| OCR Text |
Show National bird is eagle-eyed but not bald Want to know why the American bald eagle is called "bald?" Or why "eagle-eye" is an apt (k'scription for someone with good eyesight? These are just two of many questions about America's national bird answered an-swered in the current issue of Ranger Rick, the National Wildlife Federation's monthly publication for children. A bald eagle isn't bald at all. His head is covered with white feathers. The word bald comes from the Old English word "balde," which means white. And "eagle-eye" refers to the eagle's extraordinary keen eyesight, which enables some of them to spot a fish from more than a mile away. An usually high number of "cone cells," or specialized vision cells, give the eagle's eye its long-distance focusing capability, says Ranger Rick. The extra cells also make the eagle's eye large in proportion to the rest of his body. Some eagles have eyeballs larger than a human's. The entire edition of the children's nature magazine is dedicated to the bald eagle, officially kicking off 1982 as the "Year of the Eagle." The year-long observance commemorates the selection of the bald eagle as this nation's symbol 200 years ago. Among the other questions about the majectic bird answered by Ranger . Rick are these: How high do eagles fly? No one knows for sure, says Ranger Rick. But they do fly high even out of sight by riding of top of rising columns of air, called thermals. How big is a bald eagle's nest. They are often huge, because eagles (who mate for life) tend to use the same nest, piling new materials on top of the old year after year. One of the largest nests ever found weighed more than a ton, and measured 20 feet deep by 94 feet across. A new nest is small by comparisonabout com-parisonabout three feet high and five feet across, according to Ranger Rick. Do eagles nest in the same place year after year? Not always. Some piiirs have several nests in the same area, and they use a different one each year. Hut one pair of eagles nested in the same place for 20 years. How much do eagles weigh? A mature American eagle weighs between bet-ween eight and twelve pounds. Most female bald eagles weigh a little more than their mates. What do bald eagles eat? They seem to prefer fish dead or alive. Eagles are great fishermen, able to nab a live fish right out of the water by swooping down and grasping it with sharp talons. But eagles will also eat ducks, geese, turtles, rabbits, rats, squirrels and even garbage. |
