This season, Eagles fans finally have cause for celebration.

Bald eagle fans, that is: After a 200 year hiatus, the bird has returned to Philadelphia.

Philadelphia bird watcher Debbie Beer discovered a bald eagle's nest early last month after following a tip from a local truck driver who was passing the site on his way home.

"The sky was a beautiful orange and purple, and through my scope, I could see him perk his head up and poke around," Beer said. "It was just a very, very exciting experience for me."

The find gives Philadelphia - a city often linked to the national bird for its role in the country's road to independence - its first official bald eagle sighting for at least 200 years, according to the State Game Commission.

But state officials won't disclose the location of the nest, saying any human contact could frighten the two eagle parents into leaving the nest and abandoning their eggs.

Long pegged to the list of endangered species, biologists say safeguarding the nest is critical to the birds' survival.

Bald eagles are "particularly sensitive to foot traffic," said Douglas Gross, an endangered bird specialist with the State Game Commission. "They're more tolerant of vehicles going back and forth along the highway - for them that's sort of background noise."

But for bird enthusisasts, it seems as if the race is on to find the nest.

Keith Russell, a fellow bird watcher and friend of Beer, said he will wait until the state secures the birds' habitat, but is concerned that other bird enthusiasts will fail to do the same.

"That's the thing I keep hearing, that people want to see it," he said. "You could have people going there and disturbing the birds, preventing them from completing their breeding."Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser said that, once biologists secure the habitat, the Commission will set up an area for observation, though the Commission is unsure how far away that spot would be.

The return of the birds is particularly refreshing, as it is a sign of improving conditions in the Delaware River.

"Bald eagles mainly eat fish, and you can't have a good fish population without clean water, and a lot of it," Gross said.

After decades of use of the pesticide DDT, which scientists say weakens the birds' eggs, the bald eagle practically disappeared from Pennsylvania. By the 1970s, only 3 nests remained, Gross said.

But a campaign to protect young eagles, as well as the banning of DDT and river clean-up efforts have helped to bring America's national symbol back.

There are now 115 nests throughout the state, and about 50 more in New Jersey, Gross said.

In addition, the return of an eagle to an urban area is the sign that a new wave of environmental urbanism, which seeks to preserve green space in urban areas, is working. Gross said.

"The recovery of some habitat along Philadelphia's rivers - I think its fantastic," he said.

For Beer and fellow bird enthusiasts, or "birders," the return of America's national symbol is a matter of pride.

"To have our national bird, which was once upon the brink of extinction, nesting in the city of Philadelphia - this is pretty special," Russell said.