Flying High Across the Big Sky

By editor

Alberton, Mineral County, Montana, May 2018

The Bald Eagle is the magnificent emblem of the United States of America, a fact that did not stop the citizens of the United States from nearly exterminating it. Since the founding of the country, habitat reductions and human interaction caused the population of this beautiful high-flying raptor to decline drastically. By 1978, it was listed in Montana as an endangered species, which is a polite way of saying that there were hardly any left.

In 1980, the Montana population had dropped to seventeen known nesting sites. It took twenty-five years of management and protection to turn the plummeting trend around. By 2005, the nesting sites numbered approximately three hundred, and the Bald Eagle was well on its way to recovery. It is a great national success story, and a great Montana success story, proving that it is possible to save a species if you stop shooting at it and leave its trees alone.

Across the river from the marker, in the tallest tree a couple of hundred yards downstream, is a nesting site that has been in use for many years. The eagles there have successfully produced many offspring, eating fish stolen from the abundant osprey, along with duck, young geese, and small mammals. In winter, they eat carrion, which is a practical approach to survival in a place where the ground freezes solid for months at a time. The Bald Eagle's lifespan in the wild is approximately twenty years, provided it can avoid the people who put it on the endangered species list in the first place.

See also

• Flying High Across the Big Sky at Alberton, Mineral County (Montana Department of Transportation)
• [Bald Eagle] for more on the national bird's recovery