Scientific name - Haliaeetus leucocephalus Eagles are a member of the Accipitridae family, which also includes hawks, kites, and old-world vultures. Scientists loosely divide eagles into four groups based on their physical characteristics and behavior. The bald eagle is a sea or fish eagle.

There are two subspecies of bald eagles. The "southern" bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus, is found in the gulf states from Texas and Baja California across to South Carolina and Florida, south of 40 degrees north latitude. The "northern" bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus alascanus, is found north of 40 degrees north latitude across the entire continent. The largest number of northern bald eagles are in the Northwest, especially in Alaska. The "northern" bald eagle is slightly larger than the "southern" bald eagle.

Studies have shown that "northern" bald eagles fly into the southern states and Mexico, and the "southern" bald eagles fly north into Canada. Because of these finding, the subspecies of "northern" and "southern" bald eagles has been discontinued in recent literature.

Color - The adults have a blackish-brown back and breast; a white head, neck, and tail; and yellow feet and bill. Juvenile bald eagles are a mixture of brown and white; with a black bill in young birds. The adult  plumage develops when they're sexually mature, at about 4 or 5 years of age. The bald eagle is the only eagle confined to North America, and there are no other large black birds in North America with white heads and tails.

Size - The female bald eagle is 35 to 37 inches, slightly larger than the male. With a wingspan which varies from 79 to 90 inches. The male bald eagle has a body length from 30 to 34 inches. The wingspan ranges from 72 to 85 inches. Bald eagles weigh from ten to fourteen pounds. Northern birds are significantly larger than their southern relatives.

Life expectancy - Wild bald eagles may live as long as thirty years, but the average life span is probably about fifteen to twenty years. Eagles sit at the top of the food chain, making them more vulnerable to toxic chemicals in the environment since each link in the food chain tends to concentrate chemicals from the lower link.

Body Temperature - 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.8 degrees Celsius)

Tolerance to cold temperatures - A bald eagle's skin is protected by feathers lined with down. The feet are cold resistance because they are mostly tendon. The outside of the bill is mostly nonliving material, with little blood supply.

Fidelity - Once paired, bald eagles remain together until one dies, the survivor will not hesitate to accept a new mate.

Breeding - Individuals may not breed every year. Some may mate for life, but if one partner dies or disappears, the other will take a new partner. Failed breeding attempts may prompt a pair to split up and look for new mates. Infrequently a sub-adult will mate with an adult.

Bald Eagle courtship involves elaborate and beautiful nuptial displays -- both calls and aerobatics, including cartwheels, roller-coaster swoops, and chases. Usually the pair builds its nest near fresh or salt water in the tallest tree of large diameter in a forest stand and defends a surrounding 1-2 km² territory against other eagles. In some parts of Canada, eagles seem to prefer to nest in conifers, especially pines. Old-growth forests provide the most suitable nest sites, but where there are no trees, the birds have nested on cliffs, rock pinnacles, or, in the northern tundra, the ground. Only a few eagles have been recorded nesting on human-made structures.

The Bald Eagle's nest is the largest of any bird in North America — on average 1.5– 2 m across and about 1 m tall. Long-established nests can be much larger (one was 3 m across and 6 m tall), because the occupants add new materials to the basic structure of branches and twigs each season. In the centre is a small depression lined with soft vegetation and feathers in which the female Bald Eagle lays one to three (usually two) large dull white eggs, two to four days apart. During the 35 days of incubation when the eggs must be kept at the correct temperature and protected from predators, one of the adults (most often the female) is on the nest almost all the time.

The eggs hatch two or three days apart. Covered in gray down at hatching, eaglets begin to sprout feathers at four or five weeks. The female Bald Eagle, and to a lesser degree the male, broods the young, shielding them from rain, wind, and sun, continuously at first and sporadically after the first month. The male carries most of the food to the nest during the first weeks; both adults do so after this. The largest nestling eats first. Dominant, it may even kill its smallest sibling. Young eagles have enormous appetites and grow very rapidly, increasing from about 90 g at hatching to an average of 4000 g (males) and 5100 g (females) in two months. After six or seven weeks the juveniles feed themselves and show considerable aggression toward the parents. Males can fly at about 78 days and females a few days later.

The timing of the breeding cycle depends on where the nest is. Northern populations breed later and have a shorter breeding season. For example, egg laying is from mid-November to mid-January in Florida, but in April and May in Canada and Alaska. From the laying of the first egg to the fledging (first flight) of the last young commonly takes 16– 18 weeks.

