THE EAGLE
Since 1782, the bald eagle has been the national emblem of the United States and a spiritual symbol for native people for much longer. If Benjamin Franklin had chosen this preference, the U.S. emblem would have been the wild turkey. Despite their name, bald eagles are not actually bald, but their majestic, white-feathered heads become visible after four to five years. In their immature stage, young bald eagles roam vast territories, flying hundreds of miles per day. Some young birds from Florida have traveled as far north as Michigan, while those from California have reached Alaska.
Eagles are opportunistic feeders and may even steal prey from other birds of prey like the osprey and smaller raptors in flight. They also occasionally hunt cooperatively, with one bird flushing prey towards another.
Bald eagles build large nests that can last for several years. The largest recorded nest, in St. Petersburg, Florida, was 2.9 meters in diameter and 6.1 meters tall. Another famous nest in Vermilion, Ohio, shaped like a wine glass, weighed almost 2 metric tons and was used for 34 years until the tree it was on fell.
Bald eagles are resilient and long-lived creatures, with the oldest recorded wild bird being at least 38 years old when it was killed by a car in New York in 2015.
