Bald Eagle with his Kill

by John Telfer

Title

Bald Eagle with his Kill

Artist

John Telfer

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

FAA WATERCOLOR MARK DOES NOT APPEAR ON FINAL SALES
While at the Queens Zoo located on the old Worlds Fair ground that was host to the Worlds Fair from 1967-1968 in Queens, New York I came across this American Bald Eagle who had been stalking his prey. I reached into my camera case and quickly attached my zoom lens and set my camera to shudder speed so I could capture all of the eagles actions. As soon as I got a little closer the eagle grabbed a rodent and began to have his meal. Amazingly holding the rodent down with his powerful claws and using his sharp beak to help him eat his capture. The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus Greek hali = salt, aeetus = eagle, leuco = white, cephalis = head) is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.
The Bald Eagle is an opportunistic feeder which subsists mainly on fish, which it swoops down and snatches from the water with its talons. It builds the largest nest of any North American bird, up to 4 meters (13 ft) deep, 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) wide, and one metric ton (1.1 tons) in weight,[2] and reaches sexual maturity at four years or five years of age.
Bald Eagles are not actually bald; the name derives from an older meaning of "white headed". The adult is mainly brown with a white head and tail. The sexes are identical in plumage, but females are larger than males. The beak is large and hooked. The plumage of the immature is brown.
The Bald Eagle is the national bird of the United States of America and appears on its Seal. In the late 20th century it was on the brink of extirpation in the continental United States. Populations recovered and the species was removed from the U.S. federal government's list of endangered species on July 12, 1995 and transferred to the list of threatened species. It was removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in the Lower 48 States on June 28, 2007.
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February 21st, 2012

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