Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a massive North American sea eagle whose adults have a white head and tail contrasting with a dark-brown body and yellow bill. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives near large lakes, rivers and coasts, feeding mainly on fish captured or scavenged from the water and building a very large stick nest in an old tree or on a structure. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).