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 an older usage meaning "having white on the face or head" rather than "hairless", referring to the white head feathers contrasting with the darker body. The genus name is Neo-Latin: Haliaeetus (from the ), and the specific name, leucocephalus, is Latinized () and (). thumb|Bald eagle anatomy 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.
Taxonomy The bald eagle is placed in the genus Haliaeetus (sea eagles), and gets both its common and specific sci,entific names from the distinctive appearance of the adult's head. Bald in the English name is from an older usage meaning "having white on the face or head" rather than "hairless", referring to the white head feathers contrasting with the darker body. The genus name is Neo-Latin: Haliaeetus (from the ), and the specific name, leucocephalus, is Latinized () and (). thumb|Bald eagle anatomy 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 leu!cocephalus.