Bald Eagle Facts
Bald eagle facts for kids - Amazing and fun bald facts
Check out these interesting bald eagle facts for kids.
➤ FACT 1. The bald eagle was chosen as the national bird symbol of the United States of America in 1782.
➤ FACT 2. The scientific name of the bald eagle is Haliaeetus Leucocephalus. It signifies a sea (halo) eagle (aeetos) with a white (leukos) head.
➤ FACT 3. ‘Bald’ is an old English word “balde” which means white, not hairless.
➤ FACT 4. Eagles belong to the Accipitridae family. Other members of this family are hawks, kites, and old-world vultures.
➤ FACT 5. It is adopted as a proud symbol because of its majestic and graceful looks, great strength and long life.
➤ FACT 6. A mature bald eagle’s body is about 34 – 43 inches long and their wingspan can be about 6 – 8 feet (2.4 meters) across.
➤ FACT 7. Bald eagle’s weight is about 6.5 to 14 pounds.
➤ FACT 8. Their average lifespan in the wild is up to 28 years.
➤ FACT 9. Female bald eagles are a bit bigger than males.
➤ FACT 10. They can fly up to 30 miles an hour and dive at 100 miles an hour!
➤ FACT 11. A bald eagle’s lifting power is about 4 lbs.
➤ FACT 12. An eagle’s eye is almost as large as a human’s, but its sharpness is at least four times that of a person with perfect vision. Their great eyesight lets them see fish up to a mile (1.6 kilometers) away.
➤ FACT 13. Talons, a part of the eagle body that is used for hunting and defense. They kill their prey by penetrating their flesh with their talons.
➤ FACT 14. Fish is the primary food of bald eagles, but they get many of their meals by scavenging carrion or stealing the kills of other animals include waterfowl and small mammals.
➤ FACT 15. Bald eagles are opportunistic predators because of their nature of stealing food from other animals.
➤ FACT 16. Eagle nests are called Aeries (AIR-ees). They build their nests at the very top of big trees so the eggs will be safe. Sometimes they use the same nest for the next hatching year.
➤ FACT 17. Babies of the eagle are called eaglets. They are born light gray color and then turn brown. At the age of around 4-5 yrs, they start to develop their normal white heads and tails.
➤ FACT 18. Bald eagles are found mostly in North America, from Alaska and Canada to northern Mexico. But about half of the world’s 70,000 bald eagles live in Alaska.
➤ FACT 19. The largest bird’s nest was built by a pair of bald eagles near St Petersburg, Florida, USA and was 2.9 m (9 ft 6 in) wide and 6 m (20 ft) deep.[Source].
➤ FACT 20. The largest eagle in the world is Steller’s Sea Eagle, which weighs 5-9 kg (11-20 lb) and has a wing-span of 2.2-2.45 m (7 ft 2 in-8 ft 0.3 in). [Source].
➤ FACT 21. It is ILLEGAL to hunt or kill the bald eagle.
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