An adult bald eagle perches in a tree in King William County, Va. Cars and trucks pose a hazard to the birds when they scavenge by the side of the road. (Timothy C. Wright for the Washington Post) 
 
 I was driving on I-95 recently when I spotted something guaranteed to swell the heart of any patriotic American. No, it wasn’t a sign for an outlet mall. It was a bald eagle. Once rare and threatened with extinction, the national symbol can now be seen from the comfort of your car. 
 
 And so near! When I first saw the eagle, he was soaring majestically a few hundred feet above the traffic that was moving north near Quantico, Va. Then he came closer. And closer. 
 
 John Kelly writes "John Kelly's Washington," a daily look at Washington's less-famous side. Born in Washington, John started at The Post in 1989 as deputy editor in the Weekend section. View Archive 
 
 Then I saw why. On the shoulder of the road was the carcass of a dead deer. The eagle was swooping down to check it out. 
 
 As nice as it was to see a bald eagle up close, I was afraid it would get hit by a car. 
 
 Apparently, that’s not uncommon. Last year, the nation’s oldest banded bald eagle — a bird known as 03142 — died on a road in western New York while chowing down on a roadkill rabbit. The eagle was 38 years old and must have survived all sorts of close encounters. 
 
 [Oldest banded bald eagle dies after apparently being hit by a car] 
 
 “Eagles are beautiful, hugely charismatic birds,” said Dave McRuer, director of veterinary services at the Wildlife Center of Virginia, where many injured birds are treated. “Their primary diet in Virginia is living off of dead things, whether it’s a dead fish on the beach or a dead deer by the side of the road.” 
 
 The side of the road is not a safe place to be. Getting hit by a vehicle, Dave said, is “a very common occurrence.” In the past five years, 25 of the 187 eagles admitted to the Wildlife Center, in Waynesboro, for rehabilitation — about 15 percent — had been hit by a vehicle. Data from 40 rehabilitation centers along the Eastern Seaboard tells a similar story: Of 679 eagles admitted, 99 had been involved in collisions. A bald eagle found near Fredericksburg, Va., was admitted Tuesday night. Its injuries are consistent with a vehicle strike. 
 
 More eagles than ever are coming in to the Wildlife Center. Ten years ago, the staff was admitting about 20 eagles annually. Now it’s about 40 a year, Dave said. 
 
 In a way, that’s good news — not that more bald eagles are getting hurt but that there are more bald eagles around to get hurt. That’s because there are more bald eagles. The species has rebounded since it was threatened with extinction in the 1970s because of DDT contamination, illegal shooting and habitat loss. Thanks to a range of protective measures, the bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list in 2007. 
 
 Not that everything is hunky-dory. Dave said 80 percent of the eagles the Wildlife Center treats have measurable levels of lead in their systems, which is bad for you whether you are a Michigan schoolchild or a Virginia raptor. 
 
 “The consequence is that lead affects the eagle’s nervous system,” Dave said. “It can make them more susceptible to being hit. They can’t maneuver their way away. It’s like they’re flying drunk.” 
 
 Flying drunk in an open field is one thing. Flying drunk next to an interstate is another. 
 
 Dave said bald eagles ingest lead from legally shot deer that have been field dressed by hunters, the guts cut out and left in a pile. 
 
 The hunters “think they’re doing a good thing for wildlife,” giving animals something to eat, Dave said. “Unfortunately, the shot leaves tiny fragments of lead. A piece the size of a grain of rice is enough to kill an eagle.” 
 
 The Wildlife Center recommends that hunters switch from lead to copper shot or dig a hole and bury the guts so eagles can’t scavenge them. 
 
 We’ve just emerged from an especially eagle-y time of year in these parts. December and January bring the highest number of eagles to Virginia, as birds from the Northeast and eastern Canada migrate here to take advantage of the large biomass of fish in the water. 
 
 “We also get eagles migrating north from Florida to spend the winter on the Chesapeake,” Dave said. “A lot of eagles around means a lot of competition. We could be seeing more eagles scavenging along highways as other eagles are taking prime territory on rivers.” 
 
