Other Names. White Headed Eagle, White Headed Sea Eagle; American Eagle, Black Eagle Gray Eagle and Washington Eagle. The last three names concern the immature Bald Eagle.
General Description The mature male Bald Eagle stands about 30 to 35 inches tall while the female stands about 34 to 43 inches. In flight they have a wingspan of 61/2 to 7 feet.
Their main plumage is dark brown, their ankle is bare of feathers for an inch or more above the toes. The Bald Eagle's entire head neck, upper tail -coverts, and tail are white and the wing feathers are nearly black.
The eagle's bill, skin above their bill and feet show bright yellow in color. The bird's iris, has a pale yellow coloration.
The immature Bald Eagle in its first year has mainly black plumage. The young bird has no white plumage on its head, only small speckles of white on its tail feathers. Its body feathers are snowy white below the surface with a black bill, yellow feet and a brown iris.
In its second and third year of life the Bald Eagle's head and neck are mainly black and the long narrow feathers at the back of the neck have brown or gray tipping. Its tail is black, sprinkled or mottled with whitish body feathers. Their head and chest feathers show a mix of brown, black or gray. The young's bill turned white, its ankles and feet are yellow with a brown iris.
In northwestern Alaska, northwestern Mac-kenzie, central Keewatin, and northern Ungava south to British Columbia and the Great Lakes occurs a larger but otherwise similar Eagle known as the Northern Bald Eagle
Nest and Eggs The Bald Eagle builds its large nest in large trees from 20 to 90 feet above ground so situ-ated that they have a wide view of the surrounding countryside. Sometimes they make their nests in niches of rocky cliffs. The nest is a large roughly, built matter of good sized sticks, roots seaweed, bits of turf, vine or plant stalks and lined with roots or grass. Year after year the same pair of Eagles occupy the nest, making slight repairs to it each spring. The eggs are incubated for about thirty days and the eagle raise only one brood a season. When hatched the baby Eagles are covered with a whitish down but they acquire their first plumage before they fly. Bald Eagles mate for life and apparently they are very fond of each other.
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