The Eagle has Landed-the the Bald Eagle, that is.

Hey science squad! 🌟 I am back this week with my Assistant ChatGPT to share about one of my favorite birds, the Bald Eagle! I won’t pretend, I am not a #birdnerd but the Eagles are such superheroes in Ecology awareness and Conservation Laws, let's get to it!

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Did you know that bald eagles faced a serious threat back in the day? It's all about the infamous pesticide DDT. 🚫🐜 Let me break it down for you!

Back in the mid-20th century, DDT was widely used to control pesky insects. But, here's the kicker – it had some major side effects on our feathered friends, especially our beloved bald eagles. 🦅💔 DDT made their eggshells thin and fragile, leading to a serious decline in their population.

Fast forward to the 1970s, environmentalists and scientists stepped up their game, rallying for change. 🌱🔬 Laws were enacted, and DDT was banned in the United States. 🚫✊ Now that's a win for Team Nature!

But the story doesn't end there! Thanks to conservation efforts and the Endangered Species Act, the bald eagle made an epic comeback. 🎉🦅 Their population soared, and they were officially removed from the endangered species list in 2007. Talk about a phoenix rising from the ashes!

Now, it's our turn to play superheroes! 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️ Spread the word about eagle conservation, and let's continue to protect these magnificent creatures and their habitats. 🌿💙

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Caught your interest? Let’s take a deeper dive and look at some #funfacts about Bald Eagles and their conservation story.

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Bald Eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus

·      The wingspan of a bald eagle can range from 6 to 7.5 feet (1.8 to 2.3 meters) on average, with females typically having slightly larger wingspans than males.

• ·Adult bald eagles can weigh between 6 to 14 pounds with females being larger and heavier than males.

• While difficult to distinguish in the field, Female eagles tend to have a taller and more curved upper beak, and wider hips and are typically larger and heavier than males. Females being larger and heavier is typical in birds, as producing eggs takes a substantial amount of energy.
  

• We know that Adult bald eagles have a white head and tail, with a brown body and wings, but did you know that Juvenile bald eagles have mottled brown plumage with some white feathers mixed in? They keep this coloration for about a year until they reach maturity, then the adult plumage, or feathers grow in. Both Juveniles and Adults do not have plumage that covers their legs, this is an easy way to distinguish between a juvenile bald eagle and a Golden Eagle.

• Bald Eagles have been reported to live an average of 30 years in the wild!

• Fun fact: We love to see a Bald Eagle in movies, but did you know that the sound that is played in a movie when a Bald Eagle is soaring is NOT an eagle?! Movie producers use the screech or a Red-Tailed Hawk instead of the sound of a Bald Eagle. In real life, Bald Eagles have a high-pitched, but very loud SQUEAK; they almost sound like a dolphin!

• ·FunFact: Bald Eagles are stubborn! They are often seen with prey so large they cannot properly fly with it. When I lived in Alaska, on my first day of work, the power went out, and it was reported that an Eagle had grabbed a Sitka Blacktail deer (the smallest species of deer, about 100lbs) and could not get enough lift above the power lines and knocked out power for half of the town. The eagle was fine after the crash landing, but the deer was not.

Habitat

Today, bald Eagles can be spotted all over North America and parts of Mexico, they depend on fish as their primary food source and are typically seen within a two-mile radius of large bodies of water like rivers, lakes or the coast. They require areas with abundant fish as their primary food source, along with suitable nesting sites in tall trees or on cliffs.

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Did you know that there are breeding pairs of Bald Eagles right here in Southern California? Social Media Superstars: Jackie (female) and her mate Shadow (male) live in a nest above Big Bear Lake. Another breeding pair lives a few mountain ridges off Highway 39 In the Angeles National Forest. You can follow Jackie and Shadow through the great work of citizen scientists and webcams. Jackie just laid three eggs last week!

Check out Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam on Facebook!

The most amount of Bald Eagles I have seen in a day was in Juneau, Alaska.

When you are out spotting for Bald Eagles, they look like little cotton balls nestled into the green trees. When the trees are covered in snow, it is a much harder tip to use!

