Justin

Bald and Golden Eagles

My project is about bald and golden eagles, two of the most powerful, proud, and bold raptors of all. It is fascinating to study about their personality, diet, habitat, life cycles, etc. I think that these birds are amazing and worth studying. I chose this topic because eagles are big and powerful, they are my favorite animal. I didn't know very much about eagles. I hoped to learn lots of different things from this project about bald and golden eagles. I wanted to learn about what they eat, where they live, their personality, and their life cycles. As you can see, I learned all of that and even more! Things turned out as I expected most of the time, but I was pretty surprised when I learned extra facts like the way eagles make noises without vocal cords! I used several different resources for my study of bald and golden eagles. I used books, Internet websites, encyclopedias, newspaper articles, an interview with an eagle expert at the Lorain County Metroparks, and the library. The Internet and the library were the two places that helped me the most. I used the Prospect School library and also the Oberlin public library. I would usually do my research at the public library, but sometimes I would check out books to take home and read. I thought that the hardest part of my topic was getting all of the information. It was hard because it took a long time to find information and to find out new things. I learned some very interesting things about eagles. Eagles don't have any vocal cords! They make their noises by pushing air through a chamber in their throat. Another neat thing is that bald eagles are not bald. Its name comes from "balde", an Old English word meaning "white". The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States of America. On the Great Seal of the U.S.A. is a bald eagle holding a golden ribbon in its mouth that says "E Pluribus Unum" on it. "E Pluribus Unum" means "out of many one". A bald eagle is about as smart as a five year old child that hasn't gone to school yet. That is a pretty smart bird! I thought that a bald eagle's scientific name was amazing. It is Haliaectuslevcocephalus. Who ever thought of that? A golden eagle's name is fascinating, too. It is Aquila Chrysaeta. Eagles are a member of the Accipitrae family, which also includes hawks, kites (a type of bird), and old world vultures. Scientists loosely divide eagles into four groups based on their characteristics and behavior. The bald eagle was placed in the sea or fish eagle group. Golden eagles were placed in the booted or true group. I do no know the other groups. A bald eagle's normal body temperature is 1020F (38.30C). Bald and golden eagles have similar habitats. Golden eagles live in northern North America and southern Canada. Golden eagles live in fields, plains, and on cliffs. Bald eagles live in Northern U.S.A. and Alaska. Bald eagles live by coasts, rivers, lakes, oceans, on mountains, and on cliffs. Bald eagles can make nests up to twenty feet deep and ten feet across. They put their nests together by weaving. They make their nests out of branches, grass, hair, animal furs, leaves, and feathers. When paired with mates, bald and golden eagles remain together until one dies, the survivor will not hesitate to accept a new mate. Wild eagles may live up to thirty years but the average life span is probably about fifteen to twenty years. Bald and golden eagles are both predators and mainly hunt by themselves. Eagles can eat rabbits, mice, frogs, insects, turtles, small birds, squirrels, snakes, ducks, shore birds, and mostly fist. They also eat dead animals. Some of which are huge! Bald and golden eagles can steal food from other eagles as well as other species. Chasing another raptor is usually enough to make it drop its kill, but occasionally bald eagles will attack. Eagles sit at the top of the food chain, making them more vulnerable to toxic chemicals in the environment since each link in the food chain tends to concentrate chemicals from the lower link. Eagles are not always safe (see chart below). The skin of bald eagles and golden eagles is protected by feathers lined with down. The feet are cold resistant because they are mostly tendon. The outside of the bill is mostly nonliving material with little blood supply. It is illegal to hunt eagles and if you do, you will be sent to jail or have a $50,000 fine. Causes of Death to the Bald and Golden Eagles: Fatal gun shot Electrocution from wires Lead poisoning from eating wounded deer Collision with vehicles Starvation They can drown when trying to catch a fish Eagles also have an interesting history. More than 1,000,000 bald eagles were killed in Alaska from 1917-1953. Alaskan salmon fishermen feared they were a threat to the salmon population. Public awareness increased, and many states placed the bald eagle on their lists of endangered species in the 1960s and early 1970s. Many aware people and groups worked to make the endangered group of eagles a national problem. On July 4, 