By the 1970s, the bald eagle had all but vanished from places like New Glarus.

America’s national bird was still printed on coins, carved into government buildings and stitched into military insignia, but in much of southern Wisconsin it had become something closer to a memory than a living presence. For the residents of Green County, sightings simply did not happen.

That is what makes the bird’s recent return so remarkable, especially as the United States prepares to mark its 250th anniversary.

When bald eagles began showing up again in the New Glarus area in the 2000s, a sighting was still big news. People pointed. They called neighbors. They remembered where they were. Today, an eagle over a farm field, near the Sugar River or along a rural road still feels majestic, but it no longer feels impossible.

The comeback of the bald eagle is one of the great American conservation stories — a recovery from near-collapse to renewed abundance, visible now even in the skies over Green County.