Bald Eagle Restoration Efforts

GOOD NEWS! Thanks in part to the restoration work of the Sutton Center, the Bald Eagle
was removed from the endangered and threatened species list on June 28, 2007!

The Sutton Center's successful Bald eagle restoration efforts are described below.
To view our Bald Eagle nest cam, click the link below.

Eagle landing on nest

A female Bald Eagle returns to her nest on the Arkansas River in Muskogee County, OK. The band visible on her left leg proves she was a Florida eagle hatched and released by GMSARC. (Photo by M. Alan Jenkins)

President Clinton congratulates Steve Sherrod and the Sutton Research Center for their part in restoring the Bald Eagle. An eagle was on hand at the Rose Garden ceremony celebrating plans to remove our national symbol from the endangered species list. (Photos by Craig Coppie)

Between 1984 and 1992 the Sutton Center raised and released 275 Southern Bald Eagles in the southeastern U.S. Bald Eagle eggs were removed from nests in Florida and transported to our captive breeding facility in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Once at our captive breeding facility, the eggs were incubated, hatched, and the resulting eaglets were raised and released in high quality habitat in five southeastern states. In many cases, the captively-raised Bald Eagles have returned to their release sites to establish territories and nests.

Each year we conduct aerial and ground surveys in the vicinity of Oklahoma release sites to determine nest occupancy rates and productivity. Since 1990, the number of Bald Eagle nests in Oklahoma has increased almost annually to a record 55 nests in 2005 (see graph below). We believe these increases are a direct result of our restoration program, as adult eagles are now returning to breed in the areas where they were released. In addition, eagles released by the Sutton Center have been observed nesting in Kansas, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. As fledglings from these nests reach adulthood, we expect the number of nests to continue to increase.

Partially as a result of our efforts here at the Sutton Avian Research Center, the Bald Eagle population in most areas of the U.S. had increased sufficiently for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the Bald Eagle from the Endangered Species List in June of 2007!


Using a puppet to feed an eaglet to prevent its imprinting on people.	A "ghost costume" worn while weighing young eagle chicks prevented its exposure to and imprinting on people.	Bald Eagles become accustomed to their new surroundings on a hack tower used to release them into the wild.

The above graph indicates what an outstanding success the Sutton Center's Bald Eagle reintroduction program has been in Oklahoma. The recovery goal for Oklahoma was 10 eagle nests, a number that has actually been more than quintupled in just over a decade! While we lack thorough data for our other release states owing to survey funding limitations, evidence suggests highly significant successes there as well. While we celebrate the removal of the Bald Eagle from the Endangered Species List, we have taken a moment to celebrate and to honor several individuals and one foundation for their integral roles in making this project possible. A well-attended, standing room only, black-tie event took place in July, 2000, in Tulsa to recognize those who so generously supported the Bald Eagle recovery project from its very beginning, and actually helped to establish the Sutton Center. Pictured below from left to right are Joe Williams, Bob Lorton, Harold Price, the late Jack Zink, Len Eaton, and Judge Joe Morris representing the Sarkeys Foundation. The Sutton Center is indeed grateful for their support.