How America Nearly Lost Its Own National Bird In 1963, only 417 known nesting pairs of bald eagles remained in the lower 48 states. DDT had worked its way through the food chain, causing eagles to lay eggs with shells so fragile they could break beneath the weight of the parents trying to incubate them. After DDT was banned and the bald eagle received federal protection, one of America’s greatest wildlife recoveries began. Today, more than 300,000 bald eagles live across the lower 48—a remarkabl