The bald eagles that nest here chose a home with ready access to fish in the Catawba River, building a stick nest lined with moss and grass. Eagles mate for life, and this pair are permanent residents rather than migrants. Since the mid-1990s, the female has laid eggs every February, and eaglets have fledged by late May. Eagles lay one to three eggs that hatch in about five weeks, and both parents care for the young until they are ready to leave the nest at ten to twelve weeks old. Only about half survive their first year, though wild eagles can live forty years. Bald eagles are powerful hunters that can fly at thirty miles per hour, dive close to one hundred miles per hour, and carry up to four pounds with their talons. Found in every U.S. state except Hawaii, adult bald eagles weigh nine to twelve pounds, with females larger than males, and their wingspan can reach seven feet.