Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Also called eagle.
Adults are unmistakable. Immatures are not, and they are what most reported golden eagles turn out to be — mottled brown and white, with the white in irregular blotches rather than clean areas.
- Size
- Goose or large raptor — 70–102 cm
- Bill
- Hooked
- Where
- water, coast, open field
- Season
- year round
What it looks like
Very large and dark brown with a white head and tail and a heavy yellow bill in adults. Immatures are mottled brown and white with a dark bill and take four to five years to reach adult plumage.
The checks that confirm it
- Adult: clean white head and tail against a dark brown body, with a massive yellow bill.
- Soars on flat wings, held like a plank.
- Immature: blotchy brown and white, dark bill, and white showing in the wing linings.
- Almost always near water.
Voice
A weak, high, stuttering chatter — nothing like the scream used for it in films, which is a red-tailed hawk.
Confused with
Uniformly dark with a golden nape; young birds show clean white patches at the base of the tail and in the wing, not blotches.
Soars in a V and rocks; an eagle soars flat and steady.
Questions about this bird
How do you identify a bald eagle?
Adult: clean white head and tail against a dark brown body, with a massive yellow bill. Soars on flat wings, held like a plank.
What does a bald eagle sound like?
A weak, high, stuttering chatter — nothing like the scream used for it in films, which is a red-tailed hawk.