Bald Eagle Comes Soaring Back

After dropping to only 417 nesting pairs in 1963, bald eagles have recovered to an estimated new high of 9,789 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

Nearly driven to extinction due to the widespread use of the insecticide DDT following the end of WWII, the bald eagle has long been protected as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

The federal government banned the use of DDT in 1972, based largely on the public outcry spurred by Rachel Carson’s famed environmental expose Silent Spring, published in1962.

According to a 2004 FWS survey, Minnesota tops the list with 1,312 pairs of eagles, followed by Florida with 1,133 pairs and Wisconsin's 1,065 pairs. There are also eagles now breeding in the District of Columbia and the state of Vermont, where no eagles at all were successfully hatched until 2006.

While the bald eagle may be removed from the endangered species list as early as the end of June, 2007, the Fish and Wildlife Service will do so only after strengthening the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service