Think You Know What A Bald Eagle Sounds Like? Think Again

The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is one of the most recognizable animals out there, one of its most distinctive traits (besides its white head) being that powerful screech featured in TV shows, movies, and America memes alike… or at least, that’s what we’ve been led to believe.

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It turns out that bald eagles don’t actually sound like that at all. As the Cornell Lab of Ornithology explains in what is, frankly, an absolutely brutal take, “For such a powerful bird, the Bald Eagle emits surprisingly weak-sounding calls.” 

Instead of the raspy scream that we’re all familiar with from the media, bald eagles instead make high-pitched whistling or piping sounds. These usually give off “outdoor faucet that needs some WD-40 on it” rather than “intimidating bird of prey”.

Hollywood being the ruthless beast that it is, cute little chirps don’t exactly cut it when you’re trying to represent something that’s often viewed as an emblem of strength  – and so, like the crime exacted upon Zac Efron in the first High School Musical movie, their vocals are often replaced.

So, what is it that we’re actually hearing? According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, the iconic screech in fact belongs to the red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).

Found throughout North America, the red-tailed hawk is a Tinseltown dream of a raptor. It’s one of the largest hawks on the continent, but it’s light, too. Its eyesight is second-to-none; not only is it good enough to spot prey from high above, but it also extends into the ultraviolet range, meaning that red-tailed hawks can see colors that we can’t.

They’re often found sitting atop telephone poles, an excellent viewpoint from which to find prey. Once something like a vole, rabbit, or tree squirrel is in their sights, they’ll powerfully launch themselves from their high positions, swooping down on the prey and grabbing it with their talons. Should they miss, that doesn’t mean our fluffy little creature no longer has a target on its back; red-tailed hawks have been seen hunting in pairs.

The bald eagle-red-tailed hawk situation isn’t the only case of sound-based mistaken identity you may have encountered. You know that lion that roars at the beginning of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) movies? Yeah… that’s not actually its roar.

The sound engineer behind the production logo found that when the lion seen in the sequence bared its teeth, the sound that came out of its mouth didn’t match the intimidating vision. Instead, it sounded like a big cat in need of a power nap.

That didn’t really fit the vibe they were going for. The solution? Use a tiger roar instead.

When will the lies end?!