Bald eagle

The bald eagle is a big, strong bird with a snowy white head and tail and a chocolate-brown body. Its beak is bright yellow, large, and curved like a hook. Bald eagles live in North America, and you will almost always find them near water, like a lake, a river, or the sea.

Fish is a bald eagle’s favourite food. The eagle glides high in the sky, then swoops down and snatches a fish right out of the water with its sharp claws, called talons. It also eats ducks and other animals, and it is happy to share a meal it finds rather than always hunting for a fresh one.

Bald eagles build the largest tree nests of any bird in North America. A pair uses the same nest year after year, adding more sticks each time, so it grows bigger and bigger. Baby eagles are covered in soft grey fluff, and their heads only turn white when they are about four or five years old.

Young eagles do not have white heads yet, so they look all brown at first. Over a few years their feathers slowly change until they have the white head and tail that grown-up bald eagles are famous for.

Long ago there were very few bald eagles left, because a harmful chemical made it hard for their eggs to hatch. People stopped using that chemical and gave the eagles more protection, and now there are hundreds of thousands of them again. The bald eagle’s comeback is one of the happiest animal success stories.