Bald Eagle vs Great Tit
Haliaeetus leucocephalus compared with Parus major
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Bald Eagle | Great Tit |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Haliaeetus leucocephalus | Parus major |
| Order | Accipitriformes | Passeriformes |
| Family | Accipitridae | Paridae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Length | 79.0 cm (31.1 in) | 14.0 cm (5.5 in) |
| Wingspan | 203.0 cm (79.9 in) | 24.0 cm (9.4 in) |
| Weight | 4300.0 g (151.68 oz) | 18.0 g (0.63 oz) |
| Diet | Primarily fish, also waterfowl, small mammals, and carrion. Hunts by swooping down to snatch fish … | Insects and spiders in summer, seeds and nuts in winter. A frequent and dominant visitor … |
| Clutch Size | 1-4 | 3-18 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Bald Eagle
Large bodies of open water including coasts, rivers, and lakes with abundant fish and old-growth trees for nesting.
Great Tit
Deciduous and mixed woodland, parks, gardens, and hedgerows. Readily uses nest boxes. Highly adaptable to human environments.
Song & Call Comparison
Bald Eagle
High-pitched, chattering whistle: a rapid 'kleek-kik-ik-ik-ik'. Surprisingly weak and thin for such a large raptor. Also gives a lower 'kwit-kwit' call near the nest.
Great Tit
A repetitive, teacher-teacher 'tee-cher, tee-cher, tee-cher'. Also gives ringing 'pink-pink' alarm. Highly versatile singer; over 40 song variants recorded from a single male.
Geographic Range & Migration
Bald Eagle
North America from Alaska and Canada through the contiguous United States to northern Mexico.
Great Tit
Widespread across Europe and Asia from Britain to Japan, and south to North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Conservation Status
Bald Eagle
Great Tit
How to Tell Them Apart
Bald Eagle
Adults have a dark brown body with a striking white head and tail. Juveniles are mottled brown and white, reaching full adult plumage at age five.
Large, hooked, bright yellow bill
Great Tit
Blue-black head with white cheeks. Olive-green back, yellow underparts with a broad black central stripe. White wing bar and blue-grey tail.
Short, stout, dark bill
About These Birds
Bald Eagle
The bald eagle is the national bird and symbol of the United States. Once endangered due to DDT pesticide use, it made a remarkable recovery and was removed from the endangered species list in 2007. These powerful raptors build the largest tree nests of any bird, some weighing over two tons.
Great Tit
The great tit is the largest European tit and one of the most studied wild birds in the world. Research at Wytham Woods in Oxford has monitored great tit populations since the 1940s, contributing enormously to ecology and evolution. These innovative birds famously learned to open milk bottle tops in 20th-century Britain.