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Believed to be about 500,000 bald eagles in America (in the lower 48 states). Eagles lived on every river and chain of lakes on the continent.

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Bald Eagles are made the national emblem of the United States.

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John James Audubon became concerned about how scare eagles were becoming. he wrote, "A century hence they will not be here as I see them. Nature will have been robbed of many brilliant charms."

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End of the 1800's : Populations had dropped dramatically

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End of the 1800's : Populations had dropped dramatically

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As the human population grew, the eagle population declined (went down) because their food supplies decreased. People hunted and fished over a broad area; essentially, eagles and humans competed for the same food, and humans with weapons at their disposal, had the advantage. As the human population expanded westward, the natural habitat of the eagles was destroyed, leaving them fewer places to nest and hunt, which caused the population of bald eagles to decline sharply by the late 1800's.

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Over 100,000 eagles were killed in Alaska alone because fisherman were afraid the eagles would eat the fish the people wanted.

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Congress passes the Bald Eagle Protection Act, making it illegal to kill, harass, posses (without a permit) or sell bald eagles. Including their parts, nests, or eggs.

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DDT (dicholoro-diphenyl-tricholoroethane) was developed as the first of the modern synthetic insecticides in the 1940's. Shortly after World War II, DDT was hailed as a new pesticide to control mosquitoes and other insects. However, DDT and its residues washed into nearby waterways, where aquatic plants and fish absorbed it. Bald Eagles, in turn, were poisoned with DDT when they ate the contaminated fish. The chemical interfered with the ability of the birds to produce strong eggshells. As a result, their eggs had shells so thin that they often broke during incubation or otherwise failed to hatch. DDT also affected other species such as peregrine falcons and brown pelicans.

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Rachel Carson writes about the effects of pesticides on the environment. She warns that if we don't start to use pesticides more wisely, we'd destroy bird populations and ultimately ourselves too.

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1962: Silent Spring is Published (Audio)

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1962: Silent Spring is Published (Audio)

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Bald Eagles in the lower 48 states listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Preservation Act. There are fewer than 417 nesting pairs of eagles in the lower 48 states.

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1969: The Endangered Species Conservation Act

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1969: The Endangered Species Conservation Act

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"Endangered" means a species is in danger of going extinct in its natural habitat.

The Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 expands on the 1967 act, authorizing the compilation (a collection) of a list of animals "threatened with worldwide extinction" and prohibits their importation without a permit. Crustaceans and mollusks are included for protection along with mammals, fish, birds and amphibians.

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The new Environmental Protection Agency  (EPA) banned virtually all use of DDT in the United States, based on its adverse (unfavorable) environmental effects, such as those to wildlife, as well as its potential human health risks. Since then, studies have continued, and a relationship between DDT exposure and reproductive effects in humans is suspected, based on studies in animals. In addition, some animals exposed to DDT in studies developed liver tumors. As a result, today, DDT is classified as a probable human carcinogen (cancer causing substance) by U.S. and international authorities.

DDT is:

known to be very persistent in the environment,

will accumulate in fatty tissues, and

can travel long distances in the upper atmosphere.

After the use of DDT was discontinued in the United States, its concentration in the environment and animals has decreased, but because of its persistence, residues of concern from historical use still remain.

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This video tracks the decline (decrease) of the bald eagle in the 1960's to the increase in their population through conservation and restoration in the Channel Islands, CA.

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Return Flight: Restoring the Bald Eagle to the Channel Islands

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Eagle numbers start to recover! We start to see eagles more frequently and immature eagles become more common. There are now 1.188 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states.

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Population grows to an estimated 4,500 breeding pairs. US Fish and Wildlife Service upgraded the state of bald eagles in the lower 48 states to threatened. "Threatened" means the species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. It is considered a downgrade from endangered.

*Being considered threatened is still not good, but it is better than being considered endangered.

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More than 6,400 pairs of Bald Eagles are breeding in the lower 48 states.

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Bald Eagles are delisted, meaning they are no longer on the endangered/threatened species list. They are still protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald Eagle Protection Act. They reach their largest population with 9,789 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states.

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Bald Eagle Pairs and Bald Eagle Fledglings (young eagles) in MA

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Bald Eagle Pairs and Bald Eagle Fledglings (young eagles) in MA

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1987-2017

Before conservation efforts began, the last Bald Eagle nest in Massachusetts was recorded in 1905. In 1989, scientists started to seed the state's population. In the last few years, the breeding population of Bald Eagles in Massachusetts has rapidly increased to a record high, according to state ornithologist Andrew Vitz. In 2017, the state had 68 territorial nesting pairs, nine more than the year before.

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Bald Eagle Pairs and Bald Eagle Fledglings (young eagles) in MA (Audio)

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Bald Eagle Pairs and Bald Eagle Fledglings (young eagles) in MA (Audio)