HEMET -- The U.S. Forest Service is seeking volunteers to help count American bald eagles in the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains in an annual census set to begin Dec. 30.

The count will continue on sporadic weekends through mid-March, according to Forest Service spokeswoman Robin Eliason.

Observers are needed to supplement Forest Service rangers in counting the once-endangered birds, Eliason said.

Volunteers will be needed for eagle counts at Baldwin Lake, Big Bear Lake, Lake Arrowhead, Lake Gregory, Lake Hemet, Lake Silverwood and Little Green Valley Lake, Eliason said.

Observers don't need prior experience -- only some warm clothes, a pair of binoculars and an hour to spare for each count, according to Eliason.

Over the last three decades -- since the Forest Service began its annual census -- the bald eagle population has fluctuated between a half-dozen and 40 in the Big Bear Basin, according to Eliason.

Radio tracking devices attached to some birds have shown that, in a given year, they can migrate from the Inland Empire to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and northwest Canada, Eliason said.

"Since 2003, a pair of bald eagles has successfully fledged babies several times at Lake Hemet," Eliason said. "Potential nesting habitat exists on National Forest lands near all of the lakes in the San Bernardino Mountains."

Because of hunting and habitat destruction, the American bald eagle was nearly driven to extinction in the 20th century and was added to the federal endangered species list in the 1970s.

It was removed from that list in 1995, and last year was de-listed as a "threatened species." Some 10,000 bald eagle breeding pairs are located in the United States, with tens of thousands more across the globe, by some estimates.

Anyone interested in serving as a volunteer bald eagle counter should call Eliason at (909) 382-2832.