American Bald Eagles

When I was growing up, because of pesticides, primarily DDT, birds of prey were scarce in Michigan. Seeing a hawk in the air was usually only seen when we went camping up north for the weekend. Eagles were something you had to travel to Canada or Alaska to see. Nowadays, a hawk in the air is pretty common. I thought it was pretty cool when they reintroduced eagles to Michigan, but there were only a couple of pairs whose locations were pretty closely held. Fast forward and now there are multiple nesting pairs of the birds within 20 miles of downtown Grand Rapids. Small groups winter in the area, though nothing like the hundreds of birds that gather further south. Though still not a common sight, they are becoming more so. If there ever was an obvious symbol of why we need to take care of the environment, the eagle is one of them.