Visit
the Smithsonian's The Zoo's Bald Eagle Refuge, an exhibit for our national symbol, opened in July 2003 to celebrate Independence Day and commemorate the 100th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Photos by Jessie Cohen/NZP
The bald eagle's recovery
Once threatened with extinction, the American bald eagle has made a dramatic comeback thanks to the banning of the pesticide DDT and the recovery efforts of the Fish and Wildlife Service, many other state and federal agencies, conservation organizations, and public and private groups. In 1995, after 22 years on the Endangered Species List, the bald eagle’s status was downgraded from endangered to threatened—quite an accomplishment considering the bald eagle population in the continental U.S. had dwindled from 100,000 nesting individuals in the late-1700s to only 417 pairs in 1963. There are now more than 6,000 pairs of bald eagles nesting in the United States.
More than 200 years after the selection of this magnificent raptor as the national symbol, the recovery of the bald eagle from near extinction stands as a crowning achievement of this country’s conservation efforts.
The National Wildlife Refuge System has played an invaluable role in the restoration of the bald eagle, providing vital nesting and wintering habitat. Bald eagles can currently be found at 390 refuges, from Key West National Wildlife Refuge in Florida to Togiak National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
Where to find the Refuge
The Bald Eagle Refuge is located along the Zoo’s Beaver
Valley across from the Mexican wolves. In addition to the
eagles, who have an impressive wingspan of up
to eight feet, the exhibit features an interactive video
kiosk highlighting conservation success stories, an area for
interpretive talks and animal demonstrations, and a special
blind through which visitors can view the birds. 
Zoo Map
The eagles
The eagles are from the American Eagle Foundation, located in Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Sam, the female, was injured from a gunshot as an adult in Alaska in 1986. She is missing the tip of her left wing and is unable to fly. Tioga, the male, was found in August 1998 near his Pennsylvania nest as a fledgling without flight capabilities. A wildlife rehabilitator determined he had a fractured left shoulder that had already healed in a bad position. Both eagles are termed non-releasable back to the wild because they cannot fly and take care of themselves. Sam is the larger of the two, at about 10 pounds, and has a small band on her left leg. Tioga weighs about 8 pounds and has a band on each leg. They enjoy a diet of rats, mice, chicken, fish, and quail.
The exhibit
The 2,430-square-foot exhibit also includes an interactive
computer kiosk recognizing prominent figures of the conservation
movement such as Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, and former-president
Theodore Roosevelt.
The refuge allows visitors to view the eagles in a setting similar to the birds’ wild habitat. It includes a heated natural shelter and perch, naturalistic rock formations and waterfalls, a place for the eagles to nest, and a fish-filled pond. The water in the pond flow sdownhill to a wetlands area. A boardwalk takes visitors from the Beaver Valley trail past the wetlands and up to the observation area. The exhibit is enclosed with Invisinet®, a fine stainless-steel netting that blends into the surroundings and affords visitors a clear, unobstructed view.
The Bald Eagle Refuge was designed by the Zoo and Living Ecosystems of Easton, Maryland, and is being funded primarily through a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. FONZ also contributed to the exhibit’s completion.
