where did the bald eagle get its name
It gets both its common and specific scientific names from the distinctive appearance of the adult's head.
Bald eagle
gets both its common and specific scientific names from the distinctive appearance of the adult's head.
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Bald eagle [SEP] Taxonomy
The bald eagle is placed in the genus "Haliaeetus" (sea eagles), and gets both its common and specific scientific names from the distinctive appearance of the adult's head. "Bald" in the English name is from the older usage meaning "white" rather than "hairless", referring to the white head and tail feathers and their contrast with the darker body, as in "piebald". The genus name is New Latin: "Haliaeetus" (from the ), and the specific name, "leucocephalus", is Latinized () and (). The bald eagle was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work "Systema Naturae", under the name "Falco leucocephalus".