What Do Eagles Eat | Eagles Diet

How many of you are aware of what do eagles eat? Through this article I’ll be explaining some of the significant and rarely known facts about the eagles diet and what do different types of eagles eat. Eagles are known for their strong powerful jaws and are ranked high among the birds of prey. They have broad wings and a speedy flight. Nearly all the eagle species are greater than any other raptor apart from vultures. These birds of prey have sharp hooked beaks and with their powerful muscles and talons they tear the prey apart. Eagles are known for their sharp eyesight and they’re capable to spot their prey at great distances. Like all raptors, females are larger in size in comparison to the males.

What Do Different Types of Eagles Eat

What Do Bald Eagles Eat

Do you know what do American bald eagles eat? Bald eagles are carnivores and they are opportunistic feeders. These birds of prey predominantly feed on fish, salmon, and trout across Pacific Northwest. In winter, they prefer to consume carrion. Bald eagles are also capable to devour large mammals like whales together with the carcasses of ungulates. These types of eagles also feed on garbage dumps. Other bald eagles diet includes raccoons, beavers, hares, muskrats, rabbits, lizards, and deer.

Dig Deeper: Bald Eagle Facts

As far as avian prey is concerned, coots, egrets, ducks, grebes, alcids, gulls, and geese are mostly favored. Though occasionally, bald eagles also prey on birds in flight. These species rely on swans, reptiles, crustaceans, and amphibians. Bald eagles plunges over the water to grasp the fish at the surface with its strong talons. These birds of prey tend to eat by one claw and tearing down with the other. Other foods include foxes, coyotes, gulls, vultures, and corvids.Bald Eagle flying over water, what do eagles eat | what do bald eagles eat

What Do Golden Eagles Eat

(What Do Eagles Eat)

Although golden eagles are choosy about their diet yet they are opportunistic birds of prey and the size of the kill ranges from small to medium. Golden eagles have been known to prey on almost 200 mammal species. Prey choice is primarily determined by the local availability and abundance of prey species. Most common prey weighs around 0.5 – 4 kg (1.1 – 8.8 lb), though gold eagle also feed on prey with a weight measuring at 4 – 7 kg (8.8 – 15 lb). These species prey on rabbits, hares, leporids, sciurids, prairie dogs, ground squirrels, and marmots in North America and across most parts of the Europe.

The bulk of the golden eagles diet is composed of mammals in that around 89% of mammals fall victim to these species. Yellow-bellied marmot is more favored in Washington while in Great Britain, mountain hares are largely preferred. Golden eagles rely on hedgehogs in the Swedish island of Gotland. These kills are peeled before actually consuming it. Some other golden eagle foods include rodents including voles, mice, foxes, ungulates such as antelope, goats, ibex, deer, and sheep. Some species are known to prey on juveniles of other raptors. Do you know what do eagles eat in the wild? They’ve been known to take on prey with a weight measuring at 30 kg (66 lb) such as Roe Deer. Golden eagles are known to snatch brown bear cubs even though it rarely happened. Birds such as swan, crane, lark, and pipit are the most common predators.

Dig Deeper: Golden Eagle Facts For Kids

what do eagles eat | what do golden eagles eatSome other birds include phasianids, grouse, and other gallinaceous birds are eaten. These species are commonly prey on Western Capercaillie and Rock Ptarmigan. These eagles are apex predators and they don’t often come into conflict with adult animals. However, they have eaten large raptors for instance Gyrfalcons, Northern Goshawks, and Buteo Hawks. Some of the most common prey include snakes, beetles, insects, and lizards.

What Do Philippine Eagles Eat

(What Do Eagles Eat)

Philippine eagles are also known as Monkey-eating eagles for the reason that once it was believed to feed on monkeys more often; however, a little evidence was put forward to prove this. Like other raptors, these species prey on flying foxes, lizards, snakes, Asian Palm Civets, flying lemurs, monitors lizards, owls, hornbills, young dogs and dogs.

What Do Harpy Eagles Eat

(What Do Eagles Eat)

How many of you know what do harpy eagles eat? Harpy eagles are carnivores and they are considered to be apex predators. Apex predators mean that they hesitate to take on medium or larger sized prey. The bulk of their diet is composed of tree-dwelling mammals, with a special preference given to moneys and sloths. According to a research (back in 2003 – 2005), about 79% of the harpy eagles diet consists of sloths. Monkeys are the most frequent prey of harpy eagles in Venezuela; different types of monkeys include saki monkey, howler monkey, capuchin monkey, and spider monkeys. Some of the mammals embrace as squirrels, anteaters, opossums, porcupines, coatis, tayras, and kinkajous.

