Problem Solving

Is It Illegal to Feed Bald Eagles?

Not under federal law as written. The eagle act bans taking an eagle, and feeding counts only if it disturbs one badly enough to injure it, cut its breeding or drive it off a nest. Florida bans feeding a bald eagle outright, and three Alaska cities ban feeding them on purpose, Anchorage since April 2026.

In most of the US, no law says you may not feed a bald eagle. The federal eagle act bans taking one, and feeding becomes taking only when it disturbs an eagle to the point of harm. The rules that say feed are Florida's, statewide, and three Alaska city codes: Anchorage, Homer and Ketchikan.

We read six rules, five in their own text and Anchorage's through three news reports, because the Assembly's adopted text was not available to us. If an eagle or hawk is hunting the birds at your feeder rather than eating what you put out, start with hawks at the feeder. Eagle nests and feathers have their own rules, on removing a bird's nest and keeping a found feather.

The rules we read#

For a yard, the "Feeding named?" and "Intent needed?" columns decide most cases.

Four of the five rows ban feeding eagles by name. Only Florida's reaches the whole state, and only Anchorage's reaches food left out by carelessness.

Why the answers online disagree#

Ask the question and you get two answers. One says it is illegal because bald eagles are federally protected. The other, which the Anchorage Daily News gave its readers before the Assembly vote, is that federal and state laws prohibit "disturbing" eagles but feeding falls into "a legal gray area."

The gray area is the federal answer. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act lists what you may not do to an eagle: take, possess, sell, purchase, barter, transport, export or import. Feeding is not on the list, and it is not in the definition of take either. It can only be reached as disturbance, which has to cause, or be likely to cause, real harm. The US Fish and Wildlife Service says the same: Jordan Muir, raptor and permit chief for its Migratory Bird Management program in Alaska, told the Daily News that feeding on its own "is discouraged" but "not strictly illegal," and that a disturbance has to reach a "point that reduces the survivorship or productivity of an eagle." Before Anchorage acted, the man who had fed eagles in Muldoon for years stopped only because he "recently pledged to Fish and Game that he would stop," as Alaska's News Source put it. A pledge, not a citation.

The "illegal" answer is the Florida answer. When food was delivered to an eagle-cam nest in North Fort Myers in 2023, Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said artificial feeding is prohibited under the state rule and also under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the eagle act. The state rule does say feed. The two federal acts do not use the word, so outside Florida and the Alaska cities below, "illegal" overstates it. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act's own list of verbs is read on the crow page.

Federal law: feeding only counts as disturbance#

Under 16 USC 668c, take "includes also pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb." The regulations at 50 CFR 22.6 then define disturb narrowly:

"Disturb means to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that causes, or is likely to cause, based on the best scientific information available, (1) injury to an eagle, (2) a decrease in its productivity, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior, or (3) nest abandonment, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior."

So a fish tossed to an eagle on a beach is not, by itself, a federal offense. What the definition looks at is the effect: an eagle hurt, an eagle that stops breeding normally, or a nest left. The definition does not say whether any particular kind of feeding meets that test, and no case we read decides it. The feeding that comes closest is feeding at or near a nest, where "nest abandonment" is one of the three outcomes named.

Penalties. The criminal offense under 668(a) needs a person to act "knowingly, or with wanton disregard for the consequences." It carries up to $5,000 and one year, and for a second conviction up to $10,000 and two years, with "each taking or other act" a separate violation. Half of any fine, up to $2,500, may go to whoever gave the information that led to conviction. The civil penalty under 668(b) is up to $5,000 per violation, after notice and a hearing. The same act covers golden eagles; Florida's rule and the two Homer and Ketchikan codes name bald eagles only.

Federal law also governs eagle nests and eagle feathers, and both are stricter than the feeding rule: eagle nests are protected even when no eagle is using them.

Florida: the rule that says feed#

Florida Administrative Code rule 68A-16.002, "Bald Eagle Protection," took effect May 15, 2008, and was amended June 22, 2017. Subsection (1) reads:

"No person shall take, feed, disturb, possess, sell, purchase or barter any bald eagle or parts thereof, or their nests or eggs, or attempt to engage in any such conduct, except when such conduct is authorized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."

Feed sits on its own, separate from disturb, so no harm test applies to it. The subsection has no "intentional" or "knowingly," and the only way out is federal authorization. Subsection (2) defines disturb much as the federal rule does; subsection (3) bars knowingly entering posted eagle closures on public land.

Compare the commission's other feeding rules. Its sandhill crane rule says "the intentional feeding of sandhill cranes is prohibited" (read on the crane page), and its raccoon rule turns on food that creates a public nuisance (on the raccoon page). The eagle rule has neither qualifier. The rule does not define feed, and it does not state a penalty; we did not read the statute that sets one, so this page gives none.

The Harriet and M15 case. In February 2023, after the female eagle Harriet disappeared from her North Fort Myers nest on February 2, a DoorDash driver was hired to buy two salmon fillets at a Sprouts supermarket and drop them at the nest tree, WGCU reported. Virginia Pritchett McSpadden, co-founder of the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam, called the commission, which answered by quoting 68A-16.002 word for word. The male, M15, went on feeding the two eaglets, E21 and E22, himself. The point for anyone tempted: in Florida a kind motive is not an exception. Food delivered for an eagle is feeding an eagle.

