Animal Spotlight: Bateleur Eagle

Taxonomy:

Via National Aviary

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Accipitriforme
• Family: Accipitridae
• Genus: Tetrathopius
• Species: ecaudatus

• Body Length: 21-28 inches (54-70 cm)
• Wingspan: 5.5 – 6 ft (1.6 – 1.8 m)
• Weight: 4 – 6.5 lbs (1.8-2.9 kg)
• Lifespan: 25 years

Bateleur eagles are striking, medium-sized eagles with impressive flying displays and nicknamed as the African Snake Eagle. They can spotted in the air with their distinctive rocking flight and low, searching passses while hunting. They are related to other snake eagles like the Black-Chested Snake Eagle (Circaetus pectoralis) and Short-Toed Snake Eagle (Circaetus gallicus).

These eagles live across regions of sub-Saharan Africa and as north and east as the Arabian Peninsula, occupying open regions of open woodland, savanna, coastal plains, and semi-deserts. Countries they can be found in are southern Mauritania, Senegambia east to Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, south to Namibia, and South Africa. Sadly, they only inhabit in protected areas and have been eliminated from and/or abandoned 80% of their former range. It is estimated that there are only 10,000 to 100,000 individuals.

Physical Appearance:

Bateleurs are uncommon among raptors in that males and females are physically very different from each other. This characteristics is known as sexual dimorphism. Both sexes are mainly black with a rusty chestnut back and ashy grey wing coverts. Each have black eyes bordered with a red eye ring. Its bare face is bright red and its hooked bill is yellowish with a black tip. Stocky legs and short stubby toes are bright bred.

Photo Credit: Jamie Pham

In adult males, it has a black head, neck, breast, greater wing coverts, belly and thighs. Shoulders are pale grey. Mantle, rump and tail are chestnut. Underwings are black and white with broad and thick black trailing edges.

In females only, bateleurs have greyer shoulders and grey secondary flight feathers with a trailing black edge. Females are also slightly larger. Underwings are black and white, with narrow black trailing edge. This makes it every easy to differentiate males from females, whether they are perching or in flight.

Juveniles, or immature Bateleur eagles, are a reddish brown, almost a chestnut color, on its head and underparts with dark primary feathers while its upperparts are darker brown. According to its sex, underwings show broad or narrow dark brown trailing. Its feet are pale pink. The face is bluish-gray, almost green, and the eyes are brown. As it matures, its face and legs will turn orange before it turns red like an adult.

Interesting, the bright skin on this raptor’s face and legs gives hints as to how the bird is feeling, much like a mood ring. When this eagle is relaxed, its skin is generally an orange-red color. When it gets excited, the bare skin can quickly turn bright red.

Diet:

The Bateleur mainly consumes small mammals and birds, but will also take reptiles and fish if available. Many small animals make up the bird’s diet, including rodents, birds (such as pigeons, doves, hornbills, and even other raptors), lizards, fish, insects, and frogs.  It is also a scavenger, feeding on carrion and roadkill.

Via South Africa Explored

Based off of its nickname as the African Snake Eagle, it also commonly consumes venomous snakes. When it attacks a snake, it raises its crest feathers and spreads its wings. It has scaly legs to protect it against the venom. If a snake strikes it, any venom will pass into bird’s bloodstream.

Behavior:

The Bateleur spends most of time of the day on the wing, soaring effortless. It may takes off when the warmth starts, and it flies almost the entire day, until the cooler hours of the evening. It may fly over 320 km every day, during 8 to 9 hours. During the day, it sometimes perches in a tree, close to carrion, where it may try to pirate smaller raptors. When not in flight, the Bateleur perches or stands on the ground near water.

Bateleur adults are territorial and are often residents in most parts of the range. The juveniles may perform nomadic movements. Adults are monogamous, preferring to stick with a single mate.

Breeding season varies depending on where the eagle resides. In western Africa, mating season is from September to May. In eastern Africa, it is year-round and in southern Africa, they breed from December to August.