Voice - Shrill, high pitched, and twittering are common descriptions used for bald eagle vocalizations. Eagles do not have vocal cords. Sound is produced in the syrinx, a bony chamber located where the trachea divides to go to the lungs. Bald eagle calls may be a way of reinforcing the bond between the male and female, and to warn other eagles and predators that an area is defended.

Skeleton - It weighs about half a pound (250 to 300 grams), and is only 5 or 6 percent of its total weight. The feathers weigh twice that much. Eagle bones are light, because they are hollow. The beak, talons, and feathers are made of keratin.

The wings and soaring - An eagles wings are long and broad, making them effective for soaring. To help reduce turbulence as air passes over the end of the wing, the tips of the feathers at the end of the wings are tapered so that when the eagle fully extends its wings, the tips are widely separated. To help them soar, eagles use thermals, which are rising currents of warm air, and updrafts generated by terrain, such as valley edges or mountain slopes. Soaring is accomplished with very little wing-flapping, enabling them to conserve energy. Long-distance migration flights are accomplished by climbing high in a thermal, then gliding downward to catch the next thermal, where the process is repeated.

The tail - is very important for flight and maneuvering. While the bald eagle is soaring or gliding in flight, the tail feathers are spread, in order to attain the largest surface area and increase the effect of thermals and updrafts. The tail also helps to brake the eagle when landing and assists in stabilization during a controlled dive or swoop toward prey. The strength of the feathers and the follicles holding the feathers is quite impressive, while watching the tail move back and forth and up and down during maneuvers.

Bald eagles have 7,000 feathers. Eagle feathers are lightweight yet extremely strong, hollow yet highly flexible. They protect the bird from the cold as well as the heat of the sun, by trapping layers of air. To maintain its body temperature an eagle simply changes the position of its feathers. While an eagle suns itself on a cold morning, it ruffles and rotates its feathers so that the air pockets are either opened to the air or drawn together to reduce the insulating effect. Feathers also provide waterproofing and protection, and are crucial for flight. Feather structure makes pliability possible. Overlapping feathers can form a dense covering, which the birds can open or close at will. The bald eagle has several layers of feathers, each serving a different function. Under the outer layer of feathers is an inner layer of down or smaller feathers. The inter locking of feathers is an astonishing design of nature. The feathers enable eagles to live in extremely cold environments. Eagles do not have to migrate to warmer areas each year to fulfill temperature requirements, they migrate to available food supplies.

Respiratory system - Eagles have external nares opening on both sides of the bill. A bald eagle never reaches speeds that would interfere with normal breathing. The eagle's lungs and air sac system is adequate for its size. Air moves in through the lungs and on into the air sacs before moving back through the lungs and out again. Air passes through the lungs two times with each breathing cycle - twice that of mammals.

Eye Sight - All eagles are renowned for their excellent eyesight, and the bald eagle is no exception. They have two foveae, or centers of focus, that allow the birds to see both forward and to the side at the same time. Bald eagles are capable of seeing fish in the water from several hundred feet above, while soaring, gliding, or in flapping flight. This is quite an extraordinary feat, since most fish are counter-shaded, meaning they are darker on top and thus harder to see from above. Fishermen can confirm how difficult it is to see a fish just beneath the surface of the water from only a short distance away. Young bald eagles have been known to make mistakes, such as attacking objects like plastic bottles floating on or just below the surface of the water. Bald eagles will locate and catch dead fish much more rapidly and efficiently than live fish, because dead fish float with their light underside up, making them easier to see. Eagles have eyelids that close during sleep. For blinking, they also have an inner eyelid called a nictitating membrane. Every three or four seconds, the nictitating membrane slides across the eye from front to back, wiping dirt and dust from the cornea. Because the membrane is translucent, the eagle can see even while it is over the eye.      Eagles, like all birds, have color vision. An eagle's eye is almost as large as a human's, but its sharpness is at least four times that of a person with perfect vision. The eagle can probably identify a rabbit moving almost a mile away. That means that an eagle flying at an altitude of 1000 feet over open country could spot prey over an area of almost 3 square miles from a fixed position.

Hearing - Eagles are not distinguished for their hearing, but this does not mean that they have poor hearing. Diurnal (active by day) birds of prey like hawks and eagles use their hearing to locate prey or other birds, but the sharpness is not as essential as in some owls, which can locate prey in the dark only by their sound.

Beak - The hook at the tip is used for tearing. Behind the hook, the upper mandible, the edge sharp enough to slice tough skin, over laps the lower, creating a scissors effect. A bald eagle's beak is a strong weapon, but is also delicate enough to groom a mate's feathers or feed a small portion of food to a newly hatched chick. The beak and talons grow continuously, because they are made of keratin, the same substance as our hair and fingernails. The beak of a captive eagle is not warn down naturally, so must be trimmed annually.

