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Haliaeetus leucocephalus (literally, sea eagle with a white head) is the only species of sea eagle native to North America. It was first described in 1766 as Falco leucocephalus by Linnaeus. This South Carolina specimen was later renamed as the southern bald eagle, subspecies Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus (Linnaeus) when Townsend identified the northern bald eagle as Haliaeetus leucocephalus alascanus in 1897 (Peters 1979). By the time the bald eagle was listed throughout the lower 48 States under the Endangered Species Act in 1978, the subspecies were no longer recognized by ornithologists (American Ornithologists Union 1983).