`  It actually depends on what one terms as a true eagle.  By the sounds of it the French article is a little biased towards the fact that the bird is not a member of the Aquila genus. (Aquila is the latin term for ``eagle.`` ) However, the habits and physical appearance of the bald eagle indeed mark it as an eagle: it has the hook shaped beak, the large grasping feet, and wingspan of an eagle Futhermore, its closest relative in Europe is the white tailed eagle (you can tell the difference between the two by looking at the feet: bald eagles have yellow feet, but the European one has orange feet.)`