Talons - Talons are important tools for hunting and defense. Eagles kill their prey by penetrating its flesh with their talons.

Diet and Feeding Habits - The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a member of the sea and fish eagle group. Its closest relatives, similar in appearance and habit, are found in Africa and Asia. Even though they are fish eaters, they will take whatever prey is available and easiest to obtain. Bald eagles which live along the coast and on major lakes and rivers feed mainly on fish. Bald eagles fish in both fresh and salt water.
   Eagles sit at the top of the food chain, making them more vulnerable to toxic chemicals in the environment, since each link in the food chain tends to concentrate chemicals from the lower link. Because of their size, they have few enemies and require a large hunting area.
   A bald eagle's lifting power is about 4 pounds. They do not generally feed on chickens or other domestic livestock, but they will make use of available food sources. Bald eagles will take advantage of carrion (dead and decaying flesh). Because of its scavenger image, some people dislike the bald eagle. Other people do not care for powerful and aggressive birds. Still other people object merely on the grounds that it is a bird of prey, which kills other animals for food.
   Once an eagle spots a fish swimming or floating near the surface of the water, it approaches its prey in a shallow glide and snatches the fish out of the water with a quick swipe of its talons. Eagles have a special locking mechanism for their talons. When the open talons hit the prey, they instantly close and cannot be opened again until the eagle pushes down on a solid surface.
    Occasionally, bald eagles plunge into water while trying to catch a fish. The eagle can not fly again until it's out of the water, so it uses its large wings to swim. The eagle is a strong swimmer, but if the water is very cold, it may be overcome by hypothermia.
   The hunting area or home range patrolled by a bald eagle varies from 1,700 to 10,000 acres. Home ranges are smaller where food is present in great quantity.
   Because of the energy expended during hunting, an eagle has to spend a lot of time resting quietly. It's estimated that only one out of eighteen attacks are successful.
   Though not as fast as falcons, bald eagles are fast fliers. When diving, where lift is less important than reaching drag, the eagle pulls in its wings to minimize their surface area.
   Bald eagles have been seen hunting in pairs. An eagle protects its food by partially opening its wings, or tenting.
   An eagle can consume one pound of fish in about four minutes. The eagle holds its prey with one talon, holds onto its perch with the other, then tears off each bite with its bill.
   The bald eagle steals food from other bald eagles as well as other species. Chasing another raptor is usually enough to persuade it to drop its kill, but occasionally bald eagles will attack.
   Bald eagles do not have to eat every day. But if the bird goes too long without food, it may not be able to hunt effectively in order to survive.
   Eagles have an out pouching of the esophagus, called a crop, where they can store food when the stomach is full. The crop also separates indigestible substances, such as feathers, fur, and scales from the meat. The indigestible substance is mixed with mucus and formed into a mass. After the meal, the eagle eventually regurgitates the mass as a casting.
   For a scavenger like the bald eagle, the carcass of a seal is an unexpected large food supply. Rich with fat and protein, the seal's body will feed a group of eagles for days. Though many calories will be obtained, they will be lost in fighting over the food.

Migration - Adult bald eagles, do not migrate with juveniles. Newly fledged eagles migrate before their parents. No one knows how the young birds know when and where to travel. Some fledgling eagles wander in a wide range their first few years. Some return to their origin, while others do not. Only the young eagle knows if this is a conscious decision, or if it simply loses its way. Adult bald eagles begin fall migration when the northern lakes and rivers freeze over. Depending on location, they usually migrate to the coast or large rivers near dams, where the water remains open. Wind currents play a large roll in determining their flight pattern. Some eagles are migratory while others are not. Many eagles in Florida do not migrate, but remain year-round. Most bald eagles migrate south in the fall to areas with sufficient food, and return north in the spring to nest. In the spring, the birds migrate quickly, but during the fall they migrate rather slow. They may remain in an area for a week or so before continuing on. Migrating eagles fly during the day at speeds averaging 30 miles per hour. To help them soar, eagles use thermals, which are rising currents of warm air, and updrafts generated by terrain, such as valley edges or mountain slopes. Soaring is accomplished with very little wing-flapping, enabling them to conserve energy. Long-distance migration flights are accomplished by climbing high in a thermal, then gliding downward to catch the next thermal, where the process is repeated. Bald eagles tend to migrate in groups. A "stream" of migrating bald eagles can be twenty to thirty miles long, with birds spread out about a half mile apart.

