How to Identify a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

• Head pattern: Adult (by about 5.5 years old): unmistakable white head and white tail contrasting with a brown body
• Bill: Adult: bright yellow bill, developing from a dark bill in juveniles
• Body pattern: Juvenile: dark brown head, body, wings, and tail with some whitish mottling in the wings and tail
• Flight silhouette: Broad, long, fingered, and rounded wings
• Size: Females can have a wingspan up to 8 feet; males are smaller, with a wingspan up to 6 feet

Compared to a young Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle looks a bit longer-tailed and smaller-headed with a slightly smaller bill; young Bald Eagles show at least a little white mottling on the body or wing-linings where Golden Eagles lack it The Bald Eagle page lists its own marks.

Often near water along coasts, rivers, or large lakes; in forested areas with access to openings and/or edges The only eagle solely native to North America; historic range from Alaska and Canada across the contiguous US down to northern Mexico, with populations recovered and breeding throughout that historic range

Raptors are usually far away and against the sky, so expose for the bird, not the sky, and take several frames as it turns: the tail shape, wing shape and underwing pattern show best in flight. For a perched bird, get the head and chest in one frame. Size is hard to judge alone; compare with a nearby crow, gull or fence post. The app names the likely species; confirm with the marks above.