Editing Bald eagle (section)

==Description==
[[File:Bald Eagle Plumage.jpg|thumb|alt=A portrait style photo of a bald eagle emphasizing its feathers.|Bald eagle plumage|left]]
The [[plumage]] of an adult bald eagle is evenly dark brown with a white head and tail. The tail is moderately long and slightly wedge shaped. Males and females are identical in plumage coloration, but [[sexual dimorphism]] is evident in the species, in that females are 25% larger than males.<ref name="hbw" /> The beak, feet and [[iris (anatomy)|irises]] are bright yellow. The legs are feather free, and the toes are short and powerful with large talons. The highly developed talon of the hind toe is used to pierce the vital areas of prey while it is held immobile by the front toes.<ref name="ADW" /> The [[beak]] is large and hooked, with a yellow [[cere]].<ref name="Cornell" /> The adult bald eagle is unmistakable in its native range. The closely related [[African fish eagle]] (''Haliaeetus vocifer'') (from far outside the bald eagle's range) also has a brown body (albeit of somewhat more rufous hue), white head and tail, but differs from the bald eagle in having a white chest and black tip to the bill.<ref name="Ferguson-Lees" />[[File:Bald Eagle flying over ice (Southern Ontario, Canada).jpg|thumb|Bald eagle anatomy]]
The plumage of the immature is a dark brown overlaid with messy white streaking until the fifth (rarely fourth, very rarely third) year, when it reaches sexual maturity.<ref name=hbw/><ref name="ADW"/> Immature bald eagles are distinguishable from the [[golden eagle]] (''Aquila chrysaetos''), the only other very large, non-vulturine raptorial bird in North America, in that the former has a larger, more protruding head with a larger [[beak]], straighter edged wings which are held flat (not slightly raised) and with a stiffer wing beat and feathers which do not completely cover the legs. When seen well, the golden eagle is distinctive in plumage with a more solid warm brown color than an immature bald eagle, with a reddish-golden patch to its [[nape]] and (in immature birds) a highly contrasting set of white squares on the wing.<ref name="sibley"/>

[[File:Bald Eagle, wings and tail feathers.jpg|thumb|A bald eagle showing its wingspan]]
[[File:Bald eagle foot closeup.jpg|thumb|Closeup of a museum specimen's foot, showing the toepads' spiny papillae]]
The bald eagle has sometimes been considered the largest true raptor ([[Accipitriformes|accipitrid]]) in North America. The only larger species of raptor-like bird is the [[California condor]] (''Gymnogyps californianus''), a [[New World vulture]] that today is not generally considered a taxonomic ally of true accipitrids.<ref name="Travsky"/> However, the golden eagle, averaging {{convert|4.18|kg|lb|abbr=on}} and {{convert|63|cm|in|abbr=on}} in [[Wing chord (biology)|wing chord length]] in its American race (''Aquila chrysaetos canadensis''), is merely {{convert|455|g|lb|abbr=on}} lighter in mean body mass and exceeds the bald eagle in mean wing chord length by around {{convert|3|cm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Watson/> Additionally, the bald eagle's close cousins, the relatively longer-winged but shorter-tailed [[white-tailed eagle]] and the overall larger [[Steller's sea eagle]] (''Haliaeetus pelagicus''), may, rarely, wander to coastal Alaska from Asia.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/>

The bald eagle has a body length of {{convert|70|–|102|cm|in|sp=us|abbr = on}}. Typical wingspan is between {{convert|1.8|and|2.3|m|ftin|0|abbr=on}} and mass is normally between {{convert|3|and|6.3|kg|lb|sp=us|abbr = on}}.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/> Females are about 25% larger than males, averaging as much as {{convert|5.6|kg|lb|abbr=on}}, and against the males' average weight of {{convert|4.1|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name=hbw/><ref name=b1/><ref name=r1/><ref name=b2/>