During the breeding season, the Bateleur’s wonderful flight displays are exhibited. It can execute 360 degrees rolls, displaying amazing turns and somersaults in the air. Male also performs steep dives to female. Then, she rolls on her back and presents her claws to the male, and they hurtle each other. When birds perform their “barrel-rolls”, this display is often accompanied by very loud slapping of the wings. This noise can be heard for great distance. Courtship flight displays are accompanied by loud crowing calls.

They will also perform a kind of mating dance on the ground, exposing its beautiful colored plumage.

Just like they pair for life, they also prefer to reuse the same nest year after year. Both adults will help build the nest in an open fork in a high tree. Their preferred trees are thorny Acacia and Baobab. Nests are usually constructed with heavy sticks and are lined with green leaves.

Usually a single egg is laid and is incubated by both parents for 52 to 59 days. The parents also take turns caring for the offspring, defending them from potential predators. Fledgling will take 93 to 194 days but the young will continue to remain dependent for the next four months. It will not reach full maturity until after five to six years, typically around seven years.

Unpaired, immature Bateleurs will sometimes hang around a nest site if the breeding pair tolerates their presence. The bird may be from the previous clutch that has not yet left the nest yet. Typically they will help defend and guard the nest but it does not feed the young.

Conservation and Threats:

Currently, the Bateleur eagle is listed as ‘near threatened’ by both the IUCN and BirdLife International and is listed under Appendix II by CITES.

Although they have a wide range throughout Africa, their population and suitable habitat has been decreasing. They are now restricted to protected areas having been eliminated from farmland in South Africa. The primary causes of their decline is believed to be deliberate poisoning by large-scale commercial farms, pesticides, poisoned bait left for jackals and other predators, and trapping for international trade. Other threats include persecution, nest disturbances, and habitat loss.

Despite these threats, the eagle is not necessarily particularly imperiled. Nevertheless, in Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Zimbabwe, parts of Zambia, and possibly parts of Tanzania the Bateleur has undergone significant declines in population and range.

Via South Africa Exposed

Currently, there is no conservation measures in place for the Bateleur but there are organizations working in many areas of Africa where birds of prey have shown declines. Their efforts are ensuring that adequate research is conducted in order to develop effective conservation strategies for these birds. Some actions include awareness campaigns to reduce the use of poison baits and continued monitoring throughout the Bateleur’s native ranges.

Recent studies suggest that as long as individual Bateleurs remain in protected areas, such as national parks, they will do okay. But, as soon as they leave the boundaries of the park, they become vulnerable to poisoning. In some countries, people are even trapping or poisoning these birds in order to collect their feathers and other body parts, which are sometimes used in superstitious rituals.

Interesting Facts:

• Bateleurs are primarily silent, except when threatened or anxious.  When they do call out, typically when excited, their voices can be loud and carrying, uttering a short “kau-kau-kau” repeatedly followed by a two mostly long “koaagh.” While calling, it raises its half spread wings, giving the bird a threat posture, used in territorial displays.
• The word “bateleur” is French for “street performer.”
• Some African Tribes revere Bateleur, believing that they will win a battle if the eagle flies over the enemy.
• Bateleur enjoy the sun, standing upright and holding wings straight out to the sides. The bird turns to follow the sun.
• During the day, it may fly at speeds of up to 50 mph (80kmh).
• This species is part of the national emblem of Zimbabwe.

References + For More Reading

National Aviary: Bateleur Eagle

Terathopius ecaudatus

Eagle Directory: Bateleur

Photo of the Month: Bateleur eagle

Arkive: Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus)

South Africa Explored: Bateleur

Peregrine fund: Bateleur eagle

Focusing on Wildlife: Bateleur eagle

IUCN: Terathopius ecaudatus (Bateleur)

Global Raptor: Bateleur Eagle

Animal Spotlight: Red Junglefowl

Photo By: David Blank

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Galliformes
• Family: Phasianidae
• Genus: Gallas
• Species: gallas

• Average Male Length: 2.1-2.5 ft (65-75 cm)
• Average Female Length: 1.4-1.5 ft (42-46 cm)
• Average Male Weight: 1.5-3.2 lbs (0.7-1.45 kg)
• Average Female Weight: 1.1-2.3 lbs (0.5-1.05 kg)
• Expected Lifespan: 10 years

The red junglefowl is a tropical member of the Pheasant family and is the direct ancestor of all domestic poultry. It is believed that they were first domesticated at least 5,000 years ago in India. Since then, the domesticated form has been taken all around the world as a very productive food source for both meat and eggs, which some breeds have been specifically developed to produce more.

