American Bald Eagle No Longer Endangered or Threatened

The classic American symbol, the bald eagle, has made a come-back. Government scientists have documented 10,000 nesting pairs throughout the United States, and plan to officially remove them from the endangered species list on Friday June 28th. There is at least one pair in every one of the 48 continental United States. This is a true success story compared to their predicament in 1963 when there only 417 pairs were documented. Nesting pairs are significant, since eagles are thought to mate for life, and often reuse their nests. As additions are made to the nests, they may reach 10 feet across and weigh as much as one ton. Eagles usually return to these nests, generally within 100 miles of where they were raised.

The bird was first listed as endangered in 1967. It was hunted for sport and because of it's nature as a predator. There was even a bounty system in Alaska, which wiped out perhaps 150,000 bald eagles. Then, just when it was benefiting from the legal protection introduced in the 40s, the pesticide DDT arrived. Bald eagles were one of the many casualties. The DDT went into to the waters and thus the fish, which the bald eagles loved to eat. While DDT itself was not lethal to the bird, it made an eagle either sterile or unable to lay healthy eggs: the eagle would ingest the chemical through its food and then lay eggs that were too brittle to withstand the weight of a brooding adult. When DDT was banned in 1972, eagles began their recovery. In 1995, they were officially reclassified from "endangered" to "threatened".

The bald eagle is probably one of the country's most recognizable symbols, and appears on most of its official seals, including the Seal of the President of the United States. The national significance of the bald eagle dates back to June 20, 1782, when the Continental Congress officially adopted the current design for the Great Seal of the United States including a Bald Eagle grasping arrows and an olive branch with its talons. Some states had earlier done so in 1778. It's a good thing Ben Franklin didn't get his way, and make our national bird the wild turkey!

While no longer declared endangered, the bald eagle will continue to be protected by a 1940 federal law that made it illegal to kill the bird -- as well as state statutes. Today, about half of the world's population of bald eagles, estimated at 70,000 - 100,000 lives in Alaska and Brittish Columbia.