On this day of freedom, let's talk about how bald eagles are queer!
It starts with a female eagle named Hope and a male named Valor I. The two settled down to neat together, however Valor I wasn't a great dad. He did show up to incubate the eggs and basically never came around.
In comes another male, Valor II. He immediately did what a good eagle dad is supposed to, incubate, maintain the best, all that. This lead to him becoming Hope's new mate.
Here's where it gets interesting, Valor I didn't seem to mind and actually stuck around! Eventually Hope started mating with both of them, and Valor I even learned to be a good dad!
Unfortunately in 2017 Hope was killed by intruding eagles, but! The two male's actually stuck together and successfully raised their chicks!
Soon enough a new female named Starr came along and joined the two, and now she mates with both males every season!
This arrangement allows for the eagles to have a much more successful rate of raising chicks and fighting off other predators!
This particular story isn't the only one! Bald eagles have been seen in multiple arrangements including two females and one male!
My Two Dads: Eagle Trio Sees Parenting Success in Illinois
This parenting team - consisting of two males and a female - has successfully raised broods together for years. The two males even lost their original female partner and found another. Full article here.
Harpy eagle, the largest eagle in the world looks like a person in a bird costume, but judging by the size of his talons, I wouldn't want to make fun of him face to face. They live primarily in the upper canopy layer of tropical lowland forest and are considered "endangered species" in Central America due to the rapid decline in their numbers as a result of deforestation. Less than 50,000 of them can be seen over the world.
Harpy eagles have a hearty appetite and enjoy munching on a variety of monkeys, tree porcupines, sloths, coatis, birds, snakes, and lizards.