Town of Carbonear - Attractions - Eagles
Eagles at Home
OK human, this is MY place.
"The majestic Bald Eagle is Canada’s largest bird of prey. It feeds primarily on fish, aquatic birds, and mammals, which it may take alive or find dead. Much of its live prey, especially the waterfowl, consists of sickly individuals or those wounded by hunters. When its staple foods are not available, a Bald Eagle will eat almost anything that has food value.
Individuals may not breed every year. Some may mate for life, but if one member of a pair dies or disappears, the other will take a new partner. Failed breeding attempts may prompt a pair to split up and look for new mates. Infrequently a subadult will mate with an adult.
Bald Eagle courtship involves elaborate and beautiful nuptial displays, both calls and aerobatics, including cartwheels, roller-coaster swoops, and chases. Usually the pair builds its nest near fresh or salt water in the tallest tree of large diameter in a forest stand and defends a surrounding 1- to 2-km2 territory against other eagles. In some parts of Canada, eagles seem to prefer to nest in conifers, especially pines. Old-growth forests provide the most suitable nest sites, but where there are no trees, the birds nest on cliffs, rock pinnacles, or, in the northern tundra, the ground. Only a few eagles have been recorded nesting on human-made structures.
The Bald Eagle’s nest is the largest of any bird in North America — on average 1.5 to 2 m across and about 1 m tall. Long-established nests can be much larger (observers recorded one that was 3 m across and 6 m tall), because the occupants add new materials to the basic structure of branches and twigs each season. In the centre is a small depression lined with soft vegetation and feathers in which the female Bald Eagle lays one to three (usually two) large dull white eggs, two to four days apart. During the 35 days of incubation when the eggs must be kept at the correct temperature and protected from predators, one of the adults (usually the female) is on the nest almost all the time" . - from HInterland Who's Who
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