Talk:Bald eagle

Need Updated Range Map

The map (from Sibley, 2000) is badly out of date. Substantial numbers of bald eagles are now nesting, for example, along the Delaware River https://www.state.nj.us/drbc/edweb/bald-eagle.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.255.91.2 (talk) 23:44, 30 September 2018 (UTC)

Absolutely. I live 3 miles from the river on the NY side at Barryville. We see eagles all year long here. I go to Lackawaxen Pa quite often to go for a stroll and take in the scenery, and see eagles almost every time I am there, regardless of season. 2603:7000:D400:665D:754D:2D00:F202:AA46 (talk) 15:42, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

Yeah in Wisconsin, it's rarer to see them in the southern half, though they are still found there year round. EAGLITIZED (talk) 21:41, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Citation Needed?

This sentence in the Behavior section has no citation and seems suspect: "Bounty hunters shooting from helicopters opined that they were far more difficult to hunt while flying than golden eagles as they would turn, double back or dive as soon as approached." Pretty sure that would be a poacher, not a bounty hunter! 2600:1700:E920:B3E0:5591:1841:A52B:2F0 (talk) 04:38, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

Population decline…

There is a sentence that says “ In 1930 a New York City ornithologist wrote that in the state of Alaska in the previous 12 years approximately 70,000 bald eagles had been shot.”

Since Alaska did not become a state until 1959, you might consider rephrasing to something like “……… ornithologist wrote that in the territory of Alaska in the previous …………” 172.58.43.126 (talk) 14:59, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

 Done I checked the reference, and it makes no mention of state vice territory, so I changes the article as you suggested. (Note that if the reference had specifically said state, I would have left it and made a different comment here.) - UtherSRG (talk) 18:36, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

cite templates

Whew! I was WP:BOLD and just did a massive overhauling of the references to ensure they are all in cite templates. I made some decisions along the way, such as using {{cite journal}} for PhD dissertations and thesis. Someone should double check what I did. Cheers! UtherSRG (talk) 18:30, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

Federal Protections

I see talk of listing and delisting from Endangered species list, but shouldn’t there be a section that at least briefly discusses the eagle specific federal protections and penalties against harm etc. 2601:14F:4501:3320:0:0:0:86F4 (talk) 06:13, 22 October 2022 (UTC)

Do you mean like this section? - UtherSRG (talk) 13:21, 22 October 2022 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Bald Eagle Portrait.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 05:12, 8 December 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 28 July 2023

Weight is not 1 metric tin. 90.243.174.187 (talk) 11:53, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. UtherSRG (talk) 12:00, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

In addition, it looks like the 1 ton value is in reference to the weight of the largest nest. - UtherSRG (talk) 12:01, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

Find new map

I live in connecticut and we have multiple pairs of breeding eagles around me alone, yet this map says that we only get winter visitors. Additionally, at our other house in Michigan, there are always eagles around, year round. As such, this map is either outdated or simply wrong, and a better one should be found. 73.238.227.37 (talk) 20:21, 18 November 2023 (UTC)

This is a fairly common issue with range and habitat maps. In this case, it is probably a positive sign in that bald eagles seem to be on the rebound and are being seen in places where they haven't been in decades. Of course what we need to update it is both new sources that contradict the current map and someone willing and able to make those changes. Once we have the sources, we should take them over to Wikipedia:Graphics Lab/Map workshop and ask for a new map. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:02, 18 November 2023 (UTC)

Yeah, some maps show that bald eagles are found throughout the United States year-round, except for some small areas of the southwest that they can be found in during winter. Some maps show that some are found throughout the southern half during winter. My hunch tells me that bald eagles from up north winter with the ones in the southern half. PS, I hope I used the word "hunch" correctly, and that my "hunch" was correct. 2600:6C44:627F:5865:D028:C3FF:FE4B:8D02 (talk) 02:18, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Bald eagles: black or brown?

