E pluribus unum" is Latin; it means "Out of many, one" (It is also sometimes translated as "From many, one", both translations are valid). It was chosen as the original motto of the United States of America, and refers to the idea that the United States is made up of individual states that came together as a single country.
In the late 1800s. At this time, European settlers spun tales of eagles carrying away full-grown sheep, and even human babies, and they viewed them as potential livestock predators. This is not possible because the lifting power of an adult eagle is no more than about 4 or 5 pounds. Their scavenger image, powerfulness, and aggressiveness contribute to the negative image some people have of them.
In the 1960s and early 70s, they were placed on the endangered species list. In 1967, they were officially declared endangered under a law that preceded the Endangered Species Act of 1973. DDT was outlawed in the United States in 1972. On July 4, 1976, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially added it to their national list. In the early 1980s, the National Wildlife Federation was able to get the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to nationally ban lead shot in waterfowl hunting. By 1988, bald eagles were reproducing successfully in the wild and the federal reintroduction program was discontinued. In July 1995, their endangered states was added to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Washington, and Oregon, where previously it had been 43 of the 48 lower states. In 1999, there was a proposal to remove the bald eagle from the federal list of endangered and threatened species.
Bald eagles resides in North America, from Alaska and Canada to northern Mexico near swamps, lakes, oceans and rivers where there are lots of fish, clean waters, and tall trees for nesting and roosting. They live strictly in North America and every state except for Hawaii. The northwest coast of North America is where the flourish most, partly because of the salmondead or dying fish are an important part of their food supply. Thousands live in Alaska and other parts of the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region, and Chesapeake Bay. They also inhabit Florida and along Atlantic coastline. They thrive in quiet isolation.
WHAT DO THEY EAT?
Raptors (predatory birds), bald eagles are at the top of the food chain and fish in both fresh and salt water. They feed on fish, small animals like ducks, coots, muskrats, turtles, rabbits, and snakes and carrion (dead animals) occasionally. Fish account for 90% of their diet; however, they will prey on whatever is available and easiest to get. It takes them about four minutes to eat one pound of fish. While catching their prey, they rarely enter the water, they snatch the fish from the surface with their talons.
Decorah, Iowa Bald Eagles
Taken with my Camera when they were on my laptop screen
Bald eagles spend a lot of time resting quietly because they use an abundance of energy while hunting. Only one out of 18 attacks are successful.
Food is not required daily for their survival; however, if they go too long without it, it hinders an effective hunt.
Mating & Nesting
Monogamous, they mate for life until the death of one mate. Large nests lined with twigs, soft mosses, grasses, and feathers, about 2 feet deep and 5 feet wide that they build at the top of sturdy trees grow larger (about 10 feet wide and several tons) when they add new nesting materials each year while repairing before breeding. They usually nest in trees, but sometimes on cliffs, and often within 100 miles of where they hatched, staying in the same neighborhood as their parents. Territorial while nesting, they will attack other eagles within their area.
In the springtime, five to ten days after copulation, the female lays 1 to 3 speckled off-white or buff colored goose-sized eggs a few days apart. During incubation, male bald eagles bring green sprigs of conifer branches to the nest, possibly for deodorizing or shade. Both parents share the duties: hunting, egg incubation, nest watch, eaglet feeding, and eaglet brooding; however, the female does most of the nesting. One parent is always on the nest to keep eggs warm and safe from squirrels, ravens, and gulls. The male will often eat the head of fish and bring the remains to the nest. He shares brooding duties so that the female can stretch, defecate, bathe, preen, and hunt on her own. Eagles need privacy and quiet to breed. If they are disturbed, they may abandon their nest. People should use binoculars and spotting scopes for viewing at a distance.
Eaglets hatch after an incubation period of about 35-38 days in the order they were laid, by using their egg tooth, a pointed bump on the top of the beak, to break the shell. Hatching can take half a day to two days. Newly hatched chicks measure 4 to 5”, with soft, grayish-white bodies, wobbly legs, and partially closed eyes. When two chicks survive, the older one may kill the smaller one and the parents will not stop them. Parents feed them by shredding pieces of meat with their beaks and while moving around in the nest they wall with their talons balled into fists to avoid harming their young. Eaglets’ diets consist of fish with supplements of water fowl or birds.
Eaglets grow a pound every four or five days and can hold their heads up for feeding around two weeks. At three weeks, they are one foot high and their feet and beaks are near adult size. At six weeks, they are about the size of their parents. They are full size at about 12 weeks and learn to fly. When their wing and tail feathers are fully developed, they can leave the nest. Before first flights, which may be to the nearest branch above the nest, eaglets do vigorous exercise and flapping. They will lift off by facing into prevailing winds and flapping or may be forced to fly by parents.
About 40% survive their first flight and only about half survive their first year for various reasons including starvation and the inability to recognize poisoned food.
Decorah, Iowa Bald Eagles
Taken with my Camera when they were on my laptop screen.
NORMAL LIFESPAN AND CAUSES OF DEATHS FOR BALD EAGLES
They live to 30 to 40 years in the wild, and longer in captivity. The average lifespan is 15 to 20 years. A captive eagle lived to be at least 48 years old in West Stephentown, New York. Bald eagles die prematurely for various reasons. They are fatally shot for sport or money, electrocuted when they take off or land on power poles and their large wings bridge two wires, lead poisoned from feasting on wounded deer, ducks and other game shot by hunters, killed by eating poisoned meat used to bait wolves and coyotes, killed by ingestion of lead shot and lead fishing sinkers, killed by by mercury, PCBs, dioxins and other chemicals that accumulate in fish, killed by colliding with vehicles, and starved to death when their food is scarce. Habitat destruction through deforestation and flooding of bottomland hardwood ecosystems, as well as human disturbance of nest sites threaten their existence.
Decorah, Iowa Bald Eagles
Taken with my Camera when they were on my laptop screen.
