Bald Eagle Facts

Bald eagles are among the most flexible and opportunistic foragers, choosing habitats with large concentrations of prey to make it easier to catch them.

Fish constitutes between 25 to 65 percent of a bald eagle's diet, but this varies with the locality and the type of food that is more prevalent.

Bald eagles can be kleptoparasitic, stealing food from other birds.

Occasionally, bald eagles predate on livestock, particularly young pigs, goats, and sheep.

Bald eagles regularly hunt for rats, rabbits, and similar-sized mammals.

With human expansion onto eagle habitats, domestic kittens have become part of bald eagles' diet.

Depending on the area in the country, bald eagles and other raptors have discovered an easy and reliable source of food in flocks of unsuspecting farm chickens.

Bald eagles are the national symbol of the United States of America and are the most successful conservation story in America.

Bald eagles are protected under the Endangered Species Act and federal regulations governing their management continue even after they are taken off the threatened and endangered species list.

Young bald eagles live a nomadic lifestyle and wander in all directions as they do not need to defend a territory or be tied to any particular place.

After approximately four years, young bald eagles tend to go back to the nest territory where they were born.

Bald eagles can live in the wild for up to 40 years, but typically only live for around 25-30 years.

Bald eagles typically settle near where they were born or at the next best adjacent territory.

The bald eagle was nearly replaced as the national symbol by the turkey, but Benjamin Franklin's letter criticizing the original design of the Great Seal helped it to retain its status.

Some eagles have lived as long as 50 years in captivity.