Bald eagle
Amazing fact
A bald eagle cannot move its eyes from side to side, so it turns its head to look around.
San Diego Zoo
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
A bald eagle cannot move its eyes from side to side, so it turns its head to look around.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Bald eagle
- Scientific name
- Haliaeetus leucocephalus
- Japanese name
- ハクトウワシ
- Group
- Birds
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Haliaeetus
Where the name “Bald eagle” comes from
The “bald” in its English name may come from an old English word meaning white.
San Diego ZooAn eagle of North America, usually found near large lakes, rivers and other waters.
Adults are mostly brown, with a snowy white head, neck and tail, and yellow beak and feet.
It mainly eats fish, and it is known to steal fish that ospreys have caught.
How the Bald eagle lives
It waits on a perch until it spots a fish near the surface. It carries a fish in its feet to a nest or tree perch to eat. It returns to its nest year after year, adding branches, grass and other materials.
San Diego ZooBasic data
- Size
- Wingspan: up to 2.6 m
- Weight
- 3–6.5 kg
- Range
- North America
Where the Bald eagle has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ハクトウワシ
- 简体中文
- 白头海雕
- 繁體中文
- 白頭海鵰
- 한국어
- 흰머리수리
- Español
- Pigargo americano
- Français
- Pygargue à tête blanche
- Deutsch
- Weißkopfseeadler
- Português (Brasil)
- Águia de cabeça branca
- Italiano
- Aquila di mare testabianca
- हिन्दी
- bald eagle
- العربية
- عُقاب رخماء
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Elang botak
- Tiếng Việt
- Đại bàng đầu trắng
- Русский
- Белоголовый орлан
- Türkçe
- Kel kartal
- ไทย
- อินทรีหัวขาว
- বাংলা
- বল্ড ঈগল
- اردو
- گنجا عقاب
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- Smithsonian's National Zoo — Bald eagleChecked: 2026-11-03
- San Diego Zoo — Bald EagleChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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