Bald Eagles are one of the largest birds of prey. They weigh up to 14 pounds and are 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall. They have a wingspan of up to 7 feet. Female eagles are on average larger then males.
Bald eagles live in nest built on tall trees such as conifers and mangroves. They mainly live in forest like areas. They build their nest out of sticks and stuff cracks with moss, grass, and cornstalk. Eagle nest are known as aeries. Eagles can be found in the continental U.S., Alaska, Canada, and Mexico.
Image from Dreamtimes.com by Yulia Gapeenko
Bald eagle eggs are up to 3 inches tall. Eagles lay up to 3 eggs at a time. Eagle eggs take 35 days to hatch.
Image from the American Eagle Foundation
Eagle hatchlings are known as eaglets. They weigh 1/4 of a pound or 3 ounces. They get all their feathers after 9 weeks. Eaglets leave the nest after 10-12 weeks. Eaglets can't care for themselves.
Image from Journey North
Eagles are carnivores and mainly eat salmon, shad, herring, and catfish, but they will also eat reptiles, amphibians, crabs, muskrats, and even other birds.
Image from Facebook.com by Jess Findlay
As previously stated, eagles are carnivores meaning they have to hunt. To catch their pray first they have to find what to try and eat using there great vision to see up to a mile away. Then they dive to grab it from up to 10,000 feet in the air, going from a top speed of 30 mph in flight to a top speed of 100 mph durring their dive. Then once they get low enough they scope up their prey using their strong talons that can exert up to 400 psi of force.
Image by Mark Millar
Today there are about 316,000 bald eagles alive. There are also 71,467 nest just as of 2009. These numbers used to be way lower to to people hunting and trapping them in thew early 21st centry.
Site by Phineas McCollum