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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A bald eagle perches on a pole on Launch Pad 39A, seemingly monitoring the instruction of the space shuttle Atlantis STS-122 crew on slidewire basket operation, part of the emergency exit system on the fixed service structure of the pad. Bald eagles use a specific territory for nesting (they mate for life), winter feeding or a year-round residence. Its natural domain is from Alaska to Baja, California, and from Maine to Florida. Bald eagles have a presence in every U. S. state except Hawaii. There are a dozen eagle nests in both Kennedy Space Center and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which surrounds Kennedy. Bald eagles live near large bodies of open water such as lakes, marshes, seacoasts and rivers, where there are plenty of fish to eat and tall trees for nesting and roosting. Bald eagles feed primarily on fish, but also eat small animals (ducks, coots, muskrats, turtles, rabbits, snakes, etc.). Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett