Bald eagle: how the Americans nearly exterminated the bird-symbol of their country

Due to its impressive size and magnificent appearance, the bald eagle was chosen as the national symbol of the United States at the end of the XVIII century. Then, during the formation of the young state, these birds in the vastness of North America lived a great many, at least 250,000 individuals. But ruthless hunting and uncontrolled capturing for captivity during the 19th century led to the fact that the grandiose bird, whose image appears on the national emblem, banknotes, symbols and all kinds of American logos, was on the verge of complete extinction.

Bald eagles inhabit a large part of North America, and their range covers the southern part of Canada, most of the United States, including Alaska, where this species is highly concentrated, as well as the extreme northern part of Mexico. This is a bird of prey, in the diet of which fish predominates, although it does not disdain carrion. For this reason, the main populations of bald eagles are concentrated along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the continent, as well as in the Great American Lakes region. But this is a migratory bird, which, with the advent of winter, searches for open areas of water bodies and moves from the northern regions to the more southern parts of the continent.

Bald eagles are very large birds of prey, which, although inferior to some species in terms of wingspan, are still at the top of the food pyramid. The size of the birds varies somewhat depending on their habitat: representatives of more northern populations are always larger than those birds that live in the southern regions. The largest eagles are found within the state of Alaska, and the weight of the females exceeds 6 kilograms. By the way, in this species, sexual dimorphism manifests itself exclusively in body size, and females are always larger than males, which is often noticeable to the naked eye.

When at the beginning of the last century, American environmental organizations came to their senses and sounded the alarm, white-tailed eagles became catastrophically small. They were hunted by farmers who mistakenly saw them as a threat to their livestock, as well as poachers. In addition, the eagles migrated to the northwest due to the enormous deforestation and the settlement of the territory previously free from people. Even in Alaska, a reward was paid for shooting bald eagles, as it was believed that the bird harms the salmon population. It also contributed to agriculture. After mass studies and finding out the reasons for the decrease in the number of birds, it turned out that the widespread use of the DDT insecticide also influenced the disappearance of eagles.

At the beginning of the 20th century, scientists noted the almost complete disappearance of the bald eagle from the main territory of the United States, and the state of Alaska became the last refuge of birds. A similar situation persisted until the middle of the last century, when on the open spaces of the continental states, ornithologists counted no more than 1000 nesting eagles. From this moment, many programs and laws have been adopted aimed at restoring this species in the wild, both in the United States and neighboring Canada. The current situation has improved significantly. The total number of birds on the continent exceeds 100 thousand individuals, most of which live in Alaska and western Canada. In Alaska, there is even a small town where residents suffer from an abundance of white-tailed eagles, which we wrote about in one of our previous materials.