 Gut-pile-leaving hunters aren’t the only humans who think, erroneously, that they’re doing animals a favor. Dave likes to tell the story of the lowly apple core. Some people think that because an apple core is biodegradable, tossing one out the window of a car isn’t littering. 
 
 “But that attracts mice and rodents,” Dave said, and when rodents start feeding along highways, they get hit by cars. When animals get hit by cars, raptors come in to feed on the carcasses. 
 
 And that gets us back to where this column started. 
 
 Twitter: @johnkelly 
 
 For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. ||||| Two bald eagles sat in a tree along the Neponset River shoreline in Milton. 
 
 For his entire life, Tom Palmer has been jealous of people lucky enough to spot a bald eagle soaring through the sky or clutching the limb of a tree high above the ground. 
 
 But the Milton resident no longer envies a soul. 
 
 On Wednesday, Palmer, who works for the Neponset River Watershed Association, not only witnessed one of the noble birds in his neighborhood’s backyard, he also captured photos of it. 
 
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 “I had never seen one in my life before,” the 60-year-old bird enthusiast said in an interview. “It’s exciting. These are American icons.” 
 
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 Palmer’s sighting marked the second time in less than 10 days that someone locally had witnessed the giant birds of prey, with their impressive seven-foot wingspans, frolicking in their natural habitat. 
 
 Two bald eagles, their white heads visible from a distance, were seen on Jan. 21 on the frozen Charles River, not far from the Longfellow Bridge. Photographs of the birds were shared to the community message board, Reddit. 
 
 Residents in Arlington have also reported seeing the birds, at Spy Pond. 
 
 Palmer’s sighting came this week on the banks of the Neponset River in Milton, just below Governor Hutchinson’s Field, a hilltop nature reserve owned by the Trustees of Reservations. 
 
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 “It was high atop the trees,” Palmer said. “I think more and more people are seeing them. They are too big to escape notice.” 
 
 Jeremy Bick, stewardship manager for the Trustees’ Boston region, said employees of the nonprofit have seen their share of bald eagles, from time to time, near Hutchinson’s Field during the past two years. 
 
 “When we see them out there, we get excited about it,” he said. “It’s different from just seeing the red-tailed hawks, or the osprey. The bald eagle is much cooler.” 
 
 He said other sightings have been reported in Jamaica Plain, around the pond. 
 
 The species was reintroduced in Massachusetts at the Quabbin Reservoir in 1982. The first nest in the wild with eaglets was reported in 1989. As numbers grew, the winged predators’ status here was changed from “endangered” to “threatened” in 2012. 
 
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 State officials say there were around 46 eagle territories — two eagles that are probably mated, or are going to mate — in 2014, the latest data available. But they are confident that that number has grown. 
 
 Marion Larson, chief of information and education at the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, said eagle sightings increase in the winter, because birds are coming down to Massachusetts from northern New England and Canada, where rivers and lakes may be frozen, for better access to food. 
 
 The birds primarily stick to shoreline habitats . 
 
 “It’s great to see eagles in Boston and in Cambridge,” Larson said. 
 
 Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@globe.com . Follow him on Twitter @steveannear . Globe correspondent Mina Corpuz contributed to this report. ||||| Longtime wildlife biologist Jim Ozier unties and then boards a small boat on Lake Jackson, an hour south of Atlanta. With binoculars hanging from his neck, Ozier starts the engine to cruise to a 5-year-old bald eagle nest, towering just on the edge of the Georgia Power-owned body of water. 
 
 Ozier’s routine to monitor bald eagle populations has been consistent – keeping a keen eye while searching for our nation’s symbol by air and water. It’s the experience for Ozier that has transformed dramatically. 
 
 “I can remember getting out of high school and just wondering if I would ever see a bald eagle,” Ozier recalled. 
 
 There was only one known successful nest in the Peach State during the 1970s, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. 
 
 Ozier said he never could have predicted “go[ing] from there to now – [where] there’s probably not a place in Georgia that’s not 20 to 30 miles from a bald eagle nest.” 
 
 The bald eagle, the nation’s symbol, was once at the brink of extinction. But it is making a huge comeback thanks to conservation efforts across the country to save them. Experts call it one of the greatest conservation stories in North American history, making a comeback from fewer than 500 eagle pairings in the 1960s. 
 
