Who knew? Bald eagle wasn't officially national bird

Raise your hand if you thought the bald eagle was our national bird all your life.

We found out in the last few weeks we were all wrong about that. Somehow we put the bald eagle all over our currency, our military uniforms, our architecture and in a good portion of our patriotic merchandise without ever officially passing a bill through Congress adopting the symbol.

President Joe Biden signed the bill changing all that on Christmas eve 2024.

Evidently a drawing of the bald eagle with an olive branch in one talon and arrows in the other was indeed officially adopted as the national seal by Congress in 1782. After that its use as a symbol of American strength was evidently taken for granted.

But the bird itself was never officially adopted as the national bird. The national tree has been designated the oak and the bison is the official mammal but somehow the eagle slipped through the crack in the Liberty Bell.

A Minnesota man by the name of Preston Cook, who collects eagle memorabilia with a collection of over 40,000 items, discovered the oversight around 2010 and began tirelessly working to get a bill passed.

There are several myths about the bald eagle that need to be cleared up before we laud him the praise he’s probably due.

Number one they’re not really bald-headed like this dedicated columnist. They actually have white feathers on their heads once they’re adults, but it takes a few years for that plumage to develop.

A myth that has been propagated in the movie-editing booth is the bald eagle’s scream. They don’t do that. When you hear that, remember it is just a sound-effect from the actual scream of a red-tailed hawk. I’ve heard their call personally and I would agree with one expert interviewed in the last few weeks – the bald eagle call sounds more like a giggle.

Eagles do hunt and are quite good at it but prefer to scavenge their meals when possible. So I guess our national bird is resourceful or a little on the lazy side if you prefer. They don’t snatch little children either.

Finally, Benjamin Franklin never proposed (officially) the turkey as the national bird. Years after his death, a letter he wrote to his daughter running down the symbolism of the eagle was presented as evidence that he preferred the turkey but it was never considered on the Great Seal.

As I was growing up, the bald eagle was on the endangered species list because it was shot at and suffered the effects of the poison DDT that thinned its eggshells. The recovery was successful and one day I actually saw my first bald eagle at Tucumcari Lake near where I lived.

I watched that eagle day after day as it hunted ducks and perched in a bare-topped tree. I was thrilled to death.

Later, living in Colorado, I saw them frequently and the whole community was mesmerized when a pair began nesting on one of the local golf courses and successfully fledged one of the two eaglets that hatched.

I love any opportunity I get to watch a bald eagle and I’m delighted that they’ve received their due.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]