bald eagle - ZAWA-Evolved/ZAWA GitHub Wiki

(image by: alonetraveler)

The bald eagle is a small bird of prey. They are native to the continental United States.

In real life, bald eagles are a national symbol of the United States, and a significant cultural animal for many native American tribes. They are threatened by several factors: poaching, pollution, and habitat loss, and more.

At the top of many American aquatic food chains, bald eagles are one of many raptor birds that are in big trouble because of food chain pollution. Heavy metals, pesticides and rodent poison that don't affect smaller animals build up in their bodies and eventually weaken or kill eagles and their young. Bald eagles' darkest hour was in the 1970s when the pesticide DDT caused their egg shells to shatter before chicks had a chance to hatch. Thankfully, the iconic image of these birds didn't just save them, but gave a voice to many other species affected by the same toxin.

Bald eagles are a rare spawn in coastal taiga biomes. They always spawn alone. Male and females are equally likely to spawn, and are not sexually dimorphic.

Bald eagles are a fast, territorial animal and are harmless if left alone. However, players who get too close to them can be swooped until they flee out of range.

Eagles are small, flying animals, and other than getting out of range, being attacked is another complication to capture. They can technically be picked up, but will thrash and deal damage to a player. Keepers' best option is to bring a net gun and ammunition, and net an eagle before it sees them.

Bald eagles can be tamed with carnivore kibble.

Bald eagles have 6 hearts (12 points) of health, can deal 3 hearts (6 points) of damage, and drop 2 small meat and 4 feathers upon death.

Eagles are small animals with modest food needs. They eat a small carnivore diet, consisting of small animal prey.

Eagles can use the beef ice treat, branches, perching stand, scented ball, and sprinkler enrichment items.

Bald eagles are a medium fertility species, and can be bred with salmon. As small-sized animals they have a gestation time of 40000 ticks, and lay 1-2 eggs. Their chicks will take 3 1/3 minecraft days to reach adulthood.

(note: exhibit building sections contain a mix of gameplay information and building advice. Not all recommendations are necessary to keep animals happy, fed, and watered, but can help players build a realistic enclosure.)

Bald eagles mate for life, and do best in pairs.

While not especially aggressive or needy, bald eagles can fly and this may present a challenge to new zookeepers. Their aviaries should be large enough for them to move around, feed, and use enrichment items as needed.

As predatory birds, bald eagles are not a good candidate for mixed exhibits. If keepers build a water feature into their exhibit, they will leave salmon and cod alone, but this is more for visitors than the eagles.

Though they don't do it often, bald eagles are capable of flight, and absolutely require their aviaries to be enclosed. They can easily clear fences and walls to escape. Using glass or bar slabs is a good way to maintain an "open sky" look while keeping birds inside.

Wild bald eagles often congregate around streams and rivers, and tamed eagles and visitors alike will appreciate realistic water features. If zookeepers have space for a large aviary, building or modifying a river (possibly going through multiple exhibits) is an impressive way to provide both visual interest and clean water for eagles. If keepers need to build smaller, "rehab" style semi-indoor enclosures, sprinklers are a good option to give eagles cool water to play in, and bowls for drinking.

Landscaping realistic eagle enclosures involves a lot of stone, river stone, and planting. Oak, dark oak and mega spruce trees are great exhibit backdrops when paired with realistic rock work. Fallen or hollow logs make great perches, and so do branches. Bald eagles live in temperate climates with distinct seasons, and can tolerate temperature extremes, but like other animals should always be given the option of an indoor shelter.

There are 4 color variants of bald eagle: Washington DC, New York, Plymouth, and Seattle. These are in-game color variants only, not real subspecies.

Washington DC	New York	Plymouth	Seattle	Baby

Variant images by discord user Gianluca Zanna#0063