I chose the American bald eagle because it is one of thefastest and strongest species of eagles.
It is the nationalsymbol. The Congress adopted it as the national symbol in1782. I think it was adopted as the national bird of theUnited States because the Roman soldiers used the eagleas a symbol of courage and power. In the early 1800’s,Americans called the Bald Eagle, the American eagle. Hereis some of the biology of the Bald Eagle.
Bald Eagles do avery good job at their part in the food web. Bald eaglesalso have an interesting name. The scientific name for baldeagles is Haliaeetus leucocephalus. The family order isaccipitridae and falconiformes.
The young of bald eaglesare called eaglets or eyasses. Bald eagles arewarm-blooded and breathe oxygen from the air. A femalewill lay 1 to 3 eggs every five years, with at least 1hatching. Although all Bald Eagles are consumers, none of them eatplants to get their chemical energy. Some birds in the eaglecommunity are African fish eagle, Stelleris sea eagle,white-bellied sea eagle and the palm-nut vulture. Baldeagles, out of all eagles are carnivores; they eat fish, there isno such thing as a herbivore or even an omnivore Eagle.
The young of a bald eagle are fully fledged (just like theirparents and ready to live in the world) at about the age of 4months. After hatching, newborn eagles are all white andblind. Male bald eagles generally measure 3 feet from theend of the beak to the tip of the tail, weighing about 7 to 10pounds, and having a wing span of 6 feet. Females, somelarger, reach about 14 pounds and have a wingspan of 8feet. Bald eagles live only in the United States and Mexico.
Bald eagles will only live near lakes and rivers. A baldeagle’s nest is about 70 feet above the ground in tall pinesor deciduous trees. Nests are almost 7 feet wide and fivefeet deep. The territory of a Bald Eagle has a carryingcapacity of 10 to 40 square miles, per eagle.
Eagles willlive in cold, warm and light temperatures. Bald eagles willeat just about anything; they have a large range in theirpredator/prey role. An eagle’s diet consists of fish, rodents,small snakes, and small game birds. It will also steal foodfrom other species of small birds or other eagles, includingits own kind! Sometimes it will even kill a bird to get food. It will also eat carrion, food that was already killed, whichmeans it is sometimes a decomposer.
Bald eagles haveinteresting ways of protecting themselves. Bald eagles haveoil inside of their feathers to protect themselves from rain orsnow. Bald eagles also have special feathers that willinsulate them in the winter. A female eagle will outstretch itswings over the young to form a portable shelter. Once,several students went up to the Quabbin Reservoir, foundan active eagles nest, tore it apart and found 60 cat collars.
Bald eagles were at homeostasis until they were put on theendangered species list from the 1950s up until the early1980’s. Ever since, federal law has protected bald eaglesand whoever kills or tries to kill one will suffer a $500 fineand a year in jail. There are many biotic and abiotic factorsin an eagles environment, but none compare to there lovefor salmon, and there passion for high altitude; whether itbe them soaring and 10,000 feet, or them sitting in theirnest on the top of an incredibly steep cliff.Category: Science
