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Bald Eagles Are Back In A Big Way — And The Talons Are Out

Bryan Watts, a conservation biologist at the College of William and Mary, and biology graduate student Courtney Turrin, survey eagle behavior along the James River in late-summer.
Elizabeth Shogren
/
NPR
Bryan Watts, a conservation biologist at the College of William and Mary, and biology graduate student Courtney Turrin, survey eagle behavior along the James River in late-summer.

Bryan Watts, a conservation biologist at the College of William and Mary, and biology graduate student Courtney Turrin, survey eagle behavior along the James River in late-summer.
Elizabeth Shogren / NPR
/
NPR
Bryan Watts, a conservation biologist at the College of William and Mary, and biology graduate student Courtney Turrin, survey eagle behavior along the James River in late-summer.
Eagles picked these bones of a blue catfish clean.
Elizabeth Shogren / NPR
/
NPR
Eagles picked these bones of a blue catfish clean.

Copyright 2013 NPR

Corrected: September 3, 2013 at 11:00 PM CDT
The audio version of this story, as did a previous Web version, says that by the 1970s, there were fewer than 500 eagle nests in the United States. That number refers to the number of nests in the Lower 48.
Elizabeth Shogren is an NPR News Science Desk correspondent focused on covering environment and energy issues and news.