The Bald Eagle
An Endangered Specie
About the Bald Eagle:
- Common Name: Bald Eagle
- Scientific Name: Haliaeetus leucocephalus
- Bald eagles are able to live anywhere on the North American continent where there are adequate nest trees, roosts and feeding grounds. Open water such as a lake or an ocean, however is a necessity.
- Bald eagles are only partially migratory; if they possess access to open water, they will remain at that nesting sight year round.
- Bald eagles are primarily fish-eaters that prefer salmon,
- Federal protection has involved monitoring populations, improving protection, setting up captive breeding programs, relocating wild birds, and establishing a wide-ranging public information program.
Why Bald Eagles are Endangered:
excessive hunting (in the early part of the century, hunting eagles was a popular sport)
pollution
unintentional poisonings (Mostly from DDT)
habitat destruction (due to the expansion of homes that surround the Bald Eagle's habitat)
Solutions
- Federal protection has involved monitoring populations, improving protection, setting up captive breeding programs, relocating wild birds, and making a wide-ranging public information program.
- Also the Federal Government has made it a federal offense to hunt Bald Eagles under the US Migratory Act.