The American Bald Eagle Essay, Research Paper

I chose the American bald eagle because it is one of the

fastest and strongest species of eagles. It is the national

symbol. The Congress adopted it as the national symbol in

1782. I think it was adopted as the national bird of the

United States because the Roman soldiers used the eagle

as a symbol of courage and power. In the early 1800’s,

Americans called the Bald Eagle, the American eagle. Here

is some of the biology of the Bald Eagle. Bald Eagles do a

very good job at their part in the food web. Bald eagles

also have an interesting name. The scientific name for bald

eagles is Haliaeetus leucocephalus. The family order is

accipitridae and falconiformes. The young of bald eagles

are called eaglets or eyasses. Bald eagles are

warm-blooded and breathe oxygen from the air. A female

will lay 1 to 3 eggs every five years, with at least 1hatching.

Although all Bald Eagles are consumers, none of them eat

plants to get their chemical energy. Some birds in the eagle

community are African fish eagle, Stellerís sea eagle,

white-bellied sea eagle and the palm-nut vulture. Bald

eagles, out of all eagles are carnivores; they eat fish, there is

no such thing as a herbivore or even an omnivore Eagle.

The young of a bald eagle are fully fledged (just like their

parents and ready to live in the world) at about the age of 4

months. After hatching, newborn eagles are all white and

blind. Male bald eagles generally measure 3 feet from the

end of the beak to the tip of the tail, weighing about 7 to 10

pounds, and having a wing span of 6 feet. Females, some

larger, reach about 14 pounds and have a wingspan of 8

feet. Bald eagles live only in the United States and Mexico.

Bald eagles will only live near lakes and rivers. A bald

eagle’s nest is about 70 feet above the ground in tall pines

or deciduous trees. Nests are almost 7 feet wide and five

feet deep. The territory of a Bald Eagle has a carrying

capacity of 10 to 40 square miles, per eagle. Eagles will

live in cold, warm and light temperatures. Bald eagles will

eat just about anything; they have a large range in their

predator/prey role. An eagle’s diet consists of fish, rodents,

small snakes, and small game birds. It will also steal food

from other species of small birds or other eagles, including

its own kind! Sometimes it will even kill a bird to get food.

It will also eat carrion, food that was already killed, which

means it is sometimes a decomposer. Bald eagles have

interesting ways of protecting themselves. Bald eagles have

oil inside of their feathers to protect themselves from rain or

snow. Bald eagles also have special feathers that will

insulate them in the winter. A female eagle will outstretch its

wings over the young to form a portable shelter. Once,

several students went up to the Quabbin Reservoir, found

an active eagles nest, tore it apart and found 60 cat collars.

Bald eagles were at homeostasis until they were put on the

endangered species list from the 1950s up until the early

1980’s. Ever since, federal law has protected bald eagles

and whoever kills or tries to kill one will suffer a $500 fine

and a year in jail. There are many biotic and abiotic factors

in an eagles environment, but none compare to there love

for salmon, and there passion for high altitude; whether it

be them soaring and 10,000 feet, or them sitting in their

nest on the top of an incredibly steep cliff.