OHIO, USA — For people over a certain age, spotting a bald eagle in the wild still seems like a big deal, after the iconic bird spent so many years on the endangered species list.
Seeing one of the majestic birds is becoming more and more common however as biologists say the bald eagle is now thriving in Ohio.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the Bald Eagle from the federal endangered species list in 2007.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife says they believe there are now more than 800 nesting pairs in the state and more than twenty-five hundred total birds.
That's about a hundred more pairs than there were just two years ago and up dramatically from the late 1970s when the state was down to just four breeding pairs.
Wildlife biologist Laura Kearns says there are nests in nearly every county in Ohio today but most of them are in Ottawa, Sandusky and Erie Counties.
"That section in Northwest Ohio where we have the Ottawa National Wildlife refuge and the Magee Marsh wildlife area. There's a whole system of coastal marshes and wetlands that the eagles [nest in]. It's just perfect habitat for the eagles," said Kearns.
Experts say the increase in eagles in the wild is due to a number of factors.
For one thing more people are out there looking for them.
But there are also more birds for them to find.
Eagles are thriving in a healthier ecosystem thanks to Lake Erie cleanup efforts and the banning of DDT pesticide in 1972.
DDT devastated eagles’ food sources and also created reproductive problems in the birds.
"Getting that DDT flushed out of our ecosystem was really critical because the DDT caused the eggshells of the bald eagles to be too weak and so the chicks would never make it to hatch," said Kearns.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife says they are happy to see the eagles thriving once again.
They say one of the most surprising things is how close some nests are to areas with lots of people.
"We're finding them much more frequently in urban areas than we ever did before. And they're still being successful. They're still producing young," said Kearns.
So keep your eyes to the sky if you still haven’t seen one of the iconic birds. The white feathers on the heads of adults make them almost unmistakable from other large birds.
In good news for people, and especially the eagles, the day may be getting closer where seeing a "baldy" in the wild no longer seems like such a big deal.
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