Are Bald Eagles Still Endangered or Federally Protected?

Bald eagles are not currently listed as endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the bald eagle from the federal endangered and threatened species list on June 28, 2007, after the population rebounded from fewer than 500 nesting pairs in 1963 to nearly 10,000 breeding pairs.¹ They remain, however, among the most heavily protected animals in the United States. Two separate federal statutes still make it a crime to kill, possess, sell, or even disturb a bald eagle, and the penalties can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Why Bald Eagles Are No Longer Endangered

The recovery story starts with DDT. After World War II, the pesticide moved through the food chain and caused eagles to lay eggs with shells too thin to survive incubation. By 1963 only about 487 nesting pairs remained in the lower 48 states.¹

The Environmental Protection Agency banned most domestic uses of DDT in 1972.² In 1978 the bald eagle was formally listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act throughout most of the contiguous United States.³ With the pesticide out of the environment and habitat protections in place, numbers climbed steadily. By 2007 the Fish and Wildlife Service determined the population had exceeded every recovery goal, and the delisting took effect that summer.

Delisting ended the emergency habitat restrictions that came with the ESA. It did not end federal protection.

The Laws That Still Protect Bald Eagles

Two older federal statutes carried the eagle before the ESA and continue to do so now.

Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act

The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA), originally passed in 1940 and expanded in 1962, is the primary law. It prohibits killing, capturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, or transporting any bald or golden eagle, alive or dead, without a federal permit. The prohibition covers parts, feathers, nests, and eggs.⁴

The BGEPA itself sets criminal fines at up to $5,000 for a first offense and $10,000 for a second, with imprisonment of up to one year (first offense) or two years (subsequent offenses).⁴ Federal sentencing law pushes those numbers much higher in practice. Under the Alternative Fines Act, a first BGEPA offense (a Class A misdemeanor) can draw fines up to $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for organizations.⁵ A second conviction becomes a felony, with potential fines of $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for organizations.⁶

The Fish and Wildlife Service can also impose civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation without going through criminal court. Each eagle affected counts as a separate violation.

Migratory Bird Treaty Act

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) supplies a second layer. It prohibits killing, capturing, selling, or possessing migratory birds, their parts, nests, and eggs, and bald eagles fall under it as a protected migratory species.⁷ A misdemeanor violation carries up to six months in jail and fines up to $5,000 for individuals. Selling or bartering protected birds is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison and fines up to $250,000.

What Counts as Harming or Disturbing an Eagle

You do not have to shoot or touch an eagle to break federal law. The BGEPA also prohibits “disturbing” them, which federal regulations define as agitating or bothering an eagle enough to cause injury, reduce breeding productivity, or trigger nest abandonment.⁸ Construction, road building, timber harvesting, motorized recreation, prescribed burns, and low aircraft operations can all qualify.

Federal buffer distances for activities near a nest include:

660 feet for construction, vegetation clearing, shoreline alteration, and prescribed burns near any bald eagle nest.
330 feet for motorized and nonmotorized recreation near an active nest, and for construction where trees or buildings screen the site from the nest.
1,000 feet for helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft operations near an active nest.
One-half mile for loud intermittent noises such as blasting.

Drones get no automatic authorization under disturbance permits, and the regulations set no safe distance for unmanned aircraft.⁹ Flying one close enough to flush an eagle from its nest is likely a federal offense.

Can You Keep a Bald Eagle Feather You Find?

No. It is illegal for the general public to pick up and keep a bald eagle feather found on the ground. Both the BGEPA and the MBTA prohibit possession of eagle parts, including naturally molted feathers, without a federal permit. Enforcement usually targets commercial exploitation rather than a hiker who pockets a feather, but the prohibition itself is absolute.¹⁰

Enrolled members of federally recognized Native American tribes are the exception. Under a 2012 Department of Justice policy, tribal members may possess, wear, carry, and travel domestically with eagle feathers and parts without a permit. They may pick up naturally molted or fallen feathers in the wild and share feathers with other enrolled tribal members without compensation. What they cannot do is buy or sell eagle feathers or kill eagles without a permit.¹¹ The National Eagle Repository, operated by the Fish and Wildlife Service, distributes remains of bald and golden eagles to enrolled tribal members for religious and cultural use at no cost.

Permits for Projects Near an Eagle Nest

If you own land with an eagle nest or plan work inside one of the buffer zones, the Fish and Wildlife Service can issue a permit rather than force you to abandon the project. The main categories are:

A disturbance general permit for routine activities like building construction, road maintenance, timber work, or recreation within the buffer distances. You have to show no practical way to avoid the disturbance and accept monitoring conditions.⁸
A safety-based nest removal permit, limited to nests that have not yet had eggs laid that season or to alternate (inactive) nests, unless there is a genuine emergency.¹²
A permit to remove nests built on human-made structures like cell towers or power poles, where the nest makes the structure unusable for its intended purpose.
Incidental take permits for industries such as wind energy and power line operators where some eagle deaths are a foreseeable byproduct of operations.¹³

The Service’s National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines recommend scheduling disruptive activities outside the breeding season, which runs roughly from February through mid-July depending on location. Clearing, external construction, and landscaping visible from a nest should be planned around that window whenever possible.¹⁴

Population Today and Ongoing Monitoring

The most recent Fish and Wildlife Service survey, using 2020 data, estimated roughly 316,700 individual bald eagles in the lower 48 states, including about 71,400 occupied nests. That is roughly four times the 2009 estimate.¹⁵

The Endangered Species Act requires post-delisting monitoring of any recovered species. The Fish and Wildlife Service committed to a 20-year monitoring plan for bald eagles, with surveys every five years. The plan is designed to catch a decline of 25 percent or more in occupied nests, which would trigger a review and possibly relisting.¹⁶ The monitoring period began with 2008–2009 surveys and is expected to end around 2028–2029.

Individual eagles still die from lead poisoning tied to spent ammunition and fishing tackle, collisions with vehicles and power lines, and habitat loss. None of those pressures has reversed the overall trend. The species is no longer endangered, but the legal framework that carried it back has stayed in place.

1
Federal Register. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants – Removing the Bald Eagle in the Lower 48 States From the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife
2
US EPA. DDT Ban Takes Effect
3
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Endangered Species Act
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 16 USC 668 – Bald and Golden Eagles
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine
6
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 16 USC 703 – Taking, Killing, or Possessing Migratory Birds Unlawful
8
eCFR. 50 CFR Part 22 – Eagle Permits
9
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. General Permit Conditions – Bald Eagle Disturbance
10
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Possession of Eagle Feathers and Parts by Native Americans
11
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Eagle Parts for Native American Religious Purposes
12
eCFR. 50 CFR 22.300 – Permits for Take of Eagle Nests
13
Federal Register. Permits for Incidental Take of Eagles and Eagle Nests
14
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines
15
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Bald Eagle Population Size – 2020 Update
16
Federal Register. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants – Post-Delisting Monitoring Plan for Bald Eagle