This species is native to Southern Asia, particularly the Indian jungles. Its range stretches from northeast India, where the pure species has been diluted with back-crosses from domestic breeds, eastwards across southern China and down into Malaysia and Indonesia. Throughout its extensive range, the red junglefowl occupies most tropical and subtropical habitats, including mangroves, scrubland, and plantations. Although, it seems that it prefers flat or gently sloping terrain, forest edges, and secondary forest. It has also been recorded being found in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Animal Spotlight: Uguisu

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Passeriformes
• Family: Cettiidae
• Genus: Cettia
• Species: diphone
• Also known as: Japanese Bush Warbler

• Average Weight: 15g – 22g (0.5oz – 0.7oz)
• Average Length: 14cm – 16.5cm (5.5in – 6.5in)
• Average Wingspan 20cm – 22cm (7.9in – 9in)
• Lifespan: 2-5 years

Known for its beautiful song, the Uguisu, also known as the Japanese bush warbler, is distributed throughout the Far East. While it is most common in regions throughout Japan where it is found all year round, populations exist in northeastern China, southern Russia, Korean peninsula, Taiwan, and northern Philippines.

Animal Spotlight: Galapagos Penguin

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Sphenisciformes
• Family: Spheniscus
• Genus: mendiculus

• Average Weight: 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg)
• Average Height: 20 in (51 cm)
• Average Lifespan: 15 – 20 years

Endemic to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador and named after where it lives, the Galapagos penguin is the smallest of the South American penguin species. It is also the smallest population of a penguin species. It is estimated that there are fewer than 2,000 individuals with less than half of the estimate able to breed.

Approximately 95% of the population occurs on the western islands of Fernandina and Isabela Islands. There are smaller colonies are also found on other nearby islands and in the general vicinity.

They are the only known species of penguin that is able to successfully live so close to the equator. The intense rays of sunshine are a known problem for the Galapagos penguins but the nights and waters, due to the currents that come into the area, are cool and provide shade. It nests in cracks, caves and depressions in the island’s lava flows.

Conservation News: Birds, Tigers, and a Cat Fence

New Technology Reveals Hundreds of Bird Species at Risk

A new Duke University-led study argues that old methods of assessing threat levels are not as accurate as it should be. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, this new study used remote sensing data to map recent land-use changes that are reducing suitable habitat for more than 600 bird species across six of the world’s biodiverse regions. There is much smaller levels of suitable habitat in the Atlantic forest of Brazil, Central America, the western Andes of Colombia, Sumatra, Madagascar, and Southeast Asia available to the species than previously recognized.

Credit: Yunus Mony

Animal Spotlight: African Grey Parrots

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Order: Aves
• Class: Psittaciformes
• Family: Psittacidae
• Genus: Psittacus
• Species: erithacus
• Subspecies: Congo and Timneh African Grey

Animal Spotlight: Resplendent Quetzals

Taxonomy:

Photograph by Christian Sanchez

 

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Trogoniformes
• Family: Trogonidae
• Genus: Pharomachrus
• Species: mocinno
• Other Names: Guatemalan quetzals, Magnificent quetzal

• Average Body Size: 15 to 16 in (38 to 40.5 cm)
• Average Male’s Tail Length: 24 in (61 cm)
• Average Body Weight: 7 to 8 oz (200 to 225 g)

A colorful bird known for its feathers, the Resplendent quetzals were widely known and highly sought after throughout Central America. It is arguably the most beautiful and ornate bird species in the Western Hemisphere because of the greatly elongated, glistening emerald-green tail feathers of breeding males.

