All this week we’re celebrating Endangered Species Day by highlighting local birds that benefit from federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections. Our celebrations this year are also a call to action, as the federal administration is attempting to remove the definition of ‘harm’ in the ESA, potentially opening up protected habitats for development, logging, and other devastating impacts. Today we’re highlighting both Bald and Golden Eagles — and though they may be seldom seen, both are found here in San Diego County.
While the Bald Eagle today stands as one of the great success stories of the Endangered Species Act (it was removed from the endangered list in 1995), Golden Eagles aren’t doing as well in San Diego County. In fact, over the last 100 years we’ve lost more than half of our county’s breeding pairs of Golden Eagles, almost entirely due to sprawl development cutting into and destroying habitat, as well as increased use of rodenticides.
Golden Eagles are larger than Bald Eagles, with an average wingspan of five feet, and record wingspans of eight feet or more. They are dark brown with lighter shades on their wingtips and yellow feathering at the base of the neck. Found throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, the Golden Eagle is one of the world’s most widely distributed eagle species. As a result of its reasonably stable numbers nationally, the Golden Eagle has never been listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, although it does receive a portion of ESA protection–protection from commercial trapping and hunting–as part of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act in 1940.
Despite this early act of preservation, the Golden Eagle saw its numbers decline by mid-century, but it was the Bald Eagle that had become critically endangered by the early 1970s, in part from the widespread use of the “Silent Spring” pesticide, DDT, which weakened the integrity of eggs in dozens of bird species.
In many ways, the Bald Eagle’s plight enabled passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973 in order to save the nation’s symbol from extinction. Since the ESA’s implementation, the Golden Eagle has similarly benefitted from measures to preserve Bald Eagle numbers. Today, the survival of these magnificent raptors relies on preserving the ecosystems and open spaces that they rely upon for roaming, hunting and nesting. These spaces are now at risk, due not only to the proposed changes in the ESA, but attempts to rescind Public Lands Rules that ensure BLM lands remain protected.
Human activity in the form of climate change, poisoning, and collisions with buildings, aircraft, and windmills remain serious threats to eagles, but none is more severe than urbanization and habitat destruction, and declines in the availability of the species’ natural prey.
Help This Bird: Bald Eagles are one of the nation’s great recovery stories, and the ESA quickly demonstrated its value in helping to facilitate the bird’s survival. Habitat protection is essential for the conservation of all species, and the Endangered Species Act is one of the strongest tools we have to ensure they have habitat remaining to hunt, nest and raise their young in.
Act Now
- Take a moment to submit a comment to the Federal Register by May 19th, 2025 to maintain the existing definition of harm, and keep habitat protections in place.
- Then, submit a letter to your Representative to protect Public Lands and not sell off lands to private entities for resource extraction.
- Finally, urge your Assemblymember to support an update to AB454, California’s Migratory Bird Treaty Act, to ensure this act remains law indefinitely. As federal protections are weakened, we can ensure California remains protected.
Fun Fact: San Diego Bird Alliance’s Silverwood Wildlife Sanctuary near Lakeside has had six Bald Eagle sightings since 2011. Prior to that, Bald Eagles weren’t even on Silverwood’s bird list.
