FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2014 file photo, a bald eagle perches over Onota Lake in Pittsfield, Mass. In 2015 the number of bald eagles in Massachusetts reached a record high in since the majestic birds... (Associated Press) 
 
 BOSTON (AP) — People spotting bald eagles in the skies over the Boston area aren't hallucinating — there really are more of the majestic birds of prey setting up shop in the urban eastern areas of the state, experts say. 
 
 There were 51 confirmed territorial breeding bald eagle pairs in Massachusetts last year, the most since they were reintroduced to the state in 1982, said Andrew Vitz, the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife ornithologist. That includes pairs close to Boston in the towns of Milton, Waltham, Lynnfield and Framingham, all confirmed in the past year or two. 
 
 "One of the areas of most rapid expansion has been eastern Massachusetts, which has been a great surprise," Vitz said. 
 
 The exact number of eagles in the state is probably higher, because there may be some breeding pairs scientists don't even know about, and the winter population is bolstered by eagles that make their way south looking for open water when lakes and ponds to the north ice over, Vitz said. 
 
 Social media has been buzzing with sightings of the birds, distinct because of their 7-foot wingspan and snow-white heads. 
 
 They have been spotted near the Charles River and Jamaica Pond in Boston, Spy Pond in Arlington and even the Chestnut Hill Reservoir near Boston College, where the athletic teams are known as the Eagles. 
 
 Not every sighting has been confirmed, and it's unclear whether it's the same eagle or several, but there is no doubt there are more of them around, Vitz said. 
 
 Tom Palmer was awed when he spotted a bald eagle in late January near the Neponset River on the border of Milton and Boston. When he was growing up, bald eagles, the national symbol since 1782, were so rare that they had an almost mythical quality. 
 
 "It was the first time I had ever seen an actual bald eagle, and it was right in my neighborhood," said the Milton resident who manages Willett Pond in Walpole for the Neponset River Watershed Association. "I couldn't believe it." 
 
 Bald eagles have made a huge comeback nationwide. There were less than 500 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states in 1963. By 2007, when bald eagles were taken off the endangered species list, there were about 10,000, according to federal figures. 
 
 Boston isn't the only urban area bald eagles are calling home, said Kevin McGowan, an ornithologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 
 
 "It is a fairly widespread phenomenon," he said. 
 
 They are moving to the city for a couple of reasons, the experts said. 
 
 To breed, bald eagles need two things — tall trees in which to nest, and a nearby body of water in which to hunt for their favorite food: fish. Seeing eagles in the greater Boston area is proof that the region's once notoriously polluted waterways are getting healthier. 
 
 "One of the reasons eagles disappeared from Massachusetts 100 years ago was water quality," Vitz said. 
 
 Eagles are also getting more used to humans, and humans are not shooting the birds as much, said McGowan, the Cornell scientist. 
 
 "You never get tired of seeing eagles," he said. ||||| 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.
– 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.)