Animal Spotlight: Spix’s Macaw

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Psittaciformes
• Family: Psittacidae
• Genus: Cyanopsitta
• Species: Spixii

• Nicknames: Little Blue Macaw, Guacamayito Azul, Guacamayo de Spix

• Average Length: 21.65-21.75 in (55-57 cm)
• Average Weight of Captive Males: 11.2 oz (318 g)
• Average Weight of Captive Females: 10.2 oz (288 g)
• Estimated Lifespan: 20-30 years

The Spix’s macaws are elegant parrots to view with their various shades of blue and striking deep blue wings and tail. However, their beauty has led to their decline as it has become the world’s rarest bird.

Conservation News: Storks, Fur Farms, and Toxic Algae Blooms

An All-Woman Army Protecting the Greater Adjutant Stork

In a few months, the greater adjutant stork, also called the hargilla, will be descending on a remote village, situated in Assam’s Brahmaputra Valley of northeastern India, to breed in large numbers. Dadara and two nearby villages, Pasariya and Singimari, are surrounded by food-rich wetlands with tall trees perfect for nesting and have become a major stronghold for this species.

Greater adjutant storks stand near a garbage dump on the outskirts of Gauhati, India, on June 5, 2012. Photo By: Anupam Nath

“You will soon catch sight of this dark, quirky-looking bird, with large, thick bills, stalking over the beds of these wetlands or on the rain-soaked paddy fields in its typical military gait,” describes Charu Das.

Due to deforestation and widespread development of wetlands, only about 800 to a 1,200 greater adjutant storks remain in India and Cambodia.

But thanks to the efforts of the Hargilla Army, a conservation brigade of 70 local women, the greater adjutant stork has found a refuge. The Hargilla Army has been successful reducing threats and protecting habitat of the stork, backed by the direct administration and local conservation groups. With their efforts, the region has become “the biggest greater adjutant nesting colony in the world,” according to the Purnima Devi Barman, a wildlife biologist from Aaranyak, a conservation nonprofit in Assam, with around 550 of the birds living in these three villages.

Animal Spotlight: Bald Eagle

Photo By: David Hoffmann

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Accipitriformes
• Family: Accipitridae
• Genus: Haliaeetus
• Species: Leucocephalus

• Females are larger than the males
• Average Height: 2.5-3 ft (0.75-1 meters)
• Average Wingspan: 6.5-7.5 ft (2-2.3 meters)
• Average Lifespan In the Wild: 20-30 years
• Longest Lifespan in Captivity: 48 years
• Average Weight: 6-8 pounds (2.7-3.6 kg)

Bald eagles are one of the most recognizable birds in the United States; after all, it is the designated national bird. They are large, predatory raptors. As the largest raptor species found in North America, they are only second in size to the California condor.

Distinguished by a white head and white tail feathers, bald eagles are powerful creatures, similar to golden eagles. One may confuse the two species since young bald eagles remain a dark brown until they acquire their characteristic plumage at the age of four or five. One distinction between the two, even during the early years, is that only the tops of the bald eagle’s legs have feathers, whereas golden eagle’s are feathered all the way down. The hooked bills, legs,and feet are a deep yellow.

Range:

As a North American bird species, the bald eagle’s range extends from the Mexican border (Baja California and Florida) through the United States into Canada (Newfoundland and Alaska).

Bald eagles are migratory creatures and are often seen migrating to open waters in the winter months. They breed in areas such as Alaska (where their largest population lives), Canada, Pacific Northwest, along the East Coast, Mississippi River, Gulf Coast, and around the Great Lakes. For the most part, these regions will have bald eagle residents all year round but for the rest of the United States, the raptors can only be seen during the winter and their migration.

This species are almost always found near water, along large rivers, lakes, sea coast, coastal marshes, and reservoirs that contain lots of fish. During the summer, the eagles can be seen soaring above lakes in the nearby trees. In the winter, they can be seen around any unfrozen body of water. When migrating, bald eagles are seen near all types of water habitats.

Anatomy:

Scientific Illustration Tumblr

A bald eagle’s skeleton typically weighs about half a pound, only 5-6% of its total weight. Eagle bones, like most birds’, are hollow and light, aiding the raptor’s flight. Its feathers will weigh twice the amount.

