Behaviour: Clasping or Cartwheel Display, Where Two Eagles Clasp Each Other's Talons in The Mid Air and

Behaviour
Behaviour is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, system, or
artificial entities in conjunction with themselves or their environment, which includes the
other systems or organisms aroundas well as physical environment .Behaviour pertains to the
acts or reactions that an organism,an individual or system produces in response to the
external stimuli that is voluntary or involuntary.
The Bald Eagle is not picky about how it gets its food.Intersting behavior include talon
clasping or cartwheel display,where two eagles clasp each other’s talons in the mid air and
spin down,letting go only when they have almost reached the ground. This may be courtship
ritual as well as a territorial battle.
Figure3: Talon Clasping
Vocal behavior in Bald Eagle
For such a large bird, the Bald eagle’s voice is surprisingly weak. Its call is compared to a
snickering laugh and consists of seven or eight notes sounded very labored.It can written to
like ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ker.The function of this strange vocalization is unknown so further
research on the function of the vocalization is needed. Young Bald Eagles make different
sounds than the adults. After hatching the nestlings make a single-note tonal peep.As the bird
ages, its sounds become more complex and have a greater volume variance and by day thirty
of their life their call has similar characteristics to the adult Bald Eagles call even though
there is no direct evidence that offspring learn their calls from adults.Since there is no
evidence, further research is needed to determine whether Bald Eagle song is learned or
innate.
Figure 1:Bald Eagle Vocalization
To test this, scientists could raise a Bald Eagle grew to have the same call as other adult Bald
Eagle in captivity without interaction with any other birds. They could then observe whether
this Bald Eagle grew to have the same call as other adult Bald Eagles or if it was different or
if it did not learn a call at all.
Types of Calls
1) Cheeping Call
The cheeping call of the nestling serves as a way to beg for food, an alarm call and
communication with adults.This is used early in life to communicate with adults.
2) Peal Call
After four weeks, the young Bald Eagles also develop wail and peal calls. The peal
call is often given in response to human approaching the Bald Eagles and is a high-
pitched cry that has three to five notes like gull.The peal is described to sound like
kwit-kwit-kwit-kwit-kee-kee-kee-ker.
3) Mating Call
Another unique call the bald eagle is the call that females make when they are ready
to mate.This sounds is soft and high pitched and repeated multiple times.
4) Defence Call
This call is made by male that serves as a defense mechanism, it is a high-pitched peal
to signal when other birds or humans approach.The will use this fend off attacks at
communal feeding sites also.
5) Chatter Call
This call is also made by Bald Eagle in response to human or other birds.This call
consist of 3 to 4 notes.
Song Sonograms
Very little is known about Bald Eagle dialect. Since Bald Eagle live in many different places,
it could be inferred that each region of Bald Eagle has its own distinct dialect.To test this
theory scientists could observe bald eagle population in different areas of the world.They
could make sonograms and easily detect the sounds of bald eagle species.
Song learing
After hatching, the vocalizations produced by the Bald Eagles is a single toned peep, with
little change in frequency.First of all the bird use the cheeping call to communicate with
adults. By day 30,the call has many characteristics of an adult and fully
developed.Experiments done on the Bald Eagled suggest that birds raised in acoustic
isolation produce a typical songs in adult stages.This leads many scientists to believe that the
song of the Bald Eagle is learned in the development.This song learning is similar to the most
species that are passerines.
Vocal System
The survivor will take a new mate.Shrill, high pitched,and twittering are common
descriptions used for bald eagle vocalizations.Eagles do not have the vocal cords. Sound is
produced in the syrinx.A bony chamber located where the trachea divides to go the lungs.
Figure 2: Vocal system

Diet and Foraging
Their diet mainly consists of fish,salmon, herring,and catfish but waterfowl,small mammals
and even turtle remains have been found in their diet.To catch a fish, eagles generally watch
the water surface from a perch or while soaring in the air. They swoop down close to the
water to catch a fish. Eagles often steal food froms other birds prey like ospreys.They also eat
carrion,the decaying flesh of dead animals, such as a deer hit by car. Carrion is especially
important in winter when other foods are not easily found. Eagles are” birds of prey” which
means they hunt for food. Unlike other birds which eat seeds and insects travel only short
distances in search of a meal, the eagle must fly great distances in order to find worthy fare.
Their prey items include waterfowl and small mammals like squirrels, prairie dogs, raccoons
and rabbits. Bald Eagles are opportunistic predator meaning that in addition to hunting for
live prey. During first year and until they become proficient hunters eagles will often feed
carrion or dead animal.They gradually develop hunting skills.
Food percentage
In 20 food habit studies across the species range Fish comprised 56% of the diet of nesting
eagles, Birds 28% ,Mammals 14% and other prey 2%.
Figure 4:Eating a Carrion
Bald Eagle is at the top of the food chain because it does not have many predators and has
lots of prey, many animals,fear the Bald Eagle because it is fearless.They are Tertiary
Consumers.

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Behaviour

Figure3: Talon Clasping

Vocal behavior in Bald Eagle

Figure 1:Bald Eagle Vocalization

Figure 2: Vocal system

Figure 4:Eating a Carrion

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