The plumage of the immature is a dark brown overlaid with messy white streaking until the fifth (rarely fourth, very rarely third) year, when it reaches sexual maturity. The closely related African fish eagle ( Haliaeetus vocifer) (from far outside the bald eagle's range) also has a brown body (albeit of somewhat more rufous hue), white head and tail, but differs from the bald eagle in having a white chest and black tip to the bill. The adult bald eagle is unmistakable in its native range. The beak is large and hooked, with a yellow cere. The highly developed talon of the hind toe is used to pierce the vital areas of prey while it is held immobile by the front toes. The legs are feather-free, and the toes are short and powerful with large talons. The beak, feet and irises are bright yellow. Males and females are identical in plumage coloration, but sexual dimorphism is evident in the species, in that females are 25% larger than males. The tail is moderately long and slightly wedge-shaped. The plumage of an adult bald eagle is evenly dark brown with a white head and tail. 10 Ma BP) at the latest, but possibly as early as the Early/Middle Oligocene, 28 Ma BP, if the most ancient fossil record is correctly assigned to this genus. The pair diverged from other sea eagles at the beginning of the Early Miocene (c. The two species fill the same ecological niche in their respective ranges. This species pair consists of a white-headed and a tan-headed species of roughly equal size the white-tailed eagle also has overall somewhat paler brown body plumage. The bald eagle forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle of Eurasia. It is found in the northern United States, Canada and Alaska. alascanus Townsend, 1897, the northern subspecies, is larger than southern nominate leucocephalus. washingtoniensis (Audubon, 1827), synonym H. It is found in the southern United States and Baja California Peninsula. leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) is the nominate subspecies. There are two recognized subspecies of bald eagle: The bald eagle was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work Systema Naturae, under the name Falco leucocephalus. The genus name is New Latin: Haliaeetus (from the Ancient Greek: ἁλιάετος, romanized: haliaetos, lit.'sea eagle'), and the specific name, leucocephalus, is Latinized ( Ancient Greek: λευκός, romanized: leukos, lit.'white') and ( κεφαλή, kephalḗ, 'head'). Bald in the English name is from an older usage meaning "having white on the face or head" rather than "hairless", referring to the white head feathers contrasting with the darker body. The bald eagle is placed in the genus Haliaeetus ( sea eagles), and gets both its common and specific scientific names from the distinctive appearance of the adult's head. 10.2 National bird of the United States.6.6 Interspecific predatory relationships.It was removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in the contiguous states on June 28, 2007. government's list of endangered species on July 12, 1995, and transferred to the list of threatened species. Populations have since recovered, and the species was removed from the U.S. In the late 20th century it was on the brink of extirpation in the contiguous United States. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States of America and appears on its seal. The sexes are identical in plumage, but females are about 25 percent larger than males. The adult is mainly brown with a white head and tail. Sexual maturity is attained at the age of four to five years.īald eagles are not actually bald the name derives from an older meaning of the word, "white headed". It builds the largest nest of any North American bird and the largest tree nests ever recorded for any animal species, up to 4 m (13 ft) deep, 2.5 m (8.2 ft) wide, and 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) in weight. The bald eagle is an opportunistic feeder which subsists mainly on fish, which it swoops down upon and snatches from the water with its talons. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle ( Haliaeetus albicilla), which occupies the same niche as the bald eagle in the Palearctic. The bald eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a bird of prey found in North America. On migration only Star: accidental records
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