Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus · Animal
The bald eagle is a large sea eagle of North American lakes, rivers and coasts. After nearly disappearing in the 20th century, it has made one of conservation’s best-known recoveries.
Key facts
- Scientific name
- Haliaeetus leucocephalus
- Kind
- Animal
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN LC)
- Habitat
- Lakes · rivers · coasts
- Range
- Alaska and Canada to northern Mexico
- Size
- Wingspan up to 2.3 m
- Weight
- 3–6.3 kg
- Lifespan
- About 20 years in the wild
- Diet
- Carnivore (mostly fish)
- Activity
- Diurnal · pairs mate for life
- Population
- ≈ 316,700 in the contiguous United States (2020)
Diet
Catches fish near the water surface and also eats waterbirds and carrion.
Behavior
Pairs return to the same nest every year, adding material until some nests weigh more than a tonne.
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Haliaeetus
- Species
- H. leucocephalus
Conservation
Pesticide DDT thinned its eggshells; after DDT was banned the species recovered and was removed from the US endangered list in 2007.
Main threats
- Lead poisoning
- Habitat loss