Take a Look at the Bald Eagle

Hello everyone, I hope y'all are doing great! I wanted to write today about one bird in particular: it's the biggest one of North America, and the most impressive in my opinion. I am talking of course about the Bald Eagle. Let's dive together into the subject!

The Bald Eagles are easily recognizable with their white head and imposing yellow beak. Their plumage varies quite a lot until they reach the definitive one at the adult stage (age of 4-5), as we can see in the picture right above. Their height varies from 76 to 94cm: the female is a bit bigger than the male, so we can differentiate the two that way since they have the same plumage pattern. They are only found in North America, where they migrate from Canada to the United-States, and vice versa. They nest in tall trees near water areas where they build gigantic nest of two meters diameter. Being near lakes or rivers gives them the opportunity to fish and hunt small animals, but they also eat already dead mammals, so they can be considered as scavengers.

This one stayed on his branch for a long time, giving me the opportunity to take a few hundred photos...!

In 2003, Quebec government qualified the Bald Eagle population of its territory as vulnerable because of its important and alarming decline. Once again, human activities have something to do with it. The intensive tree felling in our forests and the over-use of pesticides that occurred some decades ago had a major impact on this species population. Since then, many programs have been put in place to help the revival of the species on the territory of the province. For examples, hunters can receive formation on how to not accidentally trap bald eagles with their traps. Luckily, the efforts made by the government and many associations bore fruits: during an inventory made between 2006 and 2008, 122 active nest territories have been listed and discovered. It may not look like a lot, but it was still more than what has been seen in the past. In my opinion, I think the Bald Eagle population is doing better years after years: they are more frequent (especially near the Saint-Lawrence river) and easy to observe. I had the chance to saw some a few times, even in my neighborhood, and I took photos of them two times last summer, at Portneuf and at the "Réservoir Beaudet" in Victoriaville.

I hope you enjoyed this article and had the chance to learn some new infos about this wonderful bird species that still need to be protect in 2021.

See you in my next article!

Mathis