Bald eagles, long treasured for their soaring flight, hunting, and nesting, have made a remarkable recovery from endangered status through legal protections, the 1972 ban on DDT, conservation work by wildlife biologists and citizens, and captive breeding programs in which Ohio led the nation in fostering eaglets. They are no longer listed as endangered or threatened by the state or federal government, though they remain protected under the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and state law. In 2020, Ohio’s nest census recorded 707 nests statewide, up from only four breeding pairs in 1979, with bald eagles nesting in all but three counties, especially along Lake Erie, and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report released in March 2021 estimated 316,708 eagles across the contiguous United States, more than four times the population reported in 2009. The habitats, mature trees, and waters of the Vermilion River Valley provide prime nesting and hunting grounds, and Lorain County had ten known nests in 2020. One of two eagle species found in Ohio, the bald eagle has a white head and tail when fully mature, while immature birds remain mostly dark brown with mottled white, buff, and cream underneath until about five or six years of age; all stages have yellow eyes and feet, hooked beaks, and sharp talons. Males are about 2.5 feet long, with a wingspan of 6 to 7 feet and a weight upward of 10 pounds, while females are larger. Bald eagles are opportunistic feeders that eat fish, small mammals, waterfowl, shorebirds, reptiles, amphibians, and carrion. Courtship and nest building may occur from October to early December, females lay one to three eggs from mid-February to late March, both parents incubate them for about 35 days from February through April, and although a female usually produces one brood each year, some pairs begin a second nest if one is destroyed.