Bald Eagles
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found throughout large areas of North America. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States where the bird is also known as the “American Bald Eagle”. Here in Canada, I guess we should be calling it the Canadian Bald Eagle.
Griffin Lake Lodge B&B is located in the heart of the “Eagle Valley”, named for the abundance of bald eagles. The eagles can often be seen hunting above the lake or river next to the lodge or sunning themselves in the trees that surround the lodge.
The adult bald eagle is mostly dark brown with white head and tail. The female and males have the same plumage but the females are generally larger than the males by about 25%. The bald eagle has a large hooked beak. The bald eagle is quite a large “raptor” with a body size of 70–102 centimeters (28–40 in). They also have a very large wingspan – 1.8 and 2.3 m (5.9 and 7.5 ft).
The bald eagle feeds primarily on fish but is also considered to be a scavenger that will feed and any dead animal it finds. The bald eagle does not mature until about 4 to 5 years of age and when mating, will build the largest nests of any bird in North America. The average lifespan of the bald eagle is about 20 years of age.
The bald eagle is a very powerful flyer. It can cruise at speeds of about 30 or 40 miles per hour but can dive at speeds of up to 100 mph. Bald eagles are considered to be “partially migratory” in that they will stay put if the body of water in which they hunt remains open and free of ice.
