build a nest high in a tree or on a cliff. They will work together for two to three months to create a suitable place to lay their eggs. They’ll use the same nest, enhancing and repairing it each year, where they’ll raise one to three little eagles each season.

In spite of being championed by our founding fathers as America’s living symbol, (Ben Franklin notwithstanding), the same bird has been vilified by farmers and ranchers as a potential despoiler of lambs, calves and poultry. Estimated at a population of half a million birds at the beginning of European settlement, they were hunted mercilessly until only 416 breeding pairs remained in the lower 48 states by 1963. Along with hunting, several other factors contributed to their decline. DDT weakened the shells of their eggs, causing them to crack prematurely. Ingestion of lead shot from carrion of uncollected hunting casualties caused lead poisoning, and deforestation caused loss of habitat. Listed as an endangered species in 1963, the population of bald eagles in the United States recovered to a count of 11,000 breeding pairs by 2007 when they were delisted. However, they are still protected under the Migratory Bird Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

Our eagle visitor doesn’t stay long. Soon it’s off to soar on the updrafts and hunt for its next meal. We’ll hope to see it again soon.

Photo by Eric LaPrice