Dig Deeper: Harpy Eagle Facts

These birds prey also rely on parrots especially macaws. Around 0.4% of the harpy eagles diet is composed of Red-and-green Macaw, together with other birds (4.6%). Additional birds such as curassows, seriemas, and cracids are also the recurrent victims. Other food includes reptiles such as tejus, snakes, and iguanas. The snakes with the length of about 5 cm (2.0 inches) in diameter are mostly observed. Harpy eagles also prey on deer, peccaries, capybaras, and domestic livestock including chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, and lambs. Harpy eagles, with their powerful jaws and talons; and while exerting a pressure of about 42 kgf/cm² (4.1 MPa or 530 lbf/in2 or 400 N/cm2), it makes the prey almost immobile. These eagles are known to lift prey with weight equal to their own.

What Do White-tailed Eagles Eat

what do eagles eat - White tailed eagle

(What Do Eagles Eat)

White-tailed eagles diet is varied and seasonal. Like most raptors white-tailed eagles are also opportunistic feeders and they largely prey on fish, mammals and birds. These birds of prey are scavengers with their prey include dead otters, gulls, cormorants, ospreys, and other raptors. In the winter season, carrion covers most of the white-tailed eagles diet. These types of eagles tend to feed on domestic livestock and cetaceans.

Dig Deeper : Different Types of Eagles

White-tailed eagles dominate other eagle species in their vicinity while preying small or medium sized mammals such as rabbits and hares. The conflict is come to seen in Norway where they are known to overlap with other eagles. White-tailed eagles are not considered to be the active hunters in comparison to golden eagles. They are known to take on birds even though on rare occasions. The food includes birds such as Little Tern, Great Skua, pike, and Great Cormorants. Moreover, these eagles also rely on swans, geese, coots, auks, grebes, gulls, loons, and ducks. Live mammals also befall under the white-tailed eagles diet such as lambs, voles and deer.

What Do African Fish Eagles Eat

(What Do Eagles Eat)

African fish eagle primarily prey on fish by swooping it over the water surface. These eagles become too heavy when lifting a fish of 1.8 kg (4 pounds); as a matter of fact they drag that much heavy fish over the water surface until it reaches the shore. These birds of prey repy on ducks, turtles, waterfowls, terrapins, crocodiles, Greater flamingos, Lesser flamingos, lizards, frogs, Nile Monitors, monkeys, carrion, and hyraxes. Some livestock such as chickens are also believed to be taken away by African fish eagle.

What Do Stellar’s Sea Eagles Eat

Stellar’s sea eagles largely prey on fish, with special inclination towards salmon, trout, and cod. These eagles are believed to be solitary hunters in that they don’t like their food to be shared. The most repeated prey includes birds such as ducks, swans, geese, herons, gulls, herons, and cranes. Stellar’s sea eagles are more likely to prey on Slaty-backed Gulls. Although on rare occasions, these birds of prey are found to prey on seals.

what do eagles eat - Eagle fetching a fishWhat Do Crowned Eagles Eat

(What Do Eagles Eat)

The bulk of the crowned eagles diet is composed of mammals in which they’re inclined to prey on primates rather more favorably. Primates form more than 82% of the crowned eagles diet. They are very fond of taking on antelope, wild fowls, hyraxes, duikers, herons, guineafowls, livestock, monitor lizards, pigeons, storks, and snakes. For hunting, crowned eagles are believed to travel great distances as they employ a great deal of energetic hunting flight.

What Do Martial Eagles Eat

(What Do Eagles Eat)

Martial eagle is by far one of the powerful avian predators across the family of African raptors. The martial eagles diet is flexible and its availability is primarily determined by an opportunity. More than 45% of the martial eagles diet is composed of birds including Egyptian Geese. More than 38% diet is distributed amongst lizards, snakes, and monitor lizards; whereas baboons, warthogs, impala, and mongooses constitute the rest of 17% of martial eagles diet. These birds of prey are believed to consume puff adders, boomslangs, Cape cobras, green mamba, African Rock Pythons, and black mambas. Larger birds such as stork can be taken and the medium-sized ground-dwelling species comprises bustards, ostriches, francolins, and guineafowls. Other large-sized birds such as ostriches, hornbills, and quelea flocks are also eaten.

When it comes to mammals, martial eagles diet is varied such as hares, rabbits, mongooses, ground squirrels, Hyraxes, baboons, foxes, monkeys, genets, young impalas, antelopes, and dikdiks. Heavy species such as Kori Bustard are also preyed upon by these birds of prey. Some other prey embraces Black-backed jackals, servals, and caracals.

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