America’s National emblem is a large hawk-like bird. It’s plumage is mainly dark brown, and adults have pure white heads and tails. Bald Eagles nest primarily in the estuaries of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast, from New Jersey to Texas, and in the lower Mississippi valley southward from eastern Arkansas and western Tennessee. The increase is chiefly responsible for their endangered plight. Federal laws protect the Bald Eagle. Many National Wildlife Refuges in the southeast have Bald Eagles nesting on them, and the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife now is studying the effects of pesticides on the birds.