Alaska Bald Eagles seem to be reproductively healthy, but contaminants have been recorded in Alaska fish populations and in Bald Eagles. A greater threat to Alaska s Bald Eagle population is destruction of their nesting habitat by logging and nest disturbances. Nest trees tend to be the largest in the stand and are usually 400 years old. In treeless areas on the Aleutians, nests are located on rock pinnacles, or they may be on the ground. Herring, flounder, pollock, and salmon are taken along the coast, while the Interior populations prey heavily upon salmon.
Eagles also prey upon waterfowl, small mammals, sea urchins, clams, crabs, and carrion.
These claims were later found to be mainly false, but over 100,000 eagles were killed before the bounty was removed in 1953. With statehood in 1959, the Bald Eagle in Alaska received federal protection under the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940. This act made it illegal to kill or possess an eagle, alive or dead, or to possess any part of an eagle, including feathers. Bald Eagles were endangered or eliminated throughout most of the Lower 48 states as a result of habitat destruction, illegal shooting, pesticides, and poisoning. Bald Eagle populations are recovering in many states because of strong support for endangered species wildlife habitat.