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NESTING
BALD EAGLE
#BLD-400
Notecards Only
Also available in Notecard Assortment Pack #AST-402
At
weights of around ten to fourteen pounds for a female and eight
to ten pounds for a male, and with wingspans of up to 7-1/2 feet
(slightly less for a male), bald eagles are the largest of the broad-winged
raptors in North America and are not found anywhere else in the
world.
They
are most abundant in Alaska and British Columbia. Other important
breeding areas include Florida, Chesapeake Bay, the north Atlantic
coast from Maine to Newfoundland, and the Great Lakes states. Bald
eagles tend to nest in remote forested areas along the shorelines
of rivers and lakes where there is an abundance of fish and other
prey. They build their enormous nests in tall, sturdy trees or on
rocky cliff ledges where they cannot be reached by other animals.
The nest, added to each year, is made of sticks and lined with grass
and leaves.
Adults
can be recognized by the white mantle of feathers on the crown and
nape, which give it its name. The rest of its plumage is brown,
except for a white tail. The juvenile bald eagle has an all-brown
plumage except for the underside of the wings. bald eagles do not
develop adult coloration until they are more than four years old.
It
was no doubt the sense of power and grandeur associated with the
bald eagle that inspired the people of the United States of America
to adopt this bird as their national symbol in 1782.
Text © 1997 Dianne Harrah, Drawing ©
1997 Bill Harrah
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. . BIRDS OF PREY . . . (Click on an image to
see the actual notecard size)
