In 1999 there were about 5,800 nesting pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. As many as 16,000 birds have been counted in the wild.

Bald eagles can fly at speeds of about 65 miles per hour in level flight.

Bald eagles mate for life and will only select another mate if their mate should die.

Bald eagles can have a wing span of up to eight feet.

When bald eagles pursue their prey, they rarely enter the water as an osprey does.

The eagle represents freedom.  Living as he does on the tops of lofty mountains, amid the solitary grandeur of Nature, he has unlimited freedom, whether with strong pinions he sweeps into the valleys below, or upward into the boundless spaces beyond. --Maude M. Grant

The bald eagle was chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of America, because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed to exist only on this continent.  It is said the eagle was used as a national emblem because, at one of the first battles of the Revolution (which occurred early in the morning) the noise of the struggle awoke the sleeping eagles on the heights and they flew from their nests and circled about over the heads of the fighting men, all the while giving vent to their raucous cries. "They are shrieking for Freedom," said the patriots.
Thus the eagle, full of the boundless spirit of freedom, living above the valleys, strong and powerful in his might, has become the national emblem of a country that offers freedom in word and thought and an opportunity for a full and free expansion into the boundless space of the future.

The Eagle became the National emblem in 1782 when the great seal of the United States was adopted. The Great Seal shows a wide-spread eagle, faced front, having on his breast a shield with thirteen perpendicular red and white stripes, surmounted by a blue field with the same number of stars. In his right talon the eagle holds an olive branch, in his left a bundle of thirteen arrows, and in his beak he carries a scroll inscribed with the motto: "E Pluribus Unum." The Eagle appears in the Seals of many of our States, on most of our gold and silver coinage, and is used a great deal for decorative patriotic purposes.  At the Second Continental Congress, after the thirteen colonies voted to declare independence from Great Britain, the colonies determined they needed an official seal. So Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams, and Mr. Jefferson as a committee prepared a device for a Seal of the United States of America. However, the only portion of the design accepted by the congress was the statement E pluribus unum, attributed to Thomas Jefferson.  Six years and two committees later, in May of 1782, the brother of a Philadelphia naturalist provided a drawing showing an eagle displayed as the symbol of "supreme power and authority." Congress liked the drawing, so before the end of 1782, an eagle holding a bundle of arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other was accepted as the seal. The image was completed with a shield of red and white stripes covering the breast of the bird; a crest above the eagle's head, with a cluster of thirteen stars surrounded by bright rays going out to a ring of clouds; and a banner, held by the eagle in its bill, bearing the words E pluribus unum. Yet it was not until 1787 that the American bald eagle was officially adopted as the emblem of the United States. This happened only after many states had already used the eagle in their coat of arms, as New York State did in 1778. Though the official seal has undergone some modifications in the last two hundred years, the basic design is the same.

Because of their size, bald eagles are not concerned about threats from other birds.  However, eagles are often chased by smaller birds, who are trying to protect their young.  Bald eagles are unlikely to bother smaller birds or their young, which makes these efforts unnecessary.  Eagles often ignore mobbing behavior by smaller birds.  Bald eagles have few natural enemies, but in general they need an environment of quiet isolation; tall, mature trees; and clean waters.  Those conditions have changed over much of the bald eagle's former habitat.  History notes many wilderness areas were cleared for farms and towns, and virgin forests were cut for timber and fuel.  Wildlife experts believe there may have been 25,000 to as many as 75,000 nesting bald eagles in the lower 48 states when the bird was adopted as our national symbol in 1782. Since that time, the bald eagle has suffered from habitat destruction and degradation, illegal shooting, and contamination of its food source, most notably due to the pesticide DDT. By the early 1960s there were fewer than 450 bald eagle nesting pairs in the lower 48 states.  The staple of most bald eagle diets is fish, but they will feed on almost anything they can catch, including ducks, rodents, snakes, and carrion.  In winter, northern birds migrate south and gather in large numbers near open water areas where fish or other prey are plentiful.

The bald eagle is truly an all-American bird - it is the only eagle unique to North America.  It ranges over most of the continent, from the northern reaches of Alaska and Canada down to northern Mexico.  They mate for life and build huge nests in the tops of large trees near rivers, lakes, marshes, or other wetland areas.  Nests are often reused year after year.  With additions to the nests made annually, some may reach 10 feet across and weigh as much as 2,000 pounds.  Although bald eagles may range over great distances, they usually return to nest within 100 miles of where they were raised.

Bald eagles normally lay two to three eggs once a year and the eggs hatch after about 35 days.  Within about three months the young eaglets are capable of flight and quickly learn to hunt and fend for themselves.  However, disease, lack of food, bad weather, or human interference can kill many eaglets; sometimes only about half will survive their first year.  The white crown that makes the bald eagle so quickly recognizable, along with its white tail feathers, do not appear until the eagles reach 4 or 5 years of age.