The size of the bird varies by location and generally corresponds with [[Bergmann's rule]]: the species increases in size further away from the equator and the tropics. For example, eagles from [[South Carolina]] average {{convert|3.27|kg|lb|abbr=on}} in mass and {{convert|1.88|m|ftin|0|abbr=on}} in wingspan, smaller than their northern counterparts.<ref name="Murphy"/> One field guide in Florida listed similarly small sizes for bald eagles there, at about {{convert|4.13|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Maehr |first1=D. S. |last2=Kale |first2=H. W. |year=2005 |title=Florida's Birds: A Field Guide and Reference |publisher=Pineapple Press Inc}}</ref> Of intermediate size, 117 migrant bald eagles in [[Glacier National Park (U.S.)|Glacier National Park]] were found to average {{convert|4.22|kg|lb|abbr=on}} but this was mostly (possibly post-dispersal) juvenile eagles, with six adults here averaging {{convert|4.3|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Patterson |first1=D.A. |last2=McClelland |first2=B.R. |last3=Shea |first3=D.S. |last4=McClelland |first4=P.T. |year=1998 |title=Size Variation of Migrant Bald Eagles at Glacier National Park, Montana |journal=J. Raptor Res. |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=120–25}}</ref> Wintering eagles in Arizona (winter weights are usually the highest of the year since, like many raptors, they spend the highest percentage of time foraging during winter) were found to average {{convert|4.74|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Zylo |first1=M. T. |year=2012 |title=Bald eagles (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') wintering in northern Arizona select perches based on food availability, visibility and cover |type=MS thesis |publisher=Northern Arizona University |isbn=978-1-267-58789-3 |id={{ProQuest|1039149407}}}}</ref>

The largest eagles are from [[Alaska]], where large females may weigh more than {{convert|7|kg|lb|abbr=on}} and span {{convert|2.44|m|ftin|0|abbr=on}} across the wings.<ref name="Cornell"/><ref name=r2/> A survey of adult weights in Alaska showed that females there weighed on average {{convert|5.35|kg|lb|abbr=on}}, respectively, and males weighed {{convert|4.23|kg|lb|abbr=on}} against immatures which averaged {{convert|5.09|kg|lb|abbr=on}} and {{convert|4.05|kg|lb|abbr=on}} in the two sexes.<ref name="Brown">{{cite book |title=Eagles, Hawks and Falcons of the World |first1=Leslie |last1=Brown |first2=Dean |last2=Amadon |author-link2=Dean Amadon |publisher=The Wellfleet Press |year=1986 |isbn=978-1-55521-472-2}}.</ref><ref name= Palmer>{{cite book |editor-last1=Palmer |editor-first1=R. S. |year=1988 |title=Handbook of North American Birds Volume VI: Diurnal Raptors (Part 1) |publisher=Yale University Press}}</ref> An Alaskan adult female eagle that was considered outsized weighed some {{convert|7.4|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gende |first1=S. M. |year=2008 |chapter=Perspectives on the Breeding Biology of Bald Eagles in Southeast Alaska |title=Bald Eagles in Alaska |editor-first1=Bruce A. |editor-last1=Wright |editor-first2=Phil |editor-last2=Schempf |publisher=University of Alaska Southeast}}</ref> R.S. Palmer listed a record from 1876 in [[Wyoming County, New York]] of an enormous adult bald eagle that was shot and reportedly scaled {{convert|8.2|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name= Palmer/> Among standard linear measurements, the [[Wing chord (biology)|wing chord]] is {{convert|51.5|-|69|cm|in|abbr=on}}, the [[tail]] is {{convert|23|-|37|cm|in|abbr=on}} long, and the [[Tarsus (skeleton)|tarsus]] is {{convert|8|to|11|cm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name="BNA">{{Cite journal |last=Buehler |first=David A. |date=2022 |title=Bald Eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') |editor1=P. G. Rodewald |editor2=S. G. Mlodinow |publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology |url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/baleag/cur/introduction |journal=Birds of the World |language=en |doi=10.2173/bow.baleag.02}}</ref> The [[Culmen (bird)|culmen]] reportedly ranges from {{convert|3|to|7.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}, while the measurement from the [[gape]] to the tip of the bill is {{convert|7|-|9|cm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref name="BNA"/><ref name=j1/>  The bill size is unusually variable: Alaskan eagles can have up to twice the bill length of birds from the southern United States ([[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Louisiana]], Florida), with means including both sexes of {{convert|6.83|cm|in|abbr=on}} and {{convert|4.12|cm|in|abbr=on}} in culmen length, respectively, from these two areas.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Imler |first1=R. H. |last2=Kalmbach |first2=E. R. |year=1955 |title=The Bald Eagle and its economic status |volume=30 |publisher=US Government Printing Office}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Friedman |first1=H. |last2=Ridgway |first2=R. |year=1950 |title=The birds of north and middle America. Part XI. Cathartidae to Falconidae |journal=U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. |volume=50}}</ref>

The call consists of weak staccato, chirping whistles, ''kleek kik ik ik ik'', somewhat similar in cadence to a [[gull]]'s call. The calls of young birds tend to be harsher and shriller than those of adults.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name="sibley"/>