Occasionally young are blown out or fall out of the nest before fledging, but these young are cared for and many survive. Chesapeake Bay eagles leave their nests between May and July. Juveniles depend on their parents for a number of weeks after their first flights, but gradually learn to hunt and spend more time away from the nest. Young eagles do not develop the spectacular white head and tail until their fifth or sixth year. Adult bald eagles reach a size of approximately three feet from head to tail, weigh between 10 and 12 pounds and have a wingspread of up to seven feet.
Females are generally somewhat larger than males.
Eagles spend most of the daylight hours perched. Most hunting is done from a perch and most strikes at fish are made within 100 meters of the shoreline. In the spring of 1999 the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced that the bald eagle population in Maryland has reached its highest level in 20 years. Scientists spotted 260 nesting pairs along the Bay's shores and tributaries, which is a 12 percent increase since August 1998 and more than six times the number counted in 1977. Approximately 368 young eagles were being cared for in those nests.