We must make more. The bald eagles' first clutch of eggs and incubating them artificially. The bald eagles would usually then lay a second clutch, which the birds were allowed to incubate themselves. These captive-hatched bald eagles were an important source for restocking wild populations, and helped to reestablish a broader distribution. Patuxent's program came to an end in 1988, as bald eagles began to reproduce more successfully in the wild, and the center turned its efforts toward other, more critically endangered, species.
Some states continue reintroduction efforts, and two methods are generally used.
Eaglets used for reintroduction may be captive-hatched, or, since usually only two young per nest survive, they may be transferred from a bald eagle nest with a clutch of more than two. Another method, called hacking, is a procedure adapted from the sport of falconry, and it was particularly successful in New York State, where only one unproductive pair of eagles was nesting in 1970. At eight weeks of age, nestling eaglets, many flown in from nests in Alaska, were placed on man-made towers located in remote areas. Biologists stayed hidden while providing them with food, and released them when they became able to fly. By the 1990s, there were 20 nesting pairs in New York, many of them around New York City's reservoir system in the Catskills.