Bald Eagle
(Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

Overview

Summary

© Andrew A Reding - License
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

The Bald Eagle is an uncommon but widespread inhabitant of Canada, reaching its highest concentrations on the west coast. After undergoing large population decreases in the first half of the 1900s, the Breeding Bird Survey and the Christmas Bird Count indicate that the population has increased dramatically since about 1970. The population recovery appears to be in response to decreased threats from human persecution and pesticide use (Buelher 2000). The Bald Eagle was assessed as Not at Risk in Canada in 1984 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• eBird Canada 2018
• Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1993-2012)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

One of the continent’s conservation success stories, the Bald Eagle is recovering from significant losses to human persecution and pesticide use in the 1900s (Buelher 2000). The most important current threat to the species' habitat is coastal and shoreline developments which alter and disturb prime nesting, feeding and roosting habitats (Buelher 2000).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Buelher, D.A. 2000. Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Buelher, D.A. 2000. Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)