Bald Eagle - Not Endangered, Not Threatened

Bald Eagles [Haliaeetus leucocephalus] were always and always my favourite birds. This was way before I had my hands on the camera. I never really saw them in real life until a few years ago. They are such beautiful and glorious birds. Unfortunately, most of my photos are taken at various zoos (Toronto Zoo, African Lion Safari, Jurong Bird Park, San Diego Zoo, Hanover Zoo) and usually through the wire mesh in the cages.

I am lucky that my current 100-400mm Canon lens does not pick up anything close. I just remembered that there was another place I saw Bald Eagles. It was when we visited the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia. However, due to the bad weather and them being far away, I only got a quick glimpse of a few pairs of eagles. I guess I now have a good reason to go back.

As my blog post title states, the Bald Eagles have not been on the threatened species list since June 28, 2007. However, once very common in the United States, the bald eagle population declined from approximately 1/2 million birds in the early 1700s to about 500 pairs in the 1960s in the 48 contiguous states of the US.

The population decline was caused by humans, by activities such as mass shootings, the use of dangerous pesticides on crops, the general destruction of habitat, and the contamination of waterways and food sources by different pollutants. However, mainly, the decline was caused by the use of DDT pesticide on crops, which caused the thinning of the eagle's egg shells and their breaking during the incubation process. The recovery took many years, and after going from 500 pairs to more than 10,000 nesting pairs in 2007, eagles were upgraded from endangered status to threatened status. On June 28, 2007, eagles were finally removed from the threatened list in 48 US states.

~ Anna