Nesting & The Young

Nests - The shape of the eagle nest is determined mainly by the branch point it is built in. Sticks placed in deep, near vertical forks result in cylindrical or conical nests. Nests built on the ground or nearly level branches are disk shaped. Bowl-shaped nests my occur where the tree trunk branches suddenly into several smaller, upright branches.
   Bald eagles build their nests in large trees near rivers or coasts. A typical nest is around 5 feet in diameter. Eagles often use the same nest year after year. Over the years, some nests become enormous, as much as 9 feet in diameter, weighing two tons. Even when a nest tree falls or a strong wind blows a nest down, the established pair usually rebuilds at or near the site within a few weeks if it is near the breeding season. The nest may be built in a tree, on a cliff, or even on the ground if there are no other options available.
   Eagles are territorial during nesting season. They will keep other eagles out of their own nesting area. Their nesting territory is usually one to two square miles.

Sexual maturity - An eagle reaches sexual maturity at around four or five years of age. At that time, the eagle's energies become concentrated on the effort of finding a mate and raising offspring. Bald eagles mate for life, but when one dies, the survivor will not hesitate to accept a new mate.
   During breeding season, both birds protect the nest territory from other eagles and predators.

Mating season - varies greatly by region. In the South it may last from late September through November, while in the Great Plains and Mountain West, it may last from January through March. In Alaska it lasts from late March to early April.
   Pairs of bald eagles have been seen whirling through the air with talons locked together. This could be a form of courtship or a ritualized battle between an intruding eagle and one defending its territory. Whichever it is, eagles do not actually copulate in the air, as some people believe.
   One way to determine the sex of an eagle is to examine its beak. Females have deeper (distance from top to chin) beaks than males.
   Some eagles do not breed every year. Bald eagles are capable of breeding annually from the age of four, but some of the adults, though paired, seem to choose not to breed. It might be an instinctive decision, based on the weather; availability of nesting sites, or food.
   Because an eagle lives up to 30 years in the wild, it has many years in which to produce offspring necessary to replace itself. Only a few of the eggs hatched in a lifetime will survive to old age.

Eggs - In the Vancouver area eggs are laid in late March and early April, while in northern Canada and Alaska eggs are laid in May. In Florida, eggs are laid from November through January.
   Eagles lay from one to three eggs. Five to ten days after a successful copulation, the female lays a speckled off-white or buff colored egg about the size of a goose's. The second egg is laid a few days later, followed by a possible third.
   The 35 days of incubation duties are shared by both male and female, but it is the female who spends most of her time on the nest. Trading places on the nest can be a tense time. The brooding parent may have to call for relief, or may be reluctant to leave and have to be pushed off the eggs or young. During incubation, the male bald eagle regularly brings green sprigs of conifer branches to the nest. Why he does this, no one knows, but it could be for deodorizing the nest or possibly providing shade for the eaglets.
   During incubation, one parent is always on the nest, not only to keep the eggs warm but to protect them from squirrels, ravens, and gulls which will break open and eat the eggs.
    Human disturbance can have an impact on the bald eagle, as most of them need some privacy and quiet to breed. People wanting to observe or photograph the eagles can disturb them enough to cause them to abandon a nest. Use binoculars and spotting scopes for viewing, and keep at a reasonable distance.
   The eggs hatch in the order they were laid. Eaglets break through the shell by using their egg tooth, a pointed bump on the top of the beak. It can take from twelve to forty-eight hours to hatch after making the first break in the shell (pipping). Once the eggs begin to hatch, the female's vigilance becomes nearly constant. The male provides the majority of the food needed by his rapidly growing family. Eventually the female will take up her share of the hunting, but in the early days, all of her attention is given to the young eaglets in the nest.

Chicks - Sometimes two chicks will survive, but it is not uncommon for the older eaglet to kill the smaller one, especially if the older is a female, as females are consistently larger than males. Should one chick decide to kill its sibling, neither parent will make the slightest effort to stop the fratricide.
   Newly hatched, eaglets are soft, grayish-white down covers their small bodies, their wobbly legs are too weak to hold their weight, and their eyes are partially closed eyes, limiting vision. Their only protection is their parents.
   Eagles feed their young by shredding pieces of meat from their prey with their beaks. The female gently coaxes her tiny chick to take a morsel of meat from her beak. She will offer food again and again, eating rejected morsels herself, and then tearing off another piece for the eaglet.
    While on the nest with very young eaglets, parents move about with their talons balled into fists to avoid accidentally skewering their offspring.