The photo of the bald eagle on the left side nearest to the top looks black instead of dark brown. It's not even a juvenile. I thought bald eagles are dark brown. PS, if you don't know which one I'm taking about, look for the one with the text under it that says "head details". 2600:6C44:627F:5865:D028:C3FF:FE4B:8D02 (talk) 19:36, 31 December 2023 (UTC)

This image linked in the article looks like AI

Or at least an upscale. Is there some way to verify whether this image is a real photograph.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haliaeetus_leucocephalus_in_flight_2cr.jpg 2603:7000:8300:1F74:E2E3:5F3D:C8F9:9125 (talk) 05:46, 22 March 2025 (UTC)

That image was uploaded nine years ago, well before AI images were being spammed all over the internet, and there is metadata from the device that created it and author information on Commons. It was taken with a Nikon D5, a professional-grade camera, not just someone's phone or whatever. Beeblebrox ^Beebletalks 19:18, 22 March 2025 (UTC)

I had the same thought and I'm glad the upload date and metadata can be checked. Do we have lens information? I imagine this must have been quite a long telephoto lens.

It is a relatively low resolution image for something taken on a Nikon D5, though. My guess is that it was cropped and too heavily de-noised, which is technology we certainly had nine years ago. Not AI, at least. Saturnine (talk) 01:11, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 6 October 2025 | Altered title. | Use this tool. Report bugs. | #UCB_Gadget

Please change this text under the Subspecies section:

"There are two recognized subspecies of bald eagle:[11][12]"

to

"There are two historically recognized subspecies of bald eagle,[11][12] although it is believed these may be the same species with size differences according to Bergmann's Rule"

Reason: Many ornithologists and organizations do not currently recognize these subspecies. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology does not have any subspecies listed under the Bald Eagle in eBird. Newdeanplus (talk) 02:12, 6 October 2025 (UTC)

 Done. Theeverywhereperson (talk here) 06:26, 6 October 2025 (UTC)

Relation to African fish eagle

This article on Bald Eagles contains under the heading "Description" the following text: "The closely related African fish eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer)..." However, I was just on the page for the genus Haliaeetus and the African fish eagle is not one of the four species listed there. So I went to the African fish eagle's page - and it contains the text "Though this species may superficially resemble the bald eagle in appearance they are not closely related." The African fish eagle's Latin name is given there as Icthyophaga vocifer, though it lists Haliaeetus vocifer as a synonym. So, in summary, I think the bald eagle's article needs updated to reflect the fact that the African fish eagle isn't a sister species and its erroneous H. vocifer under "Description" needs replaced with the correct I. vocifer. ~2026-35941-0 (talk) 08:50, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

I note here that Haliaeetus and Icthyophaga are sister taxa in tribe Milvini in subfamily Buteoninae. I just don't know in which direction the taxonomy is changing. - UtherSRG (talk) 18:43, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

References

@Aa77zz: What does Avilist say on this? IUCN lists vocifer in Haliaeetus, among a total of 8 species. - UtherSRG (talk) 18:41, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

@UtherSRG: The split of Haliaeetus to give give a separate genus Icthyophaga is adopted by IOC 15.1 and by AviList 2025. This is based on a solid phylogenetic study (Catanach et al. 2024) and is unlikely to change.

Mindel et al 2018 (p 17 fig 1.2) using mostly mtDNA sequences found that Haliaeetus comprised two distinct clades. Based on this result Haliaeetus was split by the IOC and Icthyophaga resurrected. Catanach et al. 2024 here using a large number of nuclear sequences (UCEs) confirmed the two clades result.

Note that there are Fish/Sea eagles in both genera, the northern species in Haliaeetus and the southern species in Icthyophaga.

Catanach et al. 2024 show that the North American bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is sister to the Eurasian white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla).

The African fish eagle (Icthyophaga vocifer) is now in a different genus and is sister to the Madagascar fish-eagle (Icthyophaga vociferoides). - Aa77zz (talk) 11:54, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Roger that. So the TA user is correct and this needs some updates. - UtherSRG (talk) 14:45, 18 January 2026 (UTC)