Article in: Birding
31 Cool Bird Facts #16 – Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is the United States national emblem, beautiful and majestic.
The Bald Eagle was seriously affected by the use of DDT. Luckily, scientists. were able to prove that DDT was seriously affecting these birds and others, and banned the use of such harmful pesticides completely by 1972. The birds amazingly began to recover and today the numbers growing.
But can we breathe a sigh of relief? Unfortunately, we still remain the Bald Eagle’s biggest threat. Recovery centers receive injured eagles that have been caught in traps, shot, hit by cars, or even poisoned. Bald Eagles will eat deer and other animals on roadsides, making them vulnerable to auto accidents.
In our area, though, we have seen Bald Eagle numbers continue to grow and we are hopeful that this bird will stay off the endangered list.
Bald Eagle at the World Bird Sanctuary
Side note: One of the concerns we are trying to find more information on is the use of current pesticides and fertilizers and their affects on roadside birds seen by farm fields, even common birds such as Red-winged Blackbirds. This is a fascinating and complicated area of study that we are always looking for new research on.
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