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In 1782 the bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, was chosen as the national symbol of the United States-to the dismay of Benjamin Franklin, who claimed that the eagle was "a bird of bad moral character." (Franklin's choice was the wild turkey.) Birds of prey, bald eagles are monogamous and mate for life. They build enormous platform nests weighing as much as 2 metric tons, and, not surprisingly, mated pairs usually use the same nest throughout a long lifetime. Parenting responsibilities such as nest-building, incubation of eggs, and rearing of young are shared equally by both parents. Although bald eagles are found throughout the North American continent, they have been scarce in the lower 48 United States since the mid-20th century as a result of habitat loss and of exposure to pesticides and heavy metals that are concentrated in the fish that they eat. Recent recovery efforts, however, have reversed the decline in numbers of bald eagles. In 1994 the bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list.