Bald Eagle Facts

 

The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is an iconic species and has been the United States’ national bird since 1782. This majestic raptor can be found throughout the United States and Canada and in parts of northern Mexico. In Washington State, the wintering bald eagle population, which includes resident breeders and seasonal migrants, is growing and has been estimated to eventually reach a steady state at 6,000 birds.

Western Washington has the largest population of bald eagles in the Pacific Northwest. These opportunistic raptors hunt and scavenge, often feeding on salmon and other fish, and even sea birds (Middleton et al., 2018; Henson et al., 2019). Their excellent eyesight and aerodynamic body allows them to spot, and drop-in on prey from 1,000 feet in the air. In the early twentieth century, bald eagles were once regarded as vermin and a threat to livestock.

During this time their populations dramatically declined due to hunting, poisoning, and the shell-thinning effects of now-illegal insecticides like DDT (Stinson et al., 2007). When DDT was banned in the U.S. in 1972 and protections were set in place to reduce persecution and protect habitat, eagle populations rebounded.The recovery of bald eagles is now considered a great conservation success story.

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