5 reasons why bald eagles are the best
The bald eagle has been the national symbol of the United States since 1782. Find out why these majestic birds are so cool.
Bald eagles are state-ly.
They make twig mansions.
Bald eagles tend to build durable nests that they use for several years. Every year they add more twigs, leaves, and branches to their treetop pads—which means the nests can get ginormous. One in Ohio was over 8 feet wide, 12 feet tall, and weighed nearly 2 tons!
Bald eagles use their feet as utensils—and their throats as cupboards.
These birds catch prey such as hares with their razor-sharp talons. Because they don’t chew, they use their beaks and talons to slice the meal into easy-to-swallow chunks. Sometimes they store grub for later in a throat pouch that can hold a pound of meat.
The birds transform into rowboats.
A bald eagle sometimes floats on water while hunting for fish. After nabbing a fish, the bird may grasp the prey with its feet and use its wings as oars to row back to shore.
A bald eagle has Superman-like vision.
A bald eagle’s eyesight is far sharper than a human’s. Some scientists estimate that if you had the eyes of an eagle, you’d be able to see an ant crawling on the ground from the roof of a ten-story building.
Photographs By Atlaspix, Shutterstock; Brian Grant, Dreamstime; Ronald Adcock, Dreamstime; Wakila, Istockphoto; Atlaspix, Shutterstock