Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle. Restored Legacy. , The eagle's drastic decline in the mid-20th century has been attributed to the widespread use of the pesticide DDT. In a process called biological magnification (brought brought forth to the general public by Rachel Carson in her book Silent Spring), DDT accumulated in the food web and contaminated the eagle's primary food source. Affected eagles would produce eggs with weakened or cracked shells. Eagle populations across the country were decimated., The bald eagle is best known as the national symbol of the United States of America. Nationwide, the bald eagle went from being common in the early 1700s to extremely rare in the lower 48 states by the 1960s. This precipitous decline was due to loss of habitat and nesting trees, pesticide usage, contamination and illegal hunting., The bald eagle was first declared an endangered species with the passage of the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. Populations eventually began to recover due to a ban on DDT use, successful reintroduction programs of fostered chicks and fledglings as well as habitat and nest protection measures. In 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified the bald eagle from endangered to threatened in the lower 48 states. Populations continued to recover enough that in 2007, the bald eagle was officially down listed from the federal Endangered Species List., In Connecticut, the bald eagle became extirpated as a nesting species by the 1950s. In 1992, it was classified as an endangered species on Connecticut's first official Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species List. That same year, the state documented its first successful nesting of bald eagles since the 1950s, when a pair raised two young in Litchfield County. Five years later, a second pair of bald eagles successfully nested in Connecticut. The nesting population has increased gradually. In 2007, 15 pairs of bald eagles made nesting attempts in the state., When the land and waters in Canada and Maine are frozen, wintering eagles come to Connecticut looking for open water at which to feed. When harsh weather causes open water to freeze in Connecticut, some eagles continue migrating south. From December to early March, up to 100 eagles winter in Connecticut along major rivers and large reservoirs. This number has been increasing slowly, yet we must still reconcile challenges of human population growth and urban/suburban sprawl with the specific needs of this state's endangered species.