An eagle's whole head is designed for
its fishing and scavenging lifestyle.
Its head is covered with protective
feathers. As the bird reaches maturity at 4 - 6 years of age, the dark brown
feathers on its head are replaced with white ones. Adults keep that
"bald" head for life. Eagles of the opposite sex will recognize
this one as a potential mate, and eagles of the same sex will respect its
territorial boundaries. Although eagles eat roadkill, they take most of it
in winter when dead animals are frozen and aren't likely to be covered with
maggots, so they don't need the featherless heads of vultures.
Eagles have excellent hearing, even
though we can't see their ears. The ears, behind their eyes, are
protected by a layer of feathers.
Their sense of smell is probably no
better than ours. Eagles have some bristly feathers protecting their
nostrils.
Eagles eat a lot of fish and scavenge
on a lot of dead animals. It's hard to be sure how well developed their
sense of taste is. They have few tastebuds, and their tongue
is muscular and shorter than their beak so they can't bite it.
The beak is strong and thick,
and sharply pointed at the downward tip to rip into a fish or a frozen
roadkill, but the mouth is wide enough at the gape (the "corners"
of the mouth, where the upper and lower beak meet) to handle fairly big
chunks. Although the beak is clearly designed for ripping apart meat, parent
eagles can also use it to tenderly feed and groom their babies.
