A white-tailed eagle's wingspan can reach 2.4 metres — wider than most rooms in your house. When one soars overhead, it casts a shadow like a small cloud. Despite their size, these eagles are surprisingly graceful fliers, riding warm air currents called thermals without flapping much at all.
Their favourite food is fish. A hunting eagle will glide low over water, then plunge its feet in at the last moment to grab a fish near the surface. Sometimes they steal fish from ospreys or other birds — chasing them until they drop their catch and then diving to grab it before it hits the water.
Estonia has around 500 pairs of nesting white-tailed eagles — a large and growing population. Their nests, called eyries, are enormous structures of sticks built at the tops of tall trees. Some pairs return to the same nest every year for decades, adding more sticks each time until the nest becomes as large as a small car.
Eagle chicks hatch in spring. Parents bring fish and other prey to the nest for months until the chicks are big enough to fly. Young eagles are dark brown all over; the white tail develops slowly as they mature, reaching its full colour when the bird is about five years old.