Majestic Masters of the Sky: Exploring the World of Eagles

The sun stretched across the blue canopy on a crisp morning in February. The river was wrinkled with a few soft waves splashing against the rock shore. On a special assignment, I had meandered back on my birthday to the place I called home as a child.

I had heard that bald eagles lived and nested along the Cumberland River in Dover, TN, but I had never been privileged to see one. Like millions across the world, I had admired the eagle for its symbolism of power, freedom and strength. My eyes keen and bent toward the sky, I watched and waited in hope to see this majestic bird.

Within minutes, a mature, beautiful bald eagle swooped down and perched in a tree close beside me. Stunned, I could hardly move as I scrambled to find my phone to take a photo. Picking the phone up off the ground, I spotted what appeared to be a professional photographer taking pictures of this eagle and her eaglets in the nest. Wow! Excited, I asked without hesitation if she would consider making some photos for me. She gladly accepted the offer. What a birthday gift this was, one that I had never experienced in my lifetime. After that day I began to study eagles and found some interesting facts below. 

The majestic Bald Eagle 

Facts of Interest

 It is estimated that these birds have existed for at least 2 million years, with their ancestors being traced back to Africa. However, the first true bald eagles are believed to have originated in Asia around 300,000 years ago before gradually migrating towards North America. They can have a wing span up to eight feet and can fly at a speed up to 65 mph.  Amazing Facts about Eagles | OneKindPlanet Animal Education & Facts

Bald Eagle Eyes

Sight is the strongest of all eagle senses. Detecting prey up to two miles away their eyesight is unmatched by other birds. The eyes can take up almost 50% of the head, and can weigh the same amount as a human eye. The vision of an eagle is 4–5 times better than that of a human. Eagle eyes are angled 30 degrees away from the center of the face, which gives eagles a greater field of view. Eagles can see five basic colors to our three, and can detect UV light.

Cones are light detecting cells that are sensitive to color. One of the reasons that eagles have better vision than humans is because their retinas, a layer at the back of the eyeball, have more cones. We have 200,000 cones per square millimeter, whereas eagles have one million. 15 Majestic Facts About the Bald Eagle (treehugger.com)

Bald Eagle’s Diet

Bald eagles are carnivorous and live on a diet of meat and/or fish and other birds. They are apex predators, which means they are at the top of the food chain and get the pick of the crop. Mammals make up a small portion of their usual diet. Studies have shown that bald eagles will hunt and eat some 400 different species, including animals like deer fawn. They will also eat snakes, but are wise enough to know which ones to eat and which ones to avoid. They have also been known to eat monkeys and sloths.

Rather than do their own fishing, they often go after other creatures’ catches. A Bald Eagle will harass a hunting Osprey until the smaller raptor drops its prey in midair, where the eagle swoops it up. A Bald Eagle may even snatch a fish directly out of an Osprey’s talons. Fishing mammals (even people sometimes) can also lose prey to Bald Eagle piracy.

The Bald Eagle holds tight to the prey as he is suspended in mid-air. 

Bald eagles usually live in freshwater or coastal habitats, and thus, their staple meat is actually fish. Many are surprised to hear that they have pescatarian tendencies - they especially love to hunt salmon, catfish and herrings, but will even eat crabs and other crustaceans. Fish are a relatively risk-free target and provide the high saturated fat content that eagles need to thrive.

In winter, bald eagles will lower their energy expenditure and focus primarily on scavenging more than hunting. Roadkill is the wintering bald eagle’s dream, as is the quarry of other predators which the Bald Eagle will seek to thieve and steal. It is not recommended to confront the bird to try and stop the situation.

Baby bald eagles are fed raw meat from day one. Their parents will tear them small parts of flesh and feed it directly to them. They don’t need to be weaned on regurgitated or soft foods like other birds.

Bald Eagles - Monogamous for Life

Eagles are monogamous, so generally mate for life. They have strong site fidelity, so a mating pair tend to reuse the same nest year after year. Nests, composed of sticks, vegetation, and downy feathers, are built by both males and females.

Location of the nest varies with species. Bald eagles for example, most likely nest in tall trees whereas as golden eagles prefer cliff faces or more open areas. The number of eggs laid will depend upon species, but many eagles lay between one and three eggs; four egg clutches do occur, but they are rare.

The Bald Eagle - A National Emblem for America

Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, the Continental Congress gave Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams the job of designing an official seal for the new nation. However, the three Founding Fathers were unable to agree on a design that won Congress’ approval, as did two later committees that were given the task.

In mid-June 1782, the work of all three committees was handed over to Charles Thomson, the secretary of Congress. Thomson chose what he thought were the best elements of the various designs and made the eagle—which had been introduced by artistically inclined Pennsylvania lawyer William Barton in a design submitted by the third committee.

Thomson also recommended that the small, white eagle used in Barton’s design be replaced with an American bald eagle, and Congress adopted this design on June 20, 1782. According to legend, Ben Franklin protested to Congress about the bald eagle, but there is no evidence on record that he did this. In a letter to his daughter in 1784 he did label the bald eagle “a bird of bad moral character.” However, he did favor the wild turkey over the bald eagle as the national emblem.

As the design went on to appear on official documents, currency, flags, public buildings and other government-related items, the bald eagle became an American icon. How Did the Bald Eagle Become America’s National Bird? | HISTORY

The Bald Eagle - Threated by Extinction

The United States was home to 100,000 nesting bald eagles in the late 1800’s, but that number dwindled quickly due to destruction of habitat and hunting. Fortunately, Congress passed the Bald Eagle Protection Act in 1940 making it illegal to possess, kill or sell the birds. But a new threat arose when they began eating prey contaminated with DDT, a pesticide that came into wide use following World War II. The population of eagles decreased to around 400 breeding pairs in the 1960’s. The bird ended up on the endangered species list in 1978. 

Making a comeback the bald eagle population increased with the status being changed from endangered to threatened in 1995 and was removed completely from the list in 2007.

The Bald Eagle is perched high in a tree to watch and wait for prey. 

 The Bald Eagle – Largest Nest on Record

Fortunately, for all who admire these spectacular birds, the Bald Eagle remains strong. The largest Bald Eagle nest on record, in St. Petersburg, Florida, was 2.9 meters in diameter and 6.1 meters tall and weighed almost 3 tons. It can take the eagle 1-3 months to build the nest. Another famous nest—in Vermilion, Ohio—was shaped like a wine glass and weighed almost two metric tons. It was used for 34 years until the tree blew down.

Bald eagles can live a long time. The oldest recorded bird in the wild was at least 38 years old when it was hit and killed by a car in New York in 2015. It had been banded in the same state in 1977.

If you have never seen a Bald Eagle, I encourage you to go a nature refuge, national park or somewhere that you know that is home to this majestic bird. You will not be disappointed! You may also want to take a look at some beautiful poems about eagles at Eagle Poems | Discover Poetry.