Eaglet Growth - The young birds grow rapidly, they add one pound to their body weight every four or five days. At about two weeks, it is possible for them to hold their head up for feeding. By three weeks they are 1 foot high and their feet and beaks are very nearly adult size.
   Between four and five weeks, the birds are able to stand, at which time they can began tearing up their own food. At six weeks, the eaglets are very nearly as large as their parents.
   At eight weeks, the appetites of the young birds are at their greatest. While parents hunt almost continuous to feed them, back at the nest the eaglets are beginning to stretch their wings in response to gusts of wind and may even be lifted off their feet for short periods.
   At three or four weeks, this eaglet is covered in its secondary coat of gray down. In another two weeks or so, black juvenile feathers will begin to grow in. While downy feathers are excellent insulators, they are useless as air foils, and must be replaced with juvenile feathers before an eaglet can take its first flight, some 10 to 13 weeks after hatching.


First Flights - Down is gradually replaced by feathers, while the eaglets grow still stronger. Finally, an important moment arrives. Approximately 40% of young eagles do not survive their first flight.
   Once the young eagles have fledged (to acquire the feathers necessary for flight) they remain around the nest for four or five weeks, taking short flights while their primary feathers grow and strengthen. Their parents still provide all of their food.
   The young birds, with the exception of their color, resemble their parents, but are nothing like them in behavior. They have to learn how to hunt, and they only have the remainder of the summer to learn. After that, they're on their own. The first winter is the most dangerous and difficult part of an eagle's life.
   Higher predators are born with instincts that urge them to fly, to bite or to pounce, but precisely how to do these things is another matter. Through months of trial and error, eagles acquire basic skills such as lighting on perches or stooping on prey through practice. Eagles practice with almost fully developed bodies, and so sharpen their skills quickly.
   The immature bald eagle, such as seen here, is sometimes mistaken for a golden eagle. However, young bald eagles have more white mottled into their coloration overall, and they have the yellow beak of the adult. The golden eagle is more solid in color, and it has a beak that is more blue-black, with a nearly black tip.
   Eagles molt in patches, taking almost half a year to replace feathers, starting with the head and working downward. Not all feathers are replaced in a given molt. Until the bald eagle is mature, the replacement feathers are of different colors. As adults, the belly and back are dark, while the head is pure white. The distinct juvenile pattern, signaling that a bird is not ready to breed, may reduce aggression from territorial adults.
   As bald eagles age, their eyes and beak gradually turn yellow. The white hood and tail feathers grow in sometime in their fourth year.
 The young eagle stays near the nest, practicing its abilities to fly and to hunt. The parents cannot tell juveniles how to hunt, they have to learn by watching the parents and by practicing. During this time they seem to spend more time looking at prey than they do actually attacking it.
   Over the next month, they meet with their parents to be fed, but have little other contact with them. They learn to soar and to spot prey.
   Until the first winter after their fledging, young eagles near the nest are often still fed by their parents. Although a young eagle has the instincts to hunt, it lacks the skills. If food is scarce during the winter, it may die.
   Six to nine weeks after fledging, juvenile eagles leave the nesting area.

Nesting cycle - From the time the parents build the nest and the young are on their own, takes about 20 weeks. During the nesting cycle the parents remain within one to two miles of the nest.
   Communal gatherings of bald eagles offer many advantages to younger inexperienced eagles. Not only is food abundant on the salmon spawning grounds, but here the juveniles can watch their elders to learn how food is caught. They also learn very quickly how to steal food.

