White-tailed Eagle

Haliaeetus albicillaOrder: FALCONIFORMES Family: Kites, Eagles and Hawks (Accipitridae)

Codes: Common Name: WTEA Scientific Name: HALALB ITIS Taxonomic No.: 175419

Breeding Location:

Rivers, Rocky cliffs, Coastal, sea

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Thought to pair for life

Breeding Population:

Declining

Egg Color:

Dull white

Number of Eggs:

1 - 3

Incubation Days:

34 - 45

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Sticks, grasses, seaweed, and bones of prey.

Migration:

Most do not migrate

General

White-tailed Eagle: Fourth largest eagle in the world, has a dark brown body, brown and white streaked head, neck, and breast with a white tail. Bill, legs, and feet are yellow and eyes are medium brown. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is dark brown with variable mottling on wings and tail.

Range and Habitat

White-tailed Eagle: Native of Eurasia and Greenland, is sometimes seen on the Aleutian Island Attu. Prefers rocky coasts and rivers along the forest edge.

Breeding and Nesting

White-tailed Eagle: Builds a nest of sticks, grass, seaweed and bones of prey high in a tree or on a rocky ledge. One to three dull white eggs incubated by female 35 to 45 days. Young are fed by both sexes. One brood per year.

Foraging and Feeding

White-tailed Eagle: Eats fish, young gulls, ducks, guillemots, alcids, seals, rabbits, rodents, and carrion. Will steal food from gulls.

Vocalization

White-tailed Eagle: Utters a bark-like call.

Similar Species

White-tailed Eagle: Bald Eagle has white undertail coverts and white head. Steller's Sea-Eagle is larger with yellow-orange bill.

Percevia^® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Percevia field guides, database and search protocol patent pending.

The best bird guide and bird watching search engine to identify birds!

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

White-tailed Eagle

White-tailed Eagle: Fourth largest eagle in the world, has a dark brown body, brown and white streaked head, neck, and breast with a white tail. The bill, legs, and feet are yellow and eyes are medium brown. Heavy flight with strong, deep, steady wing beats alternating with glides. Soars on thermals.

● Song: "krick-krick-krick-krick", "grah-grah-grah"

● Foraging & Feeding: White-tailed Eagle: Eats fish, young gulls, ducks, guillemots, alcids, seals, rabbits, rodents, and carrion. Will steal food from gulls.

● Breeding & nesting: White-tailed Eagle: Builds a nest of sticks, grass, seaweed and bones of prey high in a tree or on a rocky ledge. One to three dull white eggs incubated by female 35 to 45 days. Young are fed by both sexes. One brood per year.

● Similar species: White-tailed Eagle: Bald Eagle has white undertail coverts and white head. Steller's Sea-Eagle is larger with yellow-orange bill.

Flight Pattern

Strong, deep, steady wing beats, sometimes alternates with glides.

● Range & Habitat: White-tailed Eagle: Native of Eurasia and Greenland, is sometimes seen on the Aleutian Island Attu. Prefers rocky coasts and rivers along the forest edge.

^BreedingMonogamous, Thought to pair for life

^PopulationDeclining

^MigrationMost do not migrate

^Weight140.8 Ounces

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America