Bald eagle history

             I was lucky enough to see a Bald Eagle on the river rd. right here in our county. on this post I am going to tell you a little about the eagles history. Before European settlers first sailed to America's shores bald eagles may have numbered half a million. They existed along the Atlantic from Labrador to the tip of south Florida, and along the Pacific from Baja California to Alaska. They inhabited every large river and concentration of lakes within North America. They nested in forty five of the lower forty eight states. One researcher estimated an eagle nest for every mile of shore along Chesapeake Bay. They were seen a lot on the lower Hudson, and were extremely seen along the coast of Maine. By the 1930s, people became aware of the disapearing bald eagle population, and in 1940 the Bald Eagle Act was passed. This reduced the harassment by humans, and eagle populations began to recover. However, at the same time DDT and other pesticides began to be widely used. Pesticides sprayed on plants were eaten by small animals, which were later consumed by birds of prey. The DDT poison harmed both the adult birds and the eggs that they laid. The egg shells became too thin in the incubation period, and were often crushed. Eggs that were not crushed during incubation often did not hatch, due to high levels of DDT.