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Reproduction:

Bald eagles typically mate for life, and breeding pairs will return to the same nesting territory year after year. They build large nests, called eyries, in tall trees or on cliffs near water. Female eagles lay one to three eggs per clutch, and both parents take turns incubating the eggs and caring for the young. Most birds mate for life, but there is a catch to this: birds, including eagles will mate for life as long as they are able to hatch successful eggs together/. If breading is unsuccessful year after year, it has been observed that bonded pairs will break up.

Once endangered due to habitat loss, hunting, and the use of pesticides like DDT, bald eagles have made a remarkable recovery thanks to conservation efforts and legal protections. They were removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 2007 but are still protected under various federal laws, including the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The decline of bald eagles, linked to the use of the pesticide DDT, is rooted in the ecological processes of bioaccumulation and biomagnification within food webs.

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What is DDT?

In simple terms, DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) is a synthetic, or man-made chemical compound that was developed as an insecticide and was extremely effective in treating agricultural land for crop-threatening pests in the 1940s. It gained popularity and was used widely in commercial and residential areas.

All drains lead to the ocean, and all of the runoff water that included DDT ended up in watersheds, an area of land that meets the coast, and eventually into the water.

How did that affect our Bald Eagles?

To understand the relationship between Eagles and DDT, we need to take a look at some big-picture ecology.

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Get ready for some Science.

In the 90’s schools taught us about food chains, today, we learn more about food webs. Instead of one line, there is more of a mesh connectedness. This has to do with what level of the web we are on.

Primary Producers: DDT entered the food web through its application to crops or as runoff into water bodies.

Primary Consumers: Aquatic insects and small fish, the primary consumers, absorbed DDT from the water or consumed contaminated vegetation.

Secondary Consumers: Fish and waterfowl, as secondary consumers, accumulated higher concentrations of DDT by consuming contaminated prey.

Tertiary Consumers (Bald Eagles): Bald eagles, as tertiary consumers, accumulated even higher levels of DDT by consuming contaminated fish and waterfowl.

Want more science?! Go check out theories about bioaccumulation and biomagnification.

Conservation and recovery

The impact of DDT was most devastating during the reproduction phase of bald eagles. The pesticide interfered with calcium metabolism in the birds, leading to thin and fragile eggshells. This resulted in a high rate of egg breakage during incubation, reducing the reproductive success of bald eagles.

Remember, Bald eagles are an average 14 lbs, some being heavier, AND Eagles mate for life IF they have successful hatches.

Thinning eggshells not only affected fragile eggshells, but the lack of hatching led to mated pairs breaking up and a decline in eggs being laid.

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DDT started to be monitored in the early 1960s, in 1962 a book, The Silent Spring was published by Marine Biologist/ecologist Rachel Carson and brought mainstream attention to the harms and magnification of effects that DDT was having across multiple ecosystems.

Bald Eagles were listed as Endangered in 1967, and protected under the NEPA Law the Endangered Species Act. Through many conservation efforts, they were de-listed in 2007.

The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, issued a full cancelation of DDT in 1972. Today, DDT is known as an environmental toxin and a human carcinogen.

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Bald eagles are protected by various laws in the United States due to their symbolic significance and conservation status. The key legislative acts and regulations regarding bald eagles include:

Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA)

Enacted in 1940 and amended several times, BGEPA prohibits the take, possession, sale, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export, or import, of any bald or golden eagle, alive or dead, including parts, nests, or eggs, unless allowed by permit.

Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Management Act (BEGE)

Endangered Species Act (ESA):

Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA):

National Eagle Repository

It's important to note that the conservation status of bald eagles has improved over the years, and their populations have rebounded. Always check with local wildlife authorities for the most current regulations.

Bald Eagles, and other raptors, were on a rapid decline to extinction and recovered because of collaboration and sharing information.

Scientists were able to explain the results of a chemical compound, ecologists were able to see a large picture of interconnectedness, writers, and communicators made science accessible and interesting to the public, the public wanted to help, and created and passed policy.

When we all work together, we can have more ecological success stories like our Bald Eagles. Policies that were put into place, like the Endangered Species Act, and banning DDT have led to saving so many species large and small. Sometimes it takes one squeaky-sounding bird to be the face of the change our planet needs.