The bald eagle, the American symbol of peace and freedom known worldwide, has recently been spotted in Chester and Delaware counties after making a resurgence at a Montgomery County park.
Residents have reportedly scene the bird on West Chester Pike in Willistown, at Chambers Lake, in a tree in Havertown, and along the Brandywine Creek, the Daily Local News reports.
At the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust in Lower Moreland, Montgomery County bald eagles have laid eggs in a nest in an evergreen tree, according to reports.
The ecology of the landscape was reportedly perfectly suited to improving the eagle population.
The area is biologically diverse and filled with a fresh supply of deer carcasses, moved there by a park official, according to a report.
They’re the first bald eagles known to reproduce in the park since the 19th century.
“This area is McDonald’s for the eagles,” Eugene R. Potapov, a raptor expert who teaches at Bryn Athyn College, told The Intelligencer.
Eagle populations have been steadily declining in the United States and Pennsylvania for almost 150 years, especially since the widespread use of DDT, a pesticide.
Federal legislation, including the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act, has slowly helped bald eagles regain some of their former territory.
Only 500 bald eagles existed in the United States in 1960, a number which grew to 6,000 by 2000, according to officials.
Other known bald eagle nests exist in Green Lane Park and the Tinicum Wildlife Refuge.