Its hooked beak is a strong weapon used for tearing. The edge of the upper mandible is sharp enough to slice tough skin, and with the lower mandible, creates a scissors effect. The beak are made of keratin, the same substance as human’s hair and fingernails, and will grow continuously unless worn down by use. Despite its strength, the eagle’s beak is also delicate enough to groom the feathers of its mate or feed portions of food to a newly hatched chick.

Though the raptor has a strong, hooked beak to tear its food, its powerful, taloned feet are used to capture prey. Talons are important tools for hunting and defense, killing their prey by penetrating its flesh with their talons. Eagles can open and close their talons at will. If an eagle is dragged into the water by a heavy fish, it is usually because the eagle refuses to release it. To keep in perspective, a bald eagle’s lifting power is about four pounds. Like the beak, talons are also made of keratin and will also grow continuously.

A bald eagle’s plumage is one of its notable features. Each bird has about 7,000 feathers that make flight possible. Eagle feathers are lightweight, extremely strong, hollow, waterproof and highly flexible. The feather structure makes pliability, or flexibility, possible. The overlapping feathers form a dense covering, with several layers serving different functions.

The feathers will also trap layers of air. Using this adaptation, these raptors can maintain the raptor’s body temperature just by changing the position of its feathers. When an eagle wishes to warm itself on a cold morning, it will ruffle and rotate its feathers for the air pockets to either be opened to the air or drawn together to reduce the insulating effect.

The tail and its tail feathers are extremely important for flight and maneuvering. When soaring or gliding, the bald eagle will spread out its tail feathers in order to attain the largest surface area, increasing the effect of thermals and updrafts. Its tail aids the eagle is braking when landing or stabilizing during a controlled dive or swoop toward prey.

Photo By: Stuart Sanders

As a predator and raptor, bald eagles will have similar characteristic that similar species have: excellent eyesight. Though an eagle’s eye is almost as large as a human’s its sharpness is at least four times a human’s perfect vision. The eye’s frontal location allows for excellent binocular vision as well as peripheral vision.

Unlike mammals, where air only moves through the lungs once, birds will have air passes through the lungs twice with each breath cycle. A bald eagle’s respiratory system allows for air to move in through the lungs into the air sacs before moving back through the lungs and out.

Eagle sounds are commonly described as shrill, high-pitched, and twittering. Though it does not have vocal cords, sound is produced in the syrinx, a bondy chamber located where the trachea divides to the lungs. Eagle calls may be a way of reinforcing the bond between the male and female as well as to warn other raptors and predators that an area is defended.

Diet:

Photo By: Wendy Dillion

Eagles prefer fish as their staple food, often capturing them by swooping down and snatching the prey from the water’s surface. Another technique is to wade in the shallow waters to catch the fish with the bill.

When fish are not available, bald eagles will also hunt birds, particularly waterfowl such as ducks, the occasional small mammals like rabbits and muskrats, turtles, and snakes. The eagles will also willingly take carrion and are notorious for robbing osprey of their catches. They will wait on their perch for an osprey to return to its nest with a fish in its talons. Then, the bigger raptor will harass the smaller one until it is forced to drop its prey.

Behavior:

Bald eagle partners are known to bond for life. The birds who reside in the south tend to remain near their breeding territory throughout the year. More northern birds will travel together over long migrant distances during the winter months.

Initiation of courtship depends on the latitude. Southern birds will begin courtship and nesting activity in the late fall or early winter, but the northern birds will wait out winter to court and nest in early spring.

To build a nest, the eagle pair will choose their nest location to be near water in tall trees or cliffs. Once the large sticks are placed for the framework, the nest is lined with twigs, grasses, and other soft materials. Sometimes, the same nest is reused for years by a pair.

Bald eagles will lay two, maybe three, eggs that will be incubated by both parents. After 34 to 36 days, the eggs hatch but typically, only one chick survives. If food is plentiful, the adults may rear two or occasionally three chicks simultaneously. The young birds will fledge after 12 months but will remain with the parents for an additional month.

Photo By: MoJophotos Photography

Conservation/Threats:

Bald eagles, despite being the United States’ national bird, has suffered throughout the 1900s. When it was adopted as the national symbol in 1782, there were between 25,000 to 75,000 birds nesting in the lower 48 states, excluding Alaska and Hawaii. Since then, illegal shooting, habitat destruction, lead poisoning, DDT, and other chemical pollutants’ contamination has reduced numbers to only 418 pairs by 1963.