History - Before European settlers first sailed to America's shores, bald eagles may have numbered half a million. They existed along the Atlantic from Labrador to the tip of south Florida, and along the Pacific from Baja California to Alaska. They inhabited every large river and concentration of lakes within North America. They nested in forty-five of the lower forty-eight states. One researcher estimated an eagle nest for every mile of shore along Chesapeake Bay. They congregated on the lower Hudson, and were extremely abundant along the coast of Maine.
  There is no single cause for the decline in the bald eagle population. When Europeans first arrived on this continent, bald eagles were fairly common. As the human population grew, the eagle population declined. The food supplies for eagles decreased, because the people hunted and fished over a broad area. Essentially, eagles and humans competed for the same food, and humans, with weapons at their disposal, had the advantage. As the human population expanded westward, the natural habitat of the eagles was destroyed, leaving them fewer places to nest and hunt, which caused the population of bald eagles to decline sharply by the late 1800s.
   By the 1930s, people became aware of the diminishing bald eagle population, and in 1940 the Bald Eagle Act was passed. This reduced the harassment by humans, and eagle populations began to recover. However, at the same time DDT and other pesticides began to be widely used. Pesticides sprayed on plants were eaten by small animals, which were later consumed by birds of prey. The DDT poison harmed both the adult birds and the eggs that they laid. The egg shells became too thin to with stand the incubation period, and were often crushed. Eggs that were not crushed during incubation often did not hatch, due to high levels of DDT and its derivatives. Large quantities of DDT were discovered in the fatty tissues and gonads of dead bald eagles, which may have caused them to become infertile.
   More than 100,000 bald eagles were killed in Alaska from 1917 to 1953. Alaskan salmon fisherman feared they were a threat to the salmon population.
   Public awareness increased, and many states placed the bald eagle on their lists of endangered species in the 1960s and early 1970s. Many dedicated individuals and groups worked to make the conservation of eagles a national issue.
    Bald eagles were officially declared an endangered species in 1967 in all areas of the United States south of the 40th parallel, under a law that preceded the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Federal and state government agencies, along with private organizations, successfully sought to alert the public about the eagle's plight and to protect its habitat. On July 4, 1976, the US Fish and Wildlife Service officially listed the bald eagle as a national endangered species.
   Until 1995, the bald eagle had been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 43 of the 48 lower states, and listed as threatened in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Washington and Oregon. In July of 1995, the US Fish and Wildlife Service upgraded the status of bald eagles in the lower 48 states to threatened.
   Only a handful of species have fought their way back from the United States' endangered species list. The California gray whale, the American alligator, and the bald eagle are a few. Once endangered in all of the lower 48 states, the bald eagle's status was upgraded to "threatened" in 1995, two decades after the banning of DDT and the passing of laws to protect both eagles and their nesting trees.
   About half of the world's 70,000 bald eagles live in Alaska. Combined with British Columbia's population of about 20,000, the northwest coast of North America is by far their greatest stronghold. They flourish here in part because the salmon. Dead or dying fish are an important food source for all bald eagles.

Causes of death to the bald eagle are:

The Bald Eagle - An American Emblem

   The bald eagle was chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of American, because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed to exist only on this continent.

The Eagle, Our National Emblem

   On the backs of our gold coins, the silver dollar, the half dollar and the quarter, we see an eagle with outspread wings.
   On the Great Seal of the United States and in many places which are exponents of our nation's authority we see the same emblem.
    The eagle represents freedom. Living as he does on the tops of lofty mountains, amid the solitary grandeur of Nature, he has unlimited freedom, whether with strong pinions he sweeps into the valleys below, or upward into the boundless spaces beyond.
    It is said the eagle was used as a national emblem because, at one of the first battles of the Revolution (which occurred early in the morning) the noise of the struggle awoke the sleeping eagles on the heights and they flew from their nests and circled about over the heads of the fighting men, all the while giving vent to their raucous cries. "They are shrieking for Freedom," said the patriots.
   Thus the eagle, full of the boundless spirit of freedom, living above the valleys, strong and powerful in his might, has become the national emblem of a country that offers freedom in word and thought and an opportunity for a full and free expansion into the boundless space of the future.

   The Eagle became the National emblem in 1782 when the great seal of the United States was adopted. The Great Seal shows a wide-spread eagle, faced front, having on his breast a shield with thirteen perpendicular red and white stripes, surmounted by a blue field with the same number of stars. In his right talon the eagle holds an olive branch, in his left a bundle of thirteen arrows, and in his beak he carries a scroll inscribed with the motto: "E Pluribus Unum." The Eagle appears in the Seals of many of our States, on most of our gold and silver coinage, and is used a great deal for decorative patriotic purposes.

   At the Second Continental Congress, after the thirteen colonies voted to declare independence from Great Britain, the colonies determined they needed an official seal. So Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams, and Mr. Jefferson as a committee prepared a device for a Seal of the United States of America. However, the only portion of the design accepted by the congress was the statement E pluribus unum, attributed to Thomas Jefferson. Six years and two committees later, in May of 1782, the brother of a Philadelphia naturalist provided a drawing showing an eagle displayed as the symbol of "supreme power and authority." Congress liked the drawing, so before the end of 1782, an eagle holding a bundle of arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other was accepted as the seal. The image was completed with a shield of red and white stripes covering the breast of the bird; a crest above the eagle's head, with a cluster of thirteen stars surrounded by bright rays going out to a ring of clouds; and a banner, held by the eagle in its bill, bearing the words E pluribus unum. Yet it was not until 1787 that the American bald eagle was officially adopted as the emblem of the United States. This happened only after many states had already used the eagle in their coat of arms, as New York State did in 1778. Though the official seal has undergone some modifications in the last two hundred years, the basic design is the same.
   While the eagle has been officially recognized as America's national bird, there have been dissenters who feel the bird was the wrong choice.

