Bald eagles are built for soaring, with long broad wings, large wing slots, and broad, wedge-shaped tails. They hold their wings flat in flight, migrate during the day, and use wind corridors – geographical features that concentrate and amplify wind – whenever possible.
A stiff tail wind will send migrating eagles aloft in the thousands, especially over surfaces with little opportunity for thermal soaring. The bald eagle body plan and low-aspect wings – i.e. large, broad wings relative to its overall surface area – are most suited to low-angle, low-energy soaring flight. Bald eagles breed in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and can be seen there year round.
Bald Eagles eat a wide variety of prey, although they prefer fish. They usually swoop in shallowly over a body of water, braking heavily as they swing their feet down and hook into fish near the top of the water column.
They don’t dive beneath the water like ospreys, although they can swim and will sometimes fish from the bank of a river. In the winter, you might see them nesting, usually near a body of water.
Wintering non-territorial eagles congregate in huge groups near open water on the main channels of large water systems.