Bald Eagles Genus: Haliaeetus

Species: leucocephalus

National emblem of the

U.S. since 1782 Nearly became extinct in

the 20th century

2 ½ and 3′ tall

Wingspan is 6-7 ½ ′ across

Females are 25% larger and weigh 10-14 pounds

How big are they?

Bald eagles like fish best, but they’ll also eat:

rodents

other birds

dead meat

They’ll even steal food from other birds.

What do they eat?

The National Wildlife Federation

http://www.nwf.org/

Eagle Nature Foundation

http://eaglenature.com/eagle_facts.php

Watch baby eagles in the nest in Decorah, Iowa

http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/

decorah_eagle_xcel.html

Where do they live?

In all 48 of the continental United States

Near water (remember, they like fish)

In nests in trees 50—200′ above ground

It takes 2 weeks for eagles to build a nest

By 1963 the number of breeding pairs fell from 100,000 to 487 because of:

Hunting

DDT

Lead poisoning

That’s a decrease

of over

99%!

Why were they

in danger?

Today bald eagles are off the endangered list.

The government stopped counting breeding pairs in 2007 when they reached 9789.

That’s up from only 487 in 1963.

How are they doing today?

So how did bald eagles survive? We made some changes...