National Park Service officials recently counted 137 bald eagles and five golden eagles at Lake Mead — the highest number in the area east of Las Vegas in five years and above the 10-year average.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the team was one of eight groups surveying bald eagles across Lake Mohave and Lake Mead, as part of a national eagle survey designed to track the population and distribution of a species that was close to extinction in the Lower 48 states when it was listed as endangered in 1967.
The survey began in 1979. The recreation area began participating in the survey in the 1990s.