The female lays one to four eggs, with two being the most common clutch size. Eggs hatch after a 35-day incubation. The smallest chick may die if food is scarce. Both parents care for the chicks, which stay in the nest for 10 to 11 weeks. In most areas, fish are the bald eagle's primary food, but waterfowl and rabbits are also important.
Carrion is an important food source in the winter.
Bald eagles that winter along the Missouri River in South Dakota rely heavily on dead, sick, or crippled waterfowl and on fish killed as they pass through the dams. Bald eagles usually inhabit forested areas near rivers, lakes, and seashores. Two hundred to three hundred bald eagles winter in South Dakota. Most of them concentrate near downstream areas of Missouri River dams, where they roost in remnant cottonwood forests. Bald eagles also winter in the Black Hills.