The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus Greek hali = salt, aeetus = eagle, leuco = white, cephalis = head) is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird of the United States of America and appears on its Seal. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting. Its diet consists mainly of fish, but it is an opportunistic feeder. It hunts fish by swooping down and snatching them out of the water with its talons. It is sexually mature at four years or five years of age. The Bald Eagle builds the largest nest of any North American bird, up to 4 meters (13 ft) deep, 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) wide, and one metric ton (1.1 tons) in weight. The adult Bald Eagle is
mainly brown with a white head and tail. The sexes are identical in
plumage, but females are larger than males. The beak is large and
hooked. The plumage of the immature is brown. Bald Eagles are not
actually bald, the name derives from the older meaning of the word,
"white headed". In the late 20th century the Bald Eagle was on the brink
of extirpation in the continental United States, while flourishing in
much of Alaska and Canada. Populations recovered and stabilized, so the
species was removed from the U.S. federal government's list of
endangered species and transferred to the list of threatened species on
July 12, 1995, and it was removed from the List of Endangered and
Threatened Wildlife in the Lower 48 States on June 28, 2007.
