The American bald eagle, the national symbol the United States, has been removed from the endangered species list.

U.S. President Bill Clinton made the announcement Friday.

The birds were once plentiful throughout North America. But their numbers plummeted by the early 1960s because of hunting, a decline in their prey and habitats, and exposure to pesticide.

When America adopted the bird as its national symbol in 1782, as many as 100,000 nesting bald eagles lived in the continental United States. By 1963, only 417 nesting pairs were found in the lower 48 states.

Through the efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the banning of the pesticide DDT-- the same chemical that threatened the peregrine falcon in Canada-- the giant bird has made a recovery. There are now about 5,800 breeding pairs in the United States.