U.S. Bald Eagle population soars, possibly delisted - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. Bald Eagle population soars, possibly delisted

Mon May 14, 2:22 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With the number of Bald Eagles in the United
States hitting the highest level since World War II, the Fish and Wildlife
Service said on Monday it will decide on removing them from the list of
threatened and endangered species by June 29.

The Bald Eagle is the country's national bird and its image bedecks the
presidential seal.

There are now 9,789 breeding pairs of Bald Eagles in the lower 48 states,
the agency said.

-snip-

In the years following World War II the widely used pesticide DDT, or
dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, damaged the birds' reproductive
systems and their population plummeted. They hit an all-time low of 417
breeding pairs in 1963.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070514/sc_nm/usa_endangered_baldeagles_dc

[Uben]

1. we have a pair

....that visit us here in Texas at our lake every winter. I get to watch them catch fish! We also have a couple of species of raptors here that I am not familiar with, that nest here too. A couple of years ago, I saw a bald eagle and a golden eagle here on the same day at the same time, while I was out on the lake. We have a program here, accompanied by a permit from Texas Parks and Wildlife, to control the seasonal Cormorant population. We have flocks of hundreds of these water fowl, that can decimate a fishery, show up every fall. They eat up to two pounds of fish aday, and swim like a seal underwater for minutes at a time! We have a permit to shoot them, but mostly just try to move them off the lake with Shot-tel (a firecracker that shoots up 50 ft and explodes). There is a bird sanctuary about 15 miles from here, and these birds see our shallow lake as a prime feeding ground.

[elocs]

4. I can walk a block from my house to the river in the winter and see 20 or more eagles on the ice.

They are fishing with some sitting on the ice, some flying. There is often a group of gulls a little further down who are also sitting on the ice with very nervous body language as they look over their shoulders to check on the eagles. I am not in a rural area, but in a city. In fact, the city is considering making a lookout area off the highway near the river so people may view the eagles. Keep the eagles on the list.

[tanyev]

2. "Let the Eagle Soar"

OK, right wingers, you can thank liberal activism for the eagles' comeback. I'm waiting....

[Gato Moteado]

3. yay....now all that eagle habitat isn't necessary anymore and the developers....

....can build all those condos they've been wanting to build.

the eagle should not be delisted...it will only give the repukes a reason to spoil more land. then the eagle numbers will plummet again because the rich folks wanted their houses by the lake.