It's not a super rarity, based on the pictures you can find posted to social media from multiple Mainers and/or Granite Staters, but I feel like actually seeing a Bald Eagle with YOUR own two eyes in person and not through a picture can be pretty rare. But even more rare is actually hearing a Bald Eagle.

What does a bald eagle sound like?

According to some avid bird fans, including Reddit user rdr2_silver_outlaw, Bald Eagles aren't very vocal in general, which is why it's so rare to actually hear one make noise. But on the rare instance that you can hear one, you'd think that it would be an impressive, powerful sound, considering it's seen as such a powerful bird, right?


One of the best comparisons to what a Bald Eagle actually sounds like comes from the locally-filmed Adam Sandler movie, Grown Ups.

Obviously, that scene is strictly meant for laughs (no offense to our Canadian fans, by the way -- we love you all the same), but that's not really that far off from what a Bald Eagle actually sounds like, as shown in this video from February in Maine.

Vocalization from a mature male bald eagle taken last feburary in maine by me from r/Maine

According to Vassar College, it's unknown exactly why a bald eagle sounds that way, or what the function of its pitch is. In fact, due to Bald Eagles being so infrequently vocal, not much is known in general about their sound/vocalization, other than younger Bald Eagles make single-note sounds as opposed to multiple tones made by mature Bald Eagles.

Also, as a fun fact, because of their sounds not exactly matching their appearance, the sounds we usually hear Bald Eagles make in movies aren't actually from Bald Eagles, but rather Hawks, according to this Reddit thread.

How Many in America: From Guns to Ghost Towns