Anchorage: fines since April 2026#

The Anchorage Assembly passed AO 2026-53(S) by 9 votes to 3 on April 28, 2026; Chris Constant, Scott Myers and Keith McCormick voted no, according to Alaska Public Media. The sponsor, Assembly member Yarrow Silvers, told the Daily News that the eagles "are getting aggressive, they are fighting and people are afraid to take their dogs to the dog park because they are becoming habituated to humans." The trouble centered on Chanshtnu Muldoon Park, where in February the city's natural resources manager, Brad Muir, heard of "a handful of incidents where the eagles had swooped down into the small dog park side," and where one count quoted by the Daily News ran: "There's probably over 100 but I stopped counting at 55."

What the three reports agree on:

• Intentional feeding of birds of prey and other wildlife: $250 for a first offense, $500 for each after.
• Negligent feeding, meaning food and garbage left out that may attract them: $100, then $300, then $500.
• What is covered, per the Daily News: birds of prey and other wildlife, plus starlings, English sparrows, raccoons, and any ferret, swine or rabbit "not under the direct control of an owner," with moose, deer, fox and bears also on the list.
• Bird feeders. Silvers' updated version "made it clear residents may still feed 'backyard birds.'" Alaska's News Source: "bird feeders are still considered legal."
• Enforcement is complaint-based, through the code enforcement hotline at 907-343-4141 or Parks and Recreation.

The negligent tier is what sets Anchorage apart. In Homer and Ketchikan a meat scrap an eagle finds on its own is not an offense; in Anchorage, leaving it where eagles can get it can be. The same goes for bears, which Alaska already covers statewide (see bear feeder laws). The state Fish and Game biologist, Cory Stantorf, told Alaska Public Media that "come April 1, all those bird feeders, all the birdseed be cleaned up and brought back in," because "a bird feeder is a bear feeder." That is advice, not part of the ordinance.

We could not read the adopted text: it was not on the Assembly pages we reached, and the code host refused us. So this page does not state the code section, how the ordinance defines "birds of prey" or "backyard birds," or how its starling and English sparrow listing fits with the feeder exception. If those species are the ones emptying your feeder, see starlings at feeders and house sparrows.

Homer and Ketchikan: intent to feed eagles#

Homer wrote the first of these codes, chapter 5.38, "Bird Feeding Nuisance," in 2006 (Ordinance 06-01(A)):

"No person shall intentionally feed or bait wild bald eagles, crows, ravens or gulls anywhere within the Homer City limits."

"Feed" or "bait" means to "provide, place, expose, deposit, distribute or scatter any edible material with the intention of feeding, attracting or enticing" those birds. An owner or person in control of property may not "cause or allow" it on the property or the right-of-way next to it. Police and animal control officers can cite, and anyone found feeding "shall be ordered to cease the feeding or baiting immediately." The city may abate the nuisance and bill the feeder and the property owner jointly. The fine is in the city schedule (HCC 1.16.040), which we did not read. The crow and gull side of the same chapter is on the crow page and the seagull page.

Ketchikan used Homer's wording in 2018 (Ordinance 1884) as chapter 9.70, but for bald eagles alone: "No person shall intentionally feed or bait wild bald eagles anywhere within city limits." The council's findings say why: feeding "results in habituated behavior and food conditioning," more "fecal matter," and higher risk of power line strikes and "aircraft strikes which could lead to serious personal injury including death."

One word differs. Homer's owner may not "cause or allow" feeding; Ketchikan's may not "cause or knowingly permit" it, so a Ketchikan landlord has to know about a tenant's eagle feeding before the owner is liable. The penalty is "a fine in an amount not to exceed $500.00," every day is a separate offense, and the city may also seek an injunction. Both codes have since moved to a new host that refused us; we read them through Internet Archive copies from September 2024 (Homer) and December 2023 (Ketchikan).

Your feeder, your scraps and the eagle#

Across these rules, three things get a person into trouble: food put out for eagles on purpose (all four local rules), food delivered at a nest (Florida, and the federal nest abandonment test), and in Anchorage, food or garbage left where eagles can reach it.

• A seed or suet feeder is not feeding eagles under any of them. Anchorage says so directly, and the Homer and Ketchikan definitions require the intention of feeding, attracting or enticing eagles. Keep spilled seed under control anyway, because it draws rats (see seed mess).
• Fish waste and meat scraps are where people get caught. In Homer and Ketchikan, set out for eagles, they are an offense; in Anchorage, left out carelessly, they can be. Bin them, and skip kitchen scraps for birds generally (bread and scraps, what not to feed birds).
• An eagle taking birds or ducks at your feeder is a predator problem, not a feeding problem. Scaring it off a feeder is not covered by the feeding rules, but the federal disturb test applies near a nest. What works without hurting a raptor is on hawks at the feeder.

If a neighbor feeds eagles, report it to the state wildlife commission in Florida or the code enforcement hotline in Anchorage. Elsewhere, start with neighbors and ordinances.

Where this page stops applying#

• Other states. We read Florida only. We did not check whether Alaska's statewide feeding rule, or any other state's wildlife feeding rule, reaches eagles. State rules for other animals start at deer feeding bans.
• Other towns. The Daily News names Valdez as another Alaska community with a similar policy; we did not read it. Search your town's code for "eagle," "bird of prey" and "feeding of wildlife." How to find a code: municipal and county ordinances.
• Anchorage is from news reports; its adopted text, section number and definitions were not available to us.
• Penalties for Homer are in a fine schedule we did not read, and Florida's are in a statute we did not read.
• Canada leaves eagles to the provinces, which we did not read for eagles; town rules are on are bird feeders illegal in Canada.
• Golden eagles are covered by the federal act, but not by Florida's rule or the Homer and Ketchikan codes.

This is a reading of statutes, regulations and city codes, not legal advice.