Benjamin Franklin wrote: I wish that the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country, he is a bird of bad moral character, he does not get his living honestly, you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him.... Besides he is a rank coward; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest. . . of America.. . . For a truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on.

   Franklin was clearly against the eagle and let everyone know it. Likewise, the artist John James Audubon agreed with this opinion of the bald, or white-headed, eagle.
   Nevertheless, selected as our national bird, the eagle has appeared on all official seals of the United States, as well as on most coinage, paper money, and on many U.S. stamps. It is curious to note the minted eagles have been issued in a great variety of shapes and positions. Also, there is great variation in the species depicted. Some of the famous images have species other than the bald eagle----for example the famous ten-dollar gold pieces exhibit the "double eagle" instead. Numerous people have complained because many, if not most, of these illustrations show the wide-ranging golden eagle rather than our own national bird, the bald eagle. They feel these representations mislead the general public into believing that they are looking at a bald eagle. The easiest way to distinguish between the golden and bald eagles is by the feathering on the legs. The golden is feathered down the entire leg, while the bald eagle has no feathers on lower part of the leg until at least two or three years of age, when bald eagles also start developing the white head and tail.

  Because of their size, bald eagles are not concerned about threats from other birds. However, eagles are often chased by smaller birds, who are trying to protect their young. Bald eagles are unlikely to bother smaller birds or their young, which makes these efforts unnecessary. Eagles often ignore mobbing behavior by smaller birds. It was Benjamin Franklin's observations of a bald eagle either ignoring or retreating from such mobbing that probably led to his claim of the bald eagle's lack of courage.

Eagles and the Sun

   The strong link between eagles and the sun can be traced through many cultures. The Aztecs told how during the creation of the present world, the eagle and the jaguar fought over who would have the honor of becoming the sun. The eagle settled the matter by flinging himself into a fire and, thus, becoming the sun. The jaguar, following close behind, settled for becoming the moon, with the spots on his coat showing that he had been only partially burned. In light of this tale, it's easy to see why the Aztec eagle and jaguar warrior societies were considered the most elite of the military orders. The Aztecs also tied the eagle to the sun in another way, comparing the daily journey of the all-important sun to an eagle's flight: rising on the warming air of morning and swooping down out of sight at night in pursuit of prey.
   The eagle plays a crucial role in the sun dance of the Plains peoples of North America, and symbolizes the sun in the rites of some of the Southwestern tribes. The Iroquois tell of Keneu, the golden eagle, and of Oshadagea, the giant eagle with a lake of dew on his back who lives in the western sky.
   On the other side of the Atlantic arose a belief about the eagle and the sun that persisted for many centuries. The eagle was thought to he the only animal capable of looking directly into the sun. Aristotle and Pliny wrote of this and added that the eagle tested its young by facing them to the sun, rejecting any that looked away. The writers of early bestiaries added to the eagle's mystery by giving it the power of eternal youth:
   A Myth that some Christians use today: When the eagle grows old and his wings become heavy and his eyes become darkened with a mist, then he goes in search of a fountain, and, over against it, he flies up to the height of heaven, even into the circle of the sun, and there he singes his wings and at the same time evaporates the fog of his eyes in ray of the sun. Then at length taking a header down into the fountain, he dips himself three times in it, and instantly he is renewed with a great vigour of plumage and splendour of vision.

Eagles and Death

   When the Roman emperor Augustus died in A.D. 14, his body, with appropriately imposing decorations and accompaniments, was carried to the Campus Martius. There a towering pyramidal funeral pyre had been built, and the emperor was placed upon it. As the torch was applied to the base of the pyre, men in the surrounding crowd cast their adornments into the flames. The flames crept upward and an eagle was released from the summit of the burning mound, symboling the ascent of Augustus's soul to the gods.
   Others also associated eagles with death and the journey of souls. Welsh legend told of how the souls of brave warriors flew to heaven in the form of eagles. In ancient Sumer, the eagle brought new souls (children) to this world and carried departed souls to the underworld. In Syria, the eagle carried souls to its master, the sun. The Hopi in the southwestern United States believed that the dead rose to become clouds drifting in an eagle-ruled sky. In some cases, those who died could be reborn not just as clouds but as eaglets. The Hopi kept captive golden eagles, believing them to be messengers that could take their prayers to the spirits.
   Eagles played the role of soul-bearers for many ancient cultures. Others associated them with death, too, but in different ways. The Aztecs identified the eagle with the sun and with one of the main ways of nourishing the sun-human sacrifice. The hearts of sacrificial victims were often placed stone vessel called the cuauhxicalli, which means "eagle gourd vessel." In central Mexico, eagle down became a common symbol of sacrifice.
   The Zulus and other peoples of South Africa link bateleur with battles and the ensuing carnage. One of their names for the bateleur translates as "eater of the warriors," which could be more factual than symbolic--one of the bateleur's main food sources is carrion. Other eagles share the same eating habits and reputation. A twelfth-century writer, Giraldus Cambrensis, described an eagle sitting on Mount Snowdon, Wales, as a prophetess of war who fed on the dead and had "almost perforated the stone by cleaning and sharpening her bill."

