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Do you really know what a bald eagle sounds like? 🦅

FILE -- Bald Eagle. (Houston Zoo)

You might think you know the iconic piercing call of a bald eagle -- but there’s something you should know. Hollywood tricked you.

Hollywood tricked a lot of us. The screech many people associate with a bald eagle actually belongs to a different bird -- the red-tailed hawk.

The bald eagle usually makes a series of high-pitched whistling noises. One of their calls even kind of sounds like laughter.

Someone in Hollywood decided their natural sounds weren’t dramatic enough so a lot of filmmakers started dubbing their calls over with the call of the red-tailed hawk.

The Alaska Raptor Center has a great video showing the difference, you can watch that below.

(Can’t see the video? Click here.)

Read: 2 American bald eagles spotted, likely breeding at Shelby Township nature center


About the Author
Kayla Clarke headshot

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.