Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus · Hawks, Eagles, and Kites
Banding codeBAEA
Keys to identifying it
1Size & shape
About 32 in long.
2Color pattern
- Adult: dark brown body, white head and tail
- Huge yellow hooked bill
- Young birds mottled brown and white
3Habitat & season
Reservoirs, rivers, Great Salt Lake marshes in winter
In northern Utah: winter.
Seen most often in December, January and February.
Share of the region’s research-grade iNaturalist bird observations each month, scaled to this bird’s peak. Highlighted bars are its peak months.
4Voice
Weak, high, giggling whistles.
“a thin, chirping giggle”
iNat 339186324 by Robert Brewer · Bridgeton, NJ 08302, USA · CC BY
Know it
- Its real call is a high, giggling whistle — movies usually dub in a Red-tailed Hawk.
- Takes about five years to get its white head and tail.
- Hundreds gather in northern Utah each winter; Farmington Bay is a famous viewing spot.
- Builds the largest nests of any North American bird.
Often confused with
Golden Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Common Raven- Black Vulture
From iNaturalist identification data for northern Utah.
From Wikipedia
The bald eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle, which occupies the same niche as the bald eagle in the Palearctic. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0