1976, a National Wildlife Service officially listed the bald eagle as a national endangered species. There are many ways to tell eagles apart from other animals. Golden eagles sound very weak. Adults give two-syllable "kee-yep" or "chi-up" in slow, measured sections. Juveniles beg with loud "seeeee-chk" or by chittering "kikikikikiki-yelp". Bald eagles sound rather weak also, but it is flat and uttering, too. Immature calls are harsher, more shrill than an adult call until three or four years of age. Adults make noises to form a bond between each other or to warn other eagles and predators that an area is defended. Adult bald eagles have a wingspan of about 6.5ft - 8ft. Adults have a dark brown body with a white head and tail, yellow eyes and a yellow beak. The immature eagles are all dark with some white patches in the wings and tail. The eyes and beak of an immature bald eagle are dark. When bald eagles mature around 4-5 years of age, they start getting the white head and tail and the eyes and beak start turning yellow. Bald eagles are the only big black birds in North America with white heads and tails. Golden eagle bodies are covered in dark brown feathers and golden brown feathers on the back of their heads. The only way to tell juvenile bald eagles, from juvenile golden eagles is that bald eagles do not have any feathers on their legs and the golden eagles do. Bald and golden eagles are very close in size. The wings of the bald and golden eagles almost touch the tip of their tails. The bald eagle gets up to 42 inches long. The female bald eagle is 35 to 37 inches, slightly larger than the male with a wingspan, which varies from 79 to 90 inches. The male bald eagle has a body length from 30 to 34 inches. The wing span ranges from 72 to 85 inches. Bald eagles weigh from 10 to 14 pounds. Northern eagles usually are larger than their southern relatives. Bald eagle nestlings have a small bump on their beaks called an egg tooth. They use it to crack the egg shell from the inside. It falls off a couple of weeks after it is fully out of its egg. The talons (claws) of an eagle are sturdy bone and are up to 4 inches long. The skeleton of an eagle weighs about half a pound and it is only 5% or 6% of its total weight. The feathers weigh twice that much. Eagle bones are light because they are hollow which helps with flight. The beak, talons, and feathers are made of keratin. Keratin is a very strong and hard material. Bald eagles have 7,000 feathers, like hair and nails, are made of keratin. Feathers contain interlocking microscopic structures that are light, but very strong. Layers of feathers trap air to protect birds against cold and rain. Bald and golden eagles both have an eye sight about eight times better than a human. They have an eyelid called a nictitating membrane that they use to clean their eyes. The nictitating membrane moves from front to back. I had a great time doing this project. I learned lots of new things from it. Now I am a pro at bald and golden eagles but earlier in the year I didn't know very much. Maybe I will become an expert at eagles, and handle them, and even record their migration patterns. I had a wonderful time with this report.   Glossary Brood Patch - an area of bare skin under the feathers on an adult's breast. Down - small, soft feathers formed to conserve body heat. Carrion - the dead flesh of an animal. Clutch - a set of eggs. Courtship Flight - a fancy flight eagles do while mating. Crop - a pouch in a birds gullet for storing food. Decompose - to rot away. Embryo - any baby animal before it is born. Endangered - threat to go extinct. Environment - the surroundings of a plant or animal. Eye Shield - the eye brow that grows over the eye to protect it. Eyre - a remote nest site. Fledge - to take first flight. Habitat - the natural home for plants and animals. Hollow - empty. Molting - shedding feathers and replacing them with new ones. Nictitating Membrane - An eyelid that moves from front to back and is used to clean the eye. Skeleton - An animal's bone system. Talons - Long, hooked, sharp claws on each toe.   Bibliography Unknown. [Online] Available http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/, 1996-2002. Unknown. [Online] Available http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle11.html, 1996-2001. Unknown. [Online] Available http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle2.html, 1996-2001. Unknown. [Online] Available http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle3.html, 1996-2001. Unknown. [Online] Available http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle7.html, 1996-2001. Unknown. [Online] Available http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle8html, 1996-2001. Unknown. [Online] Available http://www.biology.eku.edu/RITCHISO/skeliton.html Unknown. [Online] Available http://www.sonic.net/~raptors/raptors/bald/index.html Unknown. [Online] Available http://www.sonic.net/~raptors/raptors/eagles.html

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