Danny S. (Bowdoinham Community School, Grade 4)
The reason why I'm studying the Bald Eagle is because I was out ice fishing with my dad. I caught a pickerel and then I put it far out on the ice. Then I watched a young bald eagle come swooping down and grab the pickerel in its talons. You could hear the talons click on the ice. Then the eagle pulled it away to its block tree and butchered it. Then he put the meat in his throat sack.
The bald eagle is a big, powerful American bird.The bald eagle is dark brown in color. It has a white head and a white tail. Eagles' eyes and beaks are yellow. Their beaks are hooked-shaped and sharp as a knife. Eagles have bare legs and razor sharp talons. On the bottom of the eagle's talons are tiny spikes to help grip slippery stuff such as fish and wet branches.The body of the bald eagle is between 31 to 37 inches long. Eagles have wingspans from 6 to 8 feet.
Eagles live in many parts of the United States. They nest on edge of rivers, lakes, or seashores. When there is a change of season eagles migrate to different places. When it starts to get cool in the fall and just before winter they travel 100's of miles looking for a warm climate and open water. When the weather is good they will continue to fly looking for a warmer place. When it rains and at night they stop and wait.
The eagles eat many different kinds of food. In the winter bald eagles eat carrion such as dead deer, rabbits, and fish. They also eat small animals such as birds and snakes. When the bald eagles are flying around and are not hungry, if they see a dead animal they swoop down pick it up with their talons and take it back to their nest. They will store the meat from the dead animal in their throat sack and eat it later.
Male and female bald eagles court in the early spring. Then they will both help build a nest. When the nest is first done it is usually 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep. The female will lay 1 to 3 eggs in the spring. Both the male and female will take turns sitting on the eggs to keep them warm. The eggs will hatch after about 35 days. Then out come the tiny babies.
This is how the eagles raise their young. The first day the babies sleep all day. The second day after they are born the babies can eat pieces of meat given by their parents. For the first month or two the babies are fed by their parents. The second month the adults return to the nest only to feed their young. When the baby eagles are 10 weeks old they can leave their nest, but they don't go far. That way their parent can help feed them and teach them how to fly. After the summer the baby is on its own. It will take four years for the white head and tail feathers develop.
Here are some interesting facts about the bald eagle that I learned. Eagles have the sharpest vision in the animal world. They can see a rabbit or a mouse a mile away. Females are bigger than male eagles. The largest nest ever found was 9 feet wide and 12 feet deep. Eagles protect themselves with their talons and sharp beaks. They live in a group of eagles part time. The life span of an eagle is 30 years. The eagle's biggest enemy is people.
THE EAGLE IS OUR SYMBOL OF FREEDOM FOR THE UNITED STATES.
SOURCES
Where Animals Live: The World of Eagles
Where the Bald Eagles Gather
The Wonder of Bald Eagles
THE NORTHERN BALD EAGLE
The Northern Bald Eagle is classified as threatened by LaBastille (1973). It is found as far north on the eastern seaboard as New Brunswick and as far south as Maryland. At present, Maine is the only state north of the Chesapeake Bay where eagles are nesting in any numbers along the Atlantic coast (LaBastille 1973). An estimated 40 breeding pairs were found in Maine in 1972. In Merrymeeting Bay, the eagle population, once numbering from 10 to 20 pairs, now (1975) numbers 2 known pairs and one immature which was hatched from a Wisconsin transplant last year (1974)
(Frank Gramlich, Bureau of Sport Fisheries & Wildlife, Augusta, personal communication, May 4, 1975). This is a 50% decrease from 1974 when four pairs were known to nest in the area.
Bald eagles inhabit areas near oceans, rivers, and lakes; and feed on fish, birds (coots, ducks, grebes, terns, killdeer, geese, crows, loons, gulls, cormorants, grouse, and mammals). Fish are generally preferred although eagles often feed on carrion or wounded, sick, or disabled prey.
Because the eagle is high in the animal food chain in Merrymeeting Bay, any pesticide residues accumulating in its prey are concentrated in its own system. Last year (1974), the Federal Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife ran tests on a collapsed eagle egg in Merrymeeting Bay and discovered the highest concentrations of DDT yet encountered in eagles' eggs throughout the United States (Frank Gramlich, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, personal communication, May 4, 1975). This year, a similar investigation concluded that eagle eggs in the area are 28% thinner than normal (A 20% reduction in thickness is considered fatal). DDT was commonly used for blackfly and mosquito control in the 1960s as well as agriculturally, but it is still a mystery as to how such concentrations have resulted in the Bay eagles.
Eggshell thinning as a result of DDT concentrations in adult eagles is a primary factor in the decline of eagles in the Bay. The lack of reproductive success resulting has been a problem for at least seven years, and possibly as many as 15, according to the U. S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife officials (Frank Gramlich, U. S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, personal communication, May 4, 1975). For seven years, possibly longer, eagles have not reproduced naturally. Any eagles hatched in the area for that period have been the result of transplants from healthy parents in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Another cause of the decline in the eagle population is mortality due to gunshot wounds and irresponsible shooting despite federal laws and state fines to protect the species. Between 1971 and 1972, five eagles were reported as killed in Maine by gunshot (Frank Gramlich, personal communication, 1975).
Other causes for the declining population include accidental trapping (eagles sometimes are caught in animal traps as they attempt to extract the bait), a reduction in food supply due to a decrease in the migratory fish population in polluted waterways, and increasing disturbance by development (Frank Gramlich, personal communication, May 4, 1975). Eagles nest in the early months of spring and are most susceptible to disturbance from February to mid-May. Management recommendations which could lessen the disturbance factor and habitat loss include (Snow 1973):
1. The closing off of an area from human activity during incubation and when the eaglets are very small may reduce nest desertion by adults. Once the young are half grown and the likelihood of desertion is greatly reduced, these areas can be opened up for utilization again by people (February--mid-May).
2. Encourage private landholders to protect bald eagle nesting sites.
Establish public education programs designed to enable the public, especially those who use firearms, to identify bald eagles in all plumage phases, to be able to separate juvenile bald eagles from golden eagles and hawks and encourage them not to shoot raptors of any species.
3. Whenever a land transfer is made from federal to private or state ownership, attempt to insure that provisions are made for the protection of any bald eagles and eagle habitat that may be included in theland being transferred.
4. Identify all existing and abandoned nesting sites and declare these as bald eagle sanctuaries, limiting development within one-tenth mile of any nest to activities beneficial to eagles. Timber cutting, timber stand improvement, prescribed burning, road construction, recreation construction, and other disturbing activities should not be allowed in this one-half mile buffer zone during nesting season. Timber stand improvement should be conducted so as to retain three to five old growth trees for roosting and potential nest trees within the buffer zone around the nest.