Appearance
Juvenile eagles. Photo by Fred Ocasio used with permission.
The adult bald eagle has a dark brown body with a white tail, white head and a large bright yellow bill with bright yellow eyes. Adult females are a third larger than males with a deeper bill and notable size difference in feet. Bald eagles can weigh from 6.5 to 14 pounds and grow about 2 to 3 feet in size. Males have a wingspan of up to 6 feet, but females can reach a wingspan of 8 feet. Juveniles have brown heads with darker bills and uniformly brown plumage around their body with white spotting on their tails and wings. Full adult plumage typically appears in their fifth year.
Behavior:
Two eagles overlook their nest in a pine tree at sunset.
Bald eagles are opportunistic foragers meaning they can be found hunting for live prey or scavenging for dead animals. However, fish is their primary food, so bald eagles usually reside in habitat within a kilometer of a water source. Eagles are visual hunters and first locate prey from a high perch before swooping down to catch the prey with their large talons. Often, eagles will also soar over water or land to take prey by surprise or steal food that other birds, like osprey, have captured.
Breeding
Bald eagles can live up to 30 years in the wild and reach reproductive maturity at 4-5 years of age. They mate for life, but they will accept a new mate if their current one dies. In Florida, their official breeding season begins October 1 but can range from September to May. Eagles build their nests in tall trees within view of water and an unobstructed view of the surrounding area. The nests are constructed with large sticks and will line the nest with softer materials like twigs, mosses, or grasses. Nests can be up to 180 feet or more above ground and are usually 4-6 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep. The nests become larger from use throughout multiple years. A record-sized nest in St. Petersburg, Florida was 9.5 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall. Eagles typically produce one brood containing 1-3 eggs per nesting season. The parents incubate the eggs in turns for 34-36 days. Young eagles remain in the nest for 10-12 weeks. The first flight is typically after the 12th week. The young will fledge or leave the nest a few days after their first flight. Eaglets stay near the nest for food and will disperse from the nesting territory approximately six weeks later.
Bald eagles use forest habitat for nesting and roosting, and expanses of fresh or saltwater for foraging. Most eagle nests are in live native pine trees but can also be found in cypress trees, oaks, and mangroves. However, there is an increase of nests in artificial structures like cellular towers and power poles near farmland and urban and suburban habitat.
Habitat:
Breeding range map based on known occupied bald eagle nests from 2023-24 Audubon EagleWatch monitoring data. Full range is presumed to be larger.
Bald eagles are found across North America. Their distribution ranges from Alaska, Canada, across the United States and south to Baja California. Florida has the densest population of all states outside of Alaska. Primary habitat includes coastal locations near rivers, lakes, and marshes with access to fish and surrounding forest. Dense nesting populations can be found in Central Florida’s wetland systems from the lower St. John’s River to Lake Okeechobee and along the Gulf coast. Most eagles in Florida will migrate north out of state once breeding season is over in the late summer, but some also permanently reside in Florida.
Threats
A variety of threats brought the species to near extinction in the late 1800s and again in the 1950s. Although the bald eagle population in Florida is now considered stable, they are still face challenges today. Current and past threats include:
Habitat loss and alteration: Due to urban expansion there has been a loss in shoreline habitat usable as breeding sites. With the loss of habitat available for foraging and nesting, more territorial disputes between eagles occur, which can lead to injury and even death. The loss of shoreline and forest habitat has also caused eagles to use more artificial structures for nesting, making young eagles vulnerable to human disturbance and persecution.
Collisions: Eagles scavenging for carrion along roadsides become vulnerable to vehicular strikes. Being forced to travel through human development in their migration routes has also caused eagles to face the risk of colliding with large structures like wind turbines.
DDT & Rodenticides: In the early 1950s the use of pesticides like DDT became extremely popular for controlling mosquitos and other insects. However, these chemicals also sometimes entered the water and were absorbed by aquatic plants and fish. After consuming the contaminated food sources, eagles created eggs with weak shells. DDTs were successfully banned in 1972.
In more recent years, there have been cases of eagle mortality caused by rodenticides. Between 2014 and 2018, 116 deceased bald eagles were tested for anticoagulant rodenticide, also known as rat poison. Researchers discovered that 96 of the eagles were exposed to high levels of these chemicals.
Conservation and Management
An estimated 1,488 nests were recorded in 55 counties in Florida during the 2023-2024 breeding season, compared to only 88 active nesting pairs in 1973. With their successful population recovery, bald eagles were removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act in 2007. The species was also removed from Florida's Endangered and Threatened Species List in 2008. They remain protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, along with the Florida state bald eagle rule (68A-16.002, F.A.C.).
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service developed management guidelines to advise landowners who own public or private land in proximity with bald eagles. These National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines determine whether certain human activities create disturbances that are prohibited under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Information on disturbance take permits for activity around bald eagle nests can be found at the USFWS Eagle Take Permit website.
How You Can Help
Bald eagle with black auxiliary band on right leg. Photo by Sarah Maraio used by permission.
You can help Florida’s bald eagles by reporting sightings of banded individuals. The Audubon Center for Birds of Prey has been conducting an auxiliary band study on eaglets to determine if the type of nest they hatched in influenced their future nest preference. Each eaglet was given a silver federal band and a colored auxiliary band with a unique alphanumerical code. The color of the band is based on the type of nest they hatched in. Green bands are for natural nests and black bands are for nests on artificial structures (example of a green banded bald eagle shown above). If you spot a banded bald eagle, report the band color, the alphanumerical code if possible, and which leg the band is on to USGS Banded Bird Encounter Reporting or BaldEagle@MyFWC.com.
Monitoring eagle nesting activity is important for identifying any disturbances that may cause population declines. If you have seen a bald eagle nest report the nest location here.
If you have found an injured or sick bald eagle, please contact the clinic at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey at 407-644-0190 or visit Audubon Center for Birds of Prey.
If you suspect any illegal activity involving bald eagles, please contact FWC's Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-3922. If you have any questions involving bald eagles, please contact your FWC Regional Office.
Additional Information
Florida Natural Areas Inventory Bald Eagle Profile
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
U.S. FWS Species Profile for Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute Bald Eagle Fact Sheet
Bald Eagle Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology