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Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus) - Magnificent Bird of Prey

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Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus) - Magnificent Bird of Prey Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) - Magnificent Bird of Prey Did you Know? The Bald Eagle builds the largest nest of any North American bird. They can build their nests to an astounding size of 2.5 meters wide and 4 meters deep. These nests can be found in the highest trees of the forest canopy usually near water. They are not actually bald like a Vulture. The name is derived from the traditional meaning of its Latin name where bald, means "white headed". The Latin name literally translates to white headed; leuco meaning white and cephalis meaning head. The Bald Eagle is well known for its thievery. It is said that Ben Franklin Photo: Saffron Blaze from Wikipedia.org opposed using the bird on US coinage for this very reason. Habitat - The Bald Eagle prefers wilderness habitat near large lakes or major rivers with an abundance of fish. They require old-growth or mature forests of hardwood or coniferous trees, for nesting, preferring tall poplars or pines. They typically seek out the tallest tree in an area which gives them the best vantage point of their surroundings. Size - They range in body length between 70-102 centimeters and have an average wingspan between 1.8 and 2.3m.Females are about 25% larger than males and typically weigh 5.8 kg, while males average a weight of 4.1 kg. Average Life Span - 20 years (in the wild) Range - The raptors have a huge range. They are found in all parts of the continental United States, Alaska, Northern Mexico, and throughout Canada in all but the most northern regions. The Bruce Trail Conservancy | PO Box 857 Hamilton, ON L8N 3N9 | 1.800.665.4453 | [email protected] Diet - Mainly feed on fish, but they also catch birds, small mammals, scavenge for carrion and steal food from other birds. Status - S Rank: S2N/S4B in Ontario, Secure Nationally (what does this S-rank mean?) Identification: The feathers of adult Bald Eagles are evenly brown with a white head and tail. The tail is long and wedge shaped. They have large, hooked beaks that are bright yellow in colour. The feet and eyes of the bird are also a bright yellow. Juveniles are not as easy to identify as they share the dark brown plumage of the adults but they have white streaks spread throughout and they don't develop the characteristic white head until they reach sexual maturity at 5 years of age. Call: A series of sharply detached notes or chirping whistles - kleek kik ik ik ik. Photo : Juvenile eagle by KetaDesign from Wikipedia.org Photo:Yathin S Krishnappa from Wikipedia .org The Bruce Trail Conservancy | PO Box 857 Hamilton, ON L8N 3N9 | 1.800.665.4453 | [email protected] Species at Risk Since the early 1900's, widespread pesticide use, hunting and habitat loss caused the Bald Eagle populations to plummet in North America and almost led to their extinction. Since then they have recovered due to protective legislation, conservation efforts and the restricted use of certain pesticides, especially DDT, in Canada and the US. On June 28, 2007 it was altogether delisted from the list of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and was delisted in Canada in 1984. In Ontario they are still listed as Special Concern and protected under Ontario's Endangered Species Act, 2007. Today Bald eagles remain susceptible to illegal hunting, accidental trapping, poisoning and habitat loss through the development of shorelines. Bald Eagles on the Niagara Escarpment The rocky shorelines in the northern reaches of the Bruce Trail and all along the Escarpment are ideal areas to spot these large raptors as they use the updrafts created by wind hitting the vertical walls of the cliffs to travel. The birds have been spotted on two BTC properties; one in the Dyers Bay area and another north of Wiarton. The Bruce Trail Conservancy is working to protect habitat for Bald Eagles in Ontario along the Escarpment by securing land to connect natural areas and protect important shoreline habitat for eagles and other sensitive species. If you are lucky enough to see one along the Bruce Trail report your sightings to our staff ecologists and help us monitor these magnificent birds of prey. The Bruce Trail Conservancy | PO Box 857 Hamilton, ON L8N 3N9 | 1.800.665.4453 | [email protected] .
