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BALD EAGLE
By LYNETTE RAE McADAMS
FOR COAST WEEKEND
N
ative only to North
America, the bald ea-
gle (Haliaeetus leuco-
cephalus) is found through-
out Alaska and Canada as
well as in scattered locations
across the contiguous United
States and Mexico.
The largest true raptor
on the continent, it boasts
a wingspan up to 8 feet
in length and weighs an
impressive 14 pounds. With
a preference for residing
near large, open bodies of
water, where the fi shing is
good and the weather mild,
this famous bird of prey
feels right at home along
our coastline, where it is a
common and welcome sight
year-round.
Easily identifi able by
its distinctive brown body
and snowy-white head and
tail feathers, this precision
predator fl ies through the
air at 35 mph, making
vertical dives at up to three
times that speed when on
the hunt for food. Rather
than fl apping its wings
for propulsion, it soars on
thermal vectors generated
by solar air currents, thereby
PHOTO BY HSTIVER (THINKSTOCK.
COM)
A portrait of a bald eagle
PHOTO BY HUGH MCKENNA
A bald eagle soars over the beach at Fort Stevens State Park.
using only one-twentieth the
energy required to pump its
enormous wings.
In the wild, bald eagles
have an average lifespan of
about 30 years. At sexual
maturity, they pair off with
mates who become lifelong
partners, sharing almost
equally in the tasks of
nest-building, egg-hatching
and chick-rearing.
Typically, each nesting
pair has one chick per year,
but sometimes two and, very
rarely, three. As a species,
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H. leucocephalus is prone
to siblicide, so if multi-
ple chicks do hatch, they
compete fi ercely against one
another, with the dominant
chick often starving the
weaker one, or simply toss-
ing it from the nest.
Used by the same mating
pair from year to year, who
add to it and make small
renovations each spring,
bald eagles construct some
of the largest nests in the
world, building entirely
with sticks and then lining
the inside with soft grasses
and moss. The biggest nest
ever found, located in St. Pe-
tersburg, Florida, was almost
10 feet in diameter, 20 feet
deep, and weighed close to
4,000 pounds.
Owing to its beauty,
strength, longevity and na-
tive birthplace, the bald ea-
gle became the offi cial bird
of the U.S. in 1782. At that
time, it was estimated that
almost 500,000 specimens
lived in North America.
Prized by some and consid-
ered vermin by others, they
were heavily hunted. By the
late 1800s, the species was
in decline.
In 1940, the Bald Eagle
Act was passed, and under
federal protection, popula-
tions started to recover. Si-
multaneously, however, pes-
ticides were introduced for
use in agriculture, entering
the food chain at the lowest
level. The toxic compounds,
especially Dichlorodiphen-
yltrichloroethane (DDT),
made eagle eggshells so
brittle, they would break
during incubation. By 1963,
continental populations had
fallen to 417 nesting pairs.
A ban on DDT in 1972
saw eagle numbers rise
almost immediately and con-
tinue through the following
decades — so much so that,
in 2007, the bird was safely
removed from the Endan-
gered Species List.
But make no mistake:
Bald eagles are still heavily
protected. Under federal law,
it remains illegal to possess
any part of the bird, dead
or alive, including feathers,
eggs and nest materials.
Exceptions are made for
Native Americans, who,
with special permit, are
allowed to use the emblems
for cultural ceremonies. All
others, if caught, face fi nes
of up to $100,000, as well as
possible imprisonment. CW