 The nationwide count has since soared to literally more than 30 times that – the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated 16,048 pairs in 2009. 
 
 It’s difficult to find accurate national data on bald eagle populations in more recent years because many states significantly scaled back their surveying efforts after the bird was removed from the Endangered Species List in 2007. 
 
 An 'inspiring story' 
 
 Also on the boat near Atlanta was fellow wildlife biologist Bob Sargent, who recently succeeded Ozier to oversee surveying duties. 
 
 Sargent told Fox News the DNR documented a Georgia state record of 218 active nesting territories in 2017. 
 
 “This species, our national symbol, since 1782, was on the brink of extinction, and to see it come back the way it has, it’s an inspiring story all the way around,” Sargent said. 
 
 Numerous states across the country produced groundbreaking counts over the last several years – including Florida, with 1,568 active nesting territories in 2016; Wisconsin, with 1,590 in 2017 and Arizona with 69 in 2018. 
 
 “The bald eagle's population growth in Arizona and across the nation is a testament to the successes of wildlife conservation efforts,” said Kenneth Jacobson with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. 
 
 Ozier and Sargent agreed, pointing to the country’s ban on DDT use (a harmful pesticide) in 1972, the Endangered Species Act and increased public awareness. 
 
 No nest has gotten more attention in Georgia than one sitting adjacent to Berry College’s athletic department. 
 
 Dr. Renee Carleton, an associate professor of biology, said multiple cameras provide “people who don’t normally have a connection to nature” with a close-up view. 
 
 Carleton added that the live feed attracts viewers from across the world, bringing well-deserved attention to the magnificent species. 
 
 Sargent told Fox News he frequently gets phone calls from giddy residents who are awestruck after catching their first glimpse of a bald eagle. 
 
 “When they get aloft, it seems as though they can soar for half the afternoon, effortlessly,” Sargent said. 
 
 He called it inspiring, patriotic and a sight that never diminishes in magnificence. 
 
 After three straight years of 200-plus recorded active nesting territories, the Georgia DNR decided to cut its bald eagle surveying efforts in half. 
 
 Georgia’s highest populated county hit a new record with a tally of 27 nests in 2018, so it is highly possible the Peach State would have seen a similar state-wide increase should the DNR have continued full-fledged surveillance. 
 
 Despite the surveillance reduction, which freed up money for conserving other species like the peregrine falcon, Sargent promised our nation’s symbol will always remain a top priority in the state. 
 
 He acknowledged numerous threats that terrorize the apex predator today, including illegal hunting, cars and an emerging neurological disease called avian vacuolar myelinopathy. 
 
 Today, bald eagles continue to be protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibit anyone without a permit from taking the bird’s parts, nests and eggs. 
 
 Wednesday commemorated 236 years with the bald eagle marked on the official seal of the United States.
– A symbol of America is once again flying high above one of the nation's most historic cities. “I had never seen one in my life before,” Tom Palmer tells the Boston Globe. “It’s exciting. These are American icons.” Late last month, the 60-year-old Massachusetts resident spotted his first bald eagle. And he's not alone. Reports of bald eagle sightings are pouring in from around the Boston area. "They are too big to escape notice," Palmer says. The AP reports there were 51 confirmed breeding pairs of bald eagles in the state last year. That's the most since the birds were reintroduced to Massachusetts in 1982. And it's part of a trend seen nationwide. There were 10,000 or so pairs of bald eagles in the continental US when they were taken off the endangered list in 2007. That's 20 times as many as in 1963. One ornithologist says the resurgence is partly due to bald eagles getting more used to humans and humans getting more used to not shooting bald eagles. Another says it's a sign that the waters around Boston are getting healthier, providing good fishing for breeding eagles. "Once rare and threatened with extinction, the national symbol can now be seen from the comfort of your car," the Washington Post states. But that can also be its own problem. Bald eagles are increasingly being hit by cars while eating roadkill. Last year, a 38-year-old bald eagle—the country's oldest—suffered that fate. The problem is compounded by eagles getting lead poisoning by eating the remains of deer shot by hunters. "It's like they're flying drunk," one veterinary director tells the Post. (Some eagles may also be making themselves sick by eating euthanized animals.)