Eagle Facts & Trivia
Eagle Facts
- There are over 60 different species of eagles.
- Eagles have powerful talons that help them catch their prey.
- Eagles have large, hooked beaks.
- Eagles will eat reptiles, mammals, fish and birds.
- Eagle will typically lay two eggs at once, which will hatch in about 30 days.
- Eagles are found in all parts of the world.
- Adult male eagles generally weigh about 9 pounds.
- Adult eagles have a wing span of up to 7 feet.
- Eagles are a member of the Accipitridae family.
- Bald eagles live along the coast and on major lakes and rivers where they feed mainly on fish.
- The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States.
- The Great Seal of the United States features a bald eagle.
- Bald eagles aren’t actually bald.
- Eagles are featured on the coat of arms of many countries such as Germany, Egypt, Mexico, Austria, and Poland.
- Eagles may live into their thirties.
- An eagle’s talons will capture their prey and they will use their bill to clip the spinal cord of their prey.
- An eagle can carry a load of about 30% more than their own body weight.
- An eagle will have several thousand feathers, but that amounts to only 5% of their body.
- Bald eagles have lived up to 48 years in zoos.
- Bald eagles breed in much of Alaska.
- About half of the world’s 70,000 bald eagles live in Alaska.
- Rather than do their own fishing, Bald Eagles often go after other creatures’ catches.
- No North American bird grows faster than an eagle chick.
- Eagles tend to use the same nests year after year.
- The largest bald eagle nest on record was 9.5 ft (3 m) wide and 20 ft (6 m) high. It weighed more than two tons.
- Eagles are monogamous. They mate for life and use the same nest each year.
- Golden eagles have been known to hunt foxes, wild cats and even young deer and goats.
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Falconiformes
- Family: Accipitridae
Movies
- The Eagle, (2011)
- G.I. Joe: An American Hero, (2005)
- Harry Potter, (2001)
- The Lord of the Rings, (1999)
- The Rescuers Down Under, (1990)
- Iron Eagle, (1986)
- Where Eagles Dare, (1969)
- The Wings of Eagles, (1957)
Eagle Songs
- Comfort Eagle, by Cake
- Day of the Eagle, by Robin Trower
- Eagle, by ABBA
- Eagle Fly Free, by Shaman
- Eagle When She Flies, by Dolly Parton
- Fly Eagle Fly, by White Heart
- Fly Like an Eagle, The Steve Miller Bandby
- Half Angel Half Eagle, by Jane Siberry
- On The Wings of an Eagle, by Raven
- Rocky Mountain High, by John Denver
- Silver Eagle Express , by Kink Friedman
- The Eagle, by Waylon Jennings
- The Eagle and the Bear, by Kris Kristofferson
- The Eagle and the Hawk, by John Denver
- The Eagle Will Rise Again, by Alan Parsons Project
- When The Eagle Flies, by Traffic
- Where the Stars and Stripes and Eagle Fly, by Aaron Tippin
- Wings of an Eagle, by Ziggy Marley
Famous Eagles
- Avenger, from Birdman and the Galaxy Trio
- Bald Eagle, the symbol of the United States
- Chip, in “The Little Engine That Could”
- Farsight, from The Last Battle (C.S. Lewis)
- Freedom, from G.I. Joe: An American Hero
- Gondo, from Zambezia
- Marahute, from The Rescuers Down Under
- Ravenclaw, the symbol of the house in the “Harry Potter” series
- Sam the Eagle, from The Muppet Show
- Silver Wing, from Shaman King
- Sitka, from Brother Bead
- Simorgh, from Comics
- Takaoka, from Damekko Dobutsu
- Thorondor, Gwaihir, Landroval , from The Lord of the Rings