The bald eagle is one of the rare endangered species success stories, a bird that teetered on the edge of extinction before federal legislation brought it back from the brink. And preliminary numbers from this year’s annual Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count show that bald eagle numbers are still on the rise – at least in Montana, where early results signal good news for our national symbol.

The Christmas Bird Count is a holiday tradition in which thousands of amateur – and professional – bird watchers around continent flock to backyards, fields, and forests to tally sightings of feathered friends. Results for 2005 have begun trickling in, though the count still has one more day to go, and the information will eventually be compiled in the 106th Christmas Bird Count Summary.

According to the Missoulian, in 1975 bird watchers in Montana counted only 40 bald eagles. Last year, they counted 549. The birds are also being sighted in growing numbers of areas, up from seven Montana communities in 1975 to 30 today.

Bald eagle populations began dropping in North America as early as the turn of the 19th century, largely due to habitat destruction and competition with humans for food. The prevalence of the pesticide DDT during the 20th century further decimated the species, harming both birds and eggs. The birds were officially declared endangered in 1967 under the legislation that eventually became the Endangered Species Act. Bald eagles were upgraded from “endangered” to “threatened” status in 1995 and are on their way to making it off the list entirely. The bulk of the bald eagle population lives in Alaska. For more information on bald eagles, check out American Bald Eagle Information.

Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service