Bald Eagle vs Golden Eagle: Size, Looks and Range Compared

Key differences at a glance

The bald eagle and the golden eagle are the only eagles that regularly breed in the United States and Canada, and they are among the largest birds of prey in North America. Despite their similar size, they belong to different branches of the hawk and eagle family:

• The bald eagle is a sea eagle (genus Haliaeetus), closely related to the white-tailed eagle of Europe and Asia.
• The golden eagle is a booted eagle (genus Aquila), a group named for the feathers that cover the legs to the toes.

Adults are easy to separate. The challenge is young bald eagles, which are brown and blotchy for four to five years and are frequently mistaken for golden eagles.

How to tell adults apart

Head and tail. Adult bald eagles have a gleaming white head and tail and a dark chocolate body. Adult golden eagles are dark brown all over except for a golden-tawny crown and nape, which shines in sunlight and gives the species its name. The tail is brown with faint gray bands.

Bill. A bald eagle’s bill is huge, deep and bright yellow. A golden eagle’s bill is noticeably smaller and dark gray, with yellow only at the base.

Legs. Golden eagles wear “boots”: their legs are feathered right down to the toes, usually in a paler, tawny color. Bald eagles have bare yellow skin on the lower legs.

How to tell young eagles apart

Young birds cause most identification mistakes. A juvenile bald eagle is mainly dark brown with irregular white mottling, especially under the wings, a dark bill and dark eyes. In its second and third years it becomes even more blotched with white on the belly and back. See when do bald eagles get their white heads? for the stages.

A juvenile golden eagle is a cleaner, richer brown. In flight it often shows neat white patches at the base of the flight feathers and a white tail with a broad dark band at the tip, both with crisp edges. These white areas shrink as the bird ages and are gone by about 5 to 6 years old.

In short: messy white means a young bald eagle; tidy white patches and a banded tail mean a young golden eagle.

Flight shape and behavior

In the air, shape is often more useful than color:

• Head: a bald eagle’s large head and bill stick out well in front of the wings, more than half the length of the tail. A golden eagle’s head looks small, and its tail looks relatively long.
• Wings: bald eagles soar on flat, plank-like wings. Golden eagles often soar with wings raised in a shallow V (a dihedral) and have wings that are a little narrower at the body.
• Wingbeats: bald eagles have stiff, heavy wingbeats; golden eagles look more buoyant and agile.

Golden eagles are among the most impressive aerial hunters, diving steeply at high speed onto prey, while bald eagles more often glide down to snatch fish from the surface or scavenge.

Size: which is bigger?

The two species are essentially the same size:

In North America the bald eagle averages a few hundred grams heavier, while the golden eagle averages slightly longer in the wing. In both species females are clearly larger than males, and northern birds tend to be larger than southern ones. For more detail, see how big is a bald eagle?.

Diet: fish vs mammals

Bald eagles are fish specialists and opportunists. Fish make up roughly half or more of their diet in most areas, supplemented by ducks, gulls, small mammals, turtles and plenty of carrion. They often steal food from ospreys and other birds.

Golden eagles are mainly hunters of medium-sized mammals: hares, jackrabbits, rabbits, ground squirrels, prairie dogs and marmots, plus grouse and other birds. They can kill animals as large as foxes and, rarely, young deer, pronghorn or lambs. They also scavenge, especially in winter. More detail is in what do golden eagles eat?.

Where the two meet at a carcass or a kill, neither species consistently dominates. Observations show both winning contests, with the outcome depending on the size and boldness of the individual birds.

Habitat and range

Bald eagles live only in North America, from Alaska and Canada through all 48 contiguous states to northern Mexico. They need large bodies of water with fish and tall trees for nesting.

Golden eagles have one of the largest ranges of any eagle: across North America, Europe, Asia and North Africa. In North America they breed mostly in the West, from Alaska and northern Canada south through the Rocky Mountains to central Mexico, where the golden eagle is the national bird. They prefer open mountains, canyons, sagebrush and grassland and usually nest on cliffs. In Europe they live in mountains and remote uplands, from the Scottish Highlands and Scandinavia to the Alps and Spain. See where do golden eagles live?.

Conservation and protection

Both species are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. The bald eagle has made a famous recovery since the DDT era. The golden eagle was less affected by DDT but faces threats from collisions with wind turbines, electrocution on power poles, lead poisoning from scavenging, and illegal persecution in parts of Europe.

In the United States both are protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Golden eagles were added in 1962, partly because young bald eagles were being shot by people who mistook them for golden eagles.