Watch: Bald eagles spread throughout N.J.

New Jersey researchers have documented nesting pairs of bald eagles in all 21 New Jersey counties, a first for the state, which has seen a rise in bald eagle populations over more than 40 years of monitoring. A recent report from the state Department of Environmental Protection noted a record 220 nesting pairs that produced 307 young last year. Another 28 pairs did not lay eggs. In the 1970s and ’80s. New Jersey had just one surviving bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nest in the 1970s and ’80s, a consequence of the widespread use of the pesticide DDT, which harmed their eggs.

Read more from the Associated Press, and more from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Watch below for video of a New Jersey eagle visiting its nest of eaglets.