What is the difference between a bald eagle and an american eagle

A juvenile golden eagle looks almost like an immature bald eagle when they are both young, because both have a brown head and body with white patches. Bald eagles don't gain their distinctive head and body coloring until they reach about five years old. Even though both birds are eagles, the bald eagle likes to hunt fish, similar to related birds such as kites, while birds in the red-tailed hawk family are more closely related to golden eagles. The bald eagle has a bigger head and a large, yellow-hooked beak, compared to the golden eagle's smaller head and black-hooked beak.

When golden and bald eagle fledglings just learn to fly, most people confuse the two birds, although juvenile golden eagles have distinctive white patches on their tail and wings, which can be used to distinguish between the two birds. The immature bald eagle also has white patches, but his feathers appear as if they ran into a can of white paint, picking up some haphazard splatters.

The golden eagle has feathers that give it the appearance of wearing boots all the way to its talons, while the bald eagle's feathers stop short and you can see bits of its legs and all of its talons. The golden eagle wingspan in flight has a slightly different shape than that of a bald eagle. Golden eagles tend to avoid nesting in areas with a lot of human activity.

The bald eagle resides in a much smaller area of the world, found mainly in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. They typically prefer to build large stick nests in tall trees along bodies of water, though they can be seen in most types of habitats.

They will sometimes use cliffs when trees are not available. Bald eagles are not as bothered by human activity as golden eagles. Although bald and golden eagles have a prey preference, there is a lot of overlap in what they eat. Fish are the preferred food item for bald eagles, however they will also prey on waterfowl, prairie dogs, rabbits, and will happily consume a large amount of carrion when available.

Bald eagles will also practice kleptoparasitism by harassing Ospreys or other birds in order to steal prey from them. Below is a video of a bald eagle catching a fishing. Golden eagles mainly prey on mammals such as rabbits and hares.

They also prey on ground squirrels, prairie dogs, marmots, foxes, and even young deer and antelope. They have been seen pulling sheep off of cliffs, then following them to the ground to finish off the kill if necessary. They will also eat reptiles, tortoises, and medium sized birds.

The average length for a golden eagle is between 70 - 99cm. The wingspan is between - cm and weighs between 2, - 6,g 2. The average length for a bald eagle is between 71 - 96cm and has a wingspan between - cm. The average weight is anywhere from 3,g - 6,g 3 - 6. No, golden eagles have stronger and more powerful talons than those of the bald eagle. This is because golden eagles generally hunt bigger prey than the bald eagle, who usually have diets of fish, carrion and terrestrial mammals, such as hares and muskrats.

They are about the same size: Males in both species are about 2. Like many raptors, the females are larger. And while both birds may appear to have black bodies, they are, in reality and in better light, dark brown. Juvenile Bald Eagles' heads are all dark and easily confused with the fully brown head of a Golden Eagle. This, I suspect, is the source of many misidentifications—combined with wishful thinking.

After their first year, the bodies of immature Bald Eagles start filling in with whitish feathers, particularly on the belly. This makes the birds appear piebald, mocha, or even cream-colored at a distance. In contrast, Golden Eagles' bodies remain dark as they age, with white touches limited mostly to the wings concentrated on the underwings and the base of the tail.

Three- and four-year-old Bald Eagles bear a whitish visage and a dark line through the eye, similar to the face of an Osprey.