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  • Bald Eagle Haliaetus Leucocephalus
    Appendix A: Birds Bald Eagle Haliaetus leucocephalus Federal Listing N/A State Listing T Global Rank G4 State Rank S2 Regional Status Photo by Jason Lambert Justification (Reason for Concern in NH) Bald Eagle populations in the conterminous United States entered a severe population decline in the 1950s, largely a result of reproductive failure induced by biomagnification of the insecticide DDT (Buehler 2000). Some regional breeding populations, especially in eastern and southern states, became locally extirpated. This serious decline led to the designation of the bald eagle as Endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Following the banning of DDT and intensive reintroduction efforts, Bald Eagle populations gradually rebounded, and the species was removed from the federal endangered list in 2007. In the Northeast, recovery has been particularly strong since 2000. However, most states still consider Bald Eagle a SGCN due to historic extirpations and historic sensitivity to certain environmental stressors, particularly contaminants. Distribution Bald eagles currently occur and breed in all Lower 48 states and in Alaska. Based upon data provided by state agencies, from a population low of 417 breeding pairs in 1963 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that there were an estimated 1,500 breeding pairs in the contiguous 48 states in 1982 and an estimated 5,300 pairs in the same area in 1997 (derived from data in Buehler 2000), and nearly 9800 breeding pairs in the Lower 48 states in 2006. The USFWS estimated that there were 463 breeding pairs in the six New England states in 2006. The nationwide population has probably increased substantially since 2006, but more recently compiled information is not available from USFWS.
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  • Bald Eagle Haliaeetus Leucocephalus
    Wyoming Species Account Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus REGULATORY STATUS USFWS: Delisted; Migratory Bird USFS R2: Sensitive USFS R4: Sensitive Wyoming BLM: Sensitive State of Wyoming: Protected Bird CONSERVATION RANKS USFWS: Bird of Conservation Concern WGFD: NSS3 (Bb), Tier II WYNDD: G5, S4B/S5N Wyoming Contribution: LOW IUCN: Least Concern PIF Continental Concern Score: 9 STATUS AND RANK COMMENTS Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is provided international protection under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, as amended 1. In 1940, Bald Eagle was provided protection under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act 2. In 1966, the southern subspecies was listed as federally endangered under the Endangered Species Preservation Act; the entire population in the contiguous United States was listed as endangered in 1978 under the 1973 Endangered Species Act (ESA). A significant increase in numbers of nesting pairs, productivity, and distribution allowed Bald Eagle to be reclassified from Endangered to Threatened in 1995 under the ESA 3. Bald Eagle was delisted in 2007, and numbers are considered to be stable to increasing across its range 4. The species has been assigned different state conservation ranks by the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database for the breeding season and nonbreeding season because the abundance of the species is different between seasons. NATURAL HISTORY Taxonomy: Bald Eagle is a member of the family Accipitridae, which includes kites, eagles, harriers, and hawks 5. There are two subspecies of Bald Eagle; H. l. alascanus is found north of 40 degrees latitude across North America, including Wyoming, while H. l. leucocephalus is found south of 40 degrees latitude in the Gulf coast states 6.
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  • Regional Specialties Western
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    SHORT COMMUNICATION N Sørensen et al. Predation by a golden eagle on a brown bear cub Ole J. Sørensen1,4, Mogens Totsa˚ s2, Tore eagles attending bears. Murie hypothesized that Solstad2, and Robin Rigg3 eagles attending bears were waiting for opportunities to capture prey trying to escape from the bears. He 1North-Trondelag University College, Department of also observed eagles swooping at and diving low over Natural Resource Sciences and Information Technology, grizzlies and other carnivores, but interpreted this Box 2501, N-7729 Steinkjer, Norway behavior as play or curiosity, rather than predation. 2 Norwegian Nature Inspectorate, N-7485 Trondheim, C. McIntyre (US National Park Service, Fair- Norway 3 banks, Alaska, USA, personal communication, 2008), Slovak Wildlife Society, PO Box 72, 033 01 Liptovsky a golden eagle researcher in Denali National Park for Hradok, Slovakia many years, has never seen an eagle attack a bear, although she has often observed eagles following Abstract: During spring 2004 an adult female brown bears in open terrain, perhaps positioning themselves bear (Ursus arctos) and her 3 cubs-of-the-year were to take prey escaping from the bear as suggested by observed outside their den on a south-facing low- Murie. Commensalistic hunting, as well as curious or alpine slope in central Norway. They remained near play behavior by eagles in the vicinity of bears, could the den for 8–10 days and were, except for one day, be misinterpreted as eagles hunting, attacking, or observed daily by Totsa˚s and other wardens of the inspecting bears as possible prey. Predation by eagles Norwegian Nature Inspectorate.
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  • Raptor Identification
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