Abundant Eagles Now Fight for Territory

May 4, 2006 -- -- The effort to protect bald eagles in the United States has had an unexpected side effect: a turf war.

Where just 40 years ago there were only 417 nesting pairs in the contiguous United States, there are now more than 7,000.

There are so many bald eagles that the birds increasingly attack each other, fighting over precious habitat.

"With increased population pressure, with increased competition for fewer sites, I think this is a trend that will continue," said Sallie Welti of Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research Inc. in Newark, Del.

Welti is currently supervising the recuperation of Martha, a bald eagle attacked earlier this month by a rival female eagle outside Washington. The rival -- nicknamed "Angelina" by some wiseguys at a local construction site -- has since taken over Martha's nest, habitat and former partner, George.

Credit for the population rebound is given to the 1972 ban on DDT, a pesticide that thinned the shells of eagles' eggs, as well as to the passage of the Endangered Species Act a year later.

But the bald eagle's resurgence has the birds hatching in places they haven't in decades. This month Southern California's Channel Islands saw the first bald eagle hatchling in 50 years.

In Homer, Alaska, there are so many eagles and they are considered such a hassle that it's illegal to feed them.

Now there's a push by the government and many environmental groups to remove the bald eagle from the endangered species list.

"The proposed delisting of the bald eagle is a great success story," said acting Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett. "Delisting is just a first step, and we still do have before us the tremendous challenge of continuing to protect habitats."

Though some areas are experiencing a bald eagle boom, the eagle population still struggles in some parts of the country.

In the Southwest, for example, it may be tough to convince people that removing the bird from the list is beneficial.