We Go Where Eagles Dare

When I was a kid, seeing a bald eagle was a major event. It was the kind of thing you'd recount for friends and family at every opportunity. It was, quite literally, a rare sighting. By 1963, widespread use of the pesticide DDT and habitat fragmentation through deforestation had brought the population down to just 487 breeding pairs in the "lower 48" states. Unless you lived in a heavily forested riparian wilderness area you had a very poor chance of ever sighting this majestic bird. 

The 1972 ban on DDT use, followed closely by 1973's Endangered Species Act, laid the groundwork for one of the most incredible comeback stories in the annals of natural history. A more than threefold increase in bald eagle numbers had already taken place by 1981, the year I was born. When I became a freshman in high-school there were more than 5,000 breeding pairs- a tenfold increase from the abysmally low 1963 census. That number nearly doubled by 2007 when the bird was de-listed from ESA protection.

Today, bald eagles are a relatively common sight anywhere where suitable habitat exists. In my habitat, near the Connecticut River, I find it more notable to pass a day without having seen at least one of these fascinating creatures. The current post-de-listing monitoring plan will ensure that the population of our national bird never again reaches the depths to which we allowed it to plummet in the 1960s. Getting into close proximity to these birds is an awe-inspiring event. Their beauty, grace, power, and majesty touches something primal within us. Bald eagles help to teach us the value of conservation.