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US report: Bald eagle populations soar in lower 48 states

Bald Eagle Recovery
Posted at 4:14 PM, Mar 24, 2021
and last updated 2021-03-24 19:14:35-04

The number of American bald eagles has quadrupled since 2009, with more than 300,000 birds soaring over the lower 48 states.

A report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the eagles, after once teetering on the brink of extinction, have flourished in recent years. They've grown to more than 71,400 nesting pairs and an estimated 316,700 individual birds.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland hails the eagle's recovery as an American success story, decades in the making. Bald eagles reached an all-time low of 417 known nesting pairs in 1963 in the lower 48 states. But after decades of protection, bald eagles have rebounded and are no longer on the list of threatened or endangered species.