The Eagles are coming!The American Bald Eagle is a great success story for conservation and endanger

The Eagles are coming!The American Bald Eagle is a great success story for conservation and endangered species protection. Prior to the arrival of Europeans in North America, there were likely several hundred thousand eagles in the North American population. By the 1960s, that number had dwindled to fewer than 500 breeding pairs.Eagles were impacted by habitat loss, accidental poisoning, exposure to hazardous waste, damage from construction, and exposure to pesticides like DDT.Thanks to the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws, these threats have been minimized. Construction near Eagle nesting sites is regulated or limited to prevent them from flying into buildings or power lines, contaminants at waste disposal or industrial sites are required to be controlled, and pesticides like DDT have been banned or are at least limited in their use near eagle nests.Today the Bald Eagle population has surged back to over 5000 breeding pairs. While this is much more stable, any time a population undergoes a bottleneck event such as this one the population is put at risk. Genetic diversity is lost when so much of a population vanishes and the population can be therefore left much more at risk from diseases or genetic abnormalities even if substantial recovery has taken place.Preserving the American Bald Eagle therefore can’t just stop because the population has recovered. Truly protecting this species will take sustained efforts over centuries, not just years to decades.This American Bald Eagle was photographed in Shiloh National Military Park earlier this year and shared with the U.S. Department of the Interior.-JBBImage credit: Don Hollandhttps://instagram.com/usinterior/www.sharetheexperience.orgRead more:http://www.fws.gov/Midwest/eagle/population/index.htmlhttp://www.defenders.org/bald-eagle/basic-factshttp://www.fws.gov/Midwest/eagle/conservation/baea-moreconserve.html -- source link

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