Delaware’s bald eagle population has risen considerably in recent years and is expected to continue to increase. Jordan Brown is an avian biologist who runs research on nongame land bird species for the state’s Division of Fish & Wildlife. According to Ms. Brown, the birds, which are native to the First State and have been the national bird since 1782, have a much healthier population today than they did just a few decades ago. The Delaware River Basin Commission notes on its website that, in the 1980s, “there were as few as two to four nesting pairs in the entire state” of Delaware.