Shooting the national bird came about because while bald eagles will primarily eat fish and carrion, they were considered to have preyed on chickens, lambs, and other domestic livestock. Consequently, the large raptors were shot to eliminate a perceived threat.

However, the single-most important regulation affecting bald eagle populations was DDT. Shortly after World War II, DDT was hailed as a new pesticide to control mosquitoes and other insects. But the chemicals washed into nearby waterways and were absorbed by the aquatic plants and fish. With a diet primarily of fish, bald eagles were quickly poisoned with DDT. The chemical interfered with the ability of the raptors to produce strong eggshells. As a result, their eggs had thin shells that often broke during incubation or failed to hatch. DDT was considered safe until Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring revealed the dangers of the pesticide. With the new information, the Environmental Protection Agency banned fDDT or most uses in the United States in 1972 and became one of the biggest beginning steps for bald eagle recovery.

Legal protections began in 1940 with the Bald Eagle Protection Act. Later, protections continued with the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 as well as being listed in 1978 under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Listing the species as endangered allowed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with its partners to accelerate recovery through captive breeding programs, reintroduction efforts, law enforcement, and nest site protection.

For the next 17 years the eagles were declared endangered in most of the country, the raptors experienced a strong increase in numbers and an expansion in range. Private organizations, state, and federal agencies counted 4,450 occupied nesting territories, a ten-fold increase from 1963. In 1995, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service downlisted the species from endangered to threatened.

Despite the spectacular recovery, bald eagles are still threatened by illegal shooting and loss of habitat. Lead poisoning from shot ingested when feeding on carrion was a major issue prior to the disuse of lead shot for waterfowl hunting in 1991. Even though lead shots are no longer used, large quantities of lead remains, in addition to DDT residues, in the environment.

Photo By: Henrik Nilsson

Based on the most recent population figures at the time, there were at least 9,789 nesting pairs throughout the contiguous United States. With that, on June 28, 2007, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the recovery of the bald eagle has deemed the removal of the species from the list of threatened and endangered species.

Even without the protections that the Endangered Species Act provides, the species will still be protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, an updated version to include the golden eagle. Both laws prohibit killing, selling, or harming the eagles, their nests, and their eggs.

Per the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will continue to work with state wildlife agencies to monitor the state of bald eagles for at least five years. If protections is needed once again, the federal agency will relist the bald eagle as endangered or threatened. In the meantime, individual states may pass or implement laws to protect bald eagles in their region.

Interesting Facts:

• The bald eagle’s scientific name means “white-headed sea-eagle”.
• Although unique to North America, its closest relatives include the African fish-eagle from the sub-Saharan Africa and the white-tailed sea eagle from Eurasia.
• Using thermal convection currents, bald eagles can soar for hours at up to 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) in the air.
• June 20 is National Bald Eagle Day, meant to “honor our national symbol, raise awareness for protecting the Bald Eagle, assist in the recovery of their natural environments and take part in educational outreach”.
• Eagles do not sweat.
• The bald eagle is a symbol for strength, courage, and freedom.
• When cruising, bald eagles can fly about 40 mph (65 km/hr).
• Bald eagles are not only the national bird of the United States, it is also the national animal.
• A group of eagles soaring is described as a “kettle of eagles”.
• Benjamin Franklin hated the idea of the bald eagle as the national symbol, claiming he is “a bird of bad moral character” and “does not get his living honestly”, pointing to the eagle’s behavior to steal from ospreys. Instead, Franklin wanted the “much more respectable” native turkey to be the national symbol.
• Native Americans believe that a lone eagle feather conveys great power. Many of their ceremonies and legends include the eagle’s primaries and tail feathers.
• The bald eagle is found on the back of a quarter and one dollar bill holding an olive branch and arrows.

Resourcs + For More Reading

Bald Eagle Fact Sheet

National Wildlife Federation: Bald Eagle

Natural History, Ecology, and History of Recovery of the Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus

National Geographic: Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle Information