Description: A large blackish eagle with a wingspan of 7-8 ft. White head and tail and large yellow beak. Young birds lack the white head and tail, and resemble adult Golden Eagles, but are variably marked with white and have a more massive black bill. Its voice is a creaking cackling kleee-kik-kik-ik-ik, or a lower kak-kak-kak and thin squeals.

Range: Breeds from Alaska to all of Canada, south to the southern US.

Habitat: Seacoasts, marshes, estuaries, rivers, large lakes, mountains and open country. Most common near water and will often spend hours sitting on a snag overlooking a food source. Large numbers may be seen at spawning times along rivers.

General: Mainly a fish eater, the Bald Eagle is adept at plucking fish from just below the surface of the water, but it mainly feeds off of carrion during spawning runs, catches crippled waterfowl or, in Victoria, feeds from rooftop seagull nests. They can often be seen harassing Osprey to steal their catch. They build huge stick nests in a tall tree or, less frequently, on a tall cliff which they often use year after year. Some nests have measured as much as four metres across and three metres deep. Two nests are located in Beacon Hill park near the sundial and mating pairs can be found rearing their young from mid February to late June. Populations have been decimated by loss of habitat, poaching, and pesticides but they are staging a comeback.

Bovey, Robin, Campbell, Wayne, and Gates, Brian. 1989. Birds of Victoria and Vicinity. Lone Pine Publishing. Edmonton, Alberta.

Peterson, Roger Tory. 1990. Peterson Field Guides: Western Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company. New York, New York.

Udvardy, Miklos D. F. 1994. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region. Chanticlear Press, Inc. New York, New York.

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