The Power of Eagle Feathers

   At one time a party of Delawares were driven by the Pawnees to the summit of a high hill in their hunting grounds. Here the chief warrior, driven almost to despair, sacrificed his horse to the tutelar spirit. Suddenly an eagle, rushing clown from the sky, bore off the victim in his talons, and mounting into the air, dropped a feather from his wing. The chief caught it up with joy, and leading his followers down the hill, cut through the enemy without any one of his party receiving a wound.
   A Cheyenne man who lived long ago, before people had learned to use eagle feathers for ceremonial purposes, went on a vision quest. High into the mountains he climbed and, finding an appropriate spot, fasted and prayed for five days. He prayed that a powerful being would come to him and help him to find a cure for his troubles. He seemed to hear a voice telling him to be brave, no matter what he might see. Then seven eagles appeared, and one of them spoke to him. "Look at my feathers and see how they can be used to help you and your people." The eagle showed him how to make headdresses and ornaments from feathers and told the man that if his people used only eagle feathers, it would help them win the war. Then the eagles shook themselves and out fell feathers, which the man gathered and took home. His people made him a great leader for bringing them this gift.
 Eagle feathers were important not only in war ceremonials and objects, but also in many healing rituals. They also played central roles in the eagle dance, and were used along with eagle-bone whistles in the sun dance. Several methods were used to obtain eagle feathers for ceremonial purposes. Some Central and south American peoples kept captive harpy eagles to supply them with feathers as they needed them. The Hopi people of the American Southwest sent special expeditions, directed by their religious leaders, to remove young golden eagles from the nest. The eaglets, after being carried to the village in cradle boards, then had their heads washed and were given presents. They were fed and taken care of until after the Niman ceremony, when they were "sent home" by being smothered. After the birds were skinned, prayer smoke was blown over their bodies. Then the corpses were sprinkled with cornmeal and buried in a special burial ground preserved for hawks and eagles.
  The Cheyenne brave killed the eagle for its feathers but did so only with strict attention to ancient ceremonial details, which included a formal apology to the spirit of the bird. The ritual was lengthy and demanding. The brave went into his lodge alone and through the long, dark night sang the sacred tribal chants reserved for the occasion. The following morning he emerged from his lodge to go into the plains and select the place for capturing the eagle, a place readily seen by the eagle in the sky. There he dug a hole in which to crouch and wait, but he dug with great care, working only when there were no eagles in sight, and carrying the earth away to avoid discovery of his plans by the sharp eyes of the eagle. Then he gathered long grass to lay over the pit as a roof.
   On the day of the capture the warrior would bathe, then cover his body with oils to mask the man odor. Before the first yellow light of dawn he slipped off silently to crouch hidden in the pit beneath the brown grass. Above him, he placed a dead rabbit or other fresh bait, lashed down securely to prevent the eagle from swooping in and carrying it away.
   At last the eagle would circle the blue morning sky, then come steadily and swiftly closer on its wide-spread wings. It would settle on the meat, begin tearing at it, and become so driven by its hunger that it would not see the brown hands reaching slowly up through the grass below it. Then the eagle would be dragged struggling and flapping down into the pit. There, according to Cheyenne custom, it could be killed in only one manner, by strangulation with a noose. Having taken eagles with his bare hands, the brave could walk with great pride among his people. He also gained a practical advantage, as the barter value of the feathers was high. Twenty eagle feathers might pay for a horse.
   Today in the United States and Canada, eagle feathers may be obtained for ceremonial purposes only by special permit. Eagles and eagle parts from dead birds that have been found or confiscated are distributed through government agencies to the native peoples. They are then allotted by the elders of each group according to need. In 1994, the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon, gave away 870 eagles and filled 28,000 requests for feathers.

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