Bald Eagles Across America: From the Brink to Backyards, and Where to See Them

Half a century ago the bald eagle was in danger of extinction, its numbers cut down by habitat loss, illegal shooting and contaminated food, above all from the pesticide DDT. With the ban on DDT in 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973, conservationists led a remarkable recovery, and in 2007 the bald eagle was taken off the federal list of threatened and endangered species.

Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge on the California–Oregon border. Photo: George Gentry/USFWS.

"Bald eagles tend to evoke passion and emotion in people that few other wildlife species can match," says Matt Stuber, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific Region eagle coordinator. Maybe it is their size, their place as the national symbol, or the fact that many people grew up when they were rare.

Not just fish-eaters

Bald eagles are good at catching fish, but they are generalists that will eat almost anything they can grab, from muskrats, ducks and geese to turtles, pheasants, gulls and rabbits. They are also scavengers, feeding on carcasses of all kinds, especially in winter when live prey is scarce.

A family in a nest at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, Pennsylvania. Photo: Bill Buchanan/USFWS.

What amazes Stuber is how well they have adapted to people. Biologists once described ideal nesting habitat as rivers or marshes with very tall trees far from human activity, and that is still true. But as their numbers have grown, eagles have started nesting in more developed places, occasionally right above people's yards and homes.

Camas National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho. Photo: Lance Roberts/USFWS.

Threats that remain

Eagles still face collisions with structures and vehicles, poisoning by lead and other chemicals, electrocution, accidental capture in leg-hold traps set for other animals, and illegal shooting. Three laws protect them: the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Lacey Act.

Seasons that depend on latitude

In Alaska and the northern states, eagles lay eggs in early spring and raise young through late spring and summer. In the Southeast they lay in October or November, and the young leave the nest in January or February. To Stuber, who grew up in Wisconsin, the thought of Florida eagles raising young while the upper Midwest is buried in snow never stops being remarkable.

A 52-day-old eaglet at Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, Michigan. Photo: Jeremy Moore/USFWS.

A few facts

• Females are larger than males.
• An eagle's eye is almost as big as a person's, and at least four times as sharp as perfect human vision.
• Bald eagles fly at about 40 mph and can soar to 10,000 feet.
• Young eagles get their white head and tail only at four or five years old, and until then are hard to tell from golden eagles.
• A nest can reach 10 feet across and weigh two tons.

Where to see them

January is National Bald Eagle Watch Month, and national wildlife refuges are good places to look. Four were set up specifically for bald eagles: Bear Valley in Oregon, Karl E. Mundt in South Dakota, and James River and Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck in Virginia.

Eight eagles in one tree at Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: Dave Menke/USFWS.

• West: Tule Lake in California and Lower Klamath on the Oregon–California border are among the best winter spots on the West Coast.
• Midwest: about 30 refuges have eagles, among them Upper Mississippi River, Minnesota Valley, Seney, Trempealeau and Port Louisa.
• Southeast: about 30, among them Reelfoot, Alligator River, Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee and Bayou Cocodrie.
• Northeast: roughly 30, among them Blackwater in Maryland, about 95 miles from Washington, D.C., Montezuma, Edwin B. Forsythe and Moosehorn.

Over Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Photo: Robin Corcoran/USFWS.

Sources

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "Eagles Across America"; rewritten in hubnx's own words. Photos from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.