There was a glimmer of positive news to round out 2024. The American bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) became our official national bird.
While this development seems trivial, it’s long-overdue to honor this iconic bird.
Bicameral bipartisan bills in both Congressional chambers resoundingly passed and landed on outgoing President Joe Biden’s desk to amend title 36, United States Code, to elevate the bald eagle from national symbol to national bird. Congress, supplemented by lobbying efforts from the National Eagle Center, made this historic moment possible. Senators Klobuchar (D-MN), Lummis (R-WY), Mullin (R-OK), and Smith (D-MN) led the efforts in the Senate, while Reps. Finstad (R-MN) and 14 other cosponsors championed this in the House of Representatives. President Biden signed the bill into law shortly before Christmas.
“While most people assume the bald eagle is our nation’s official bird, the fact is our country doesn’t have an official bird,” Preston Cook, Co-Chair of the National Bird Initiative for the National Eagle Center, said of the efforts. “It’s time the bald eagle, long revered as our national symbol, finds its rightful place as our country’s official national bird.”
This confusion traces back to our nation’s founding. On June 20, 1782, our Founding Fathers approved the Great Seal of the U.S. depicting a bald eagle. But no formal recognition ever followed–until this year. Benjamin Franklin allegedly preferred the turkey, a bird also native to the U.S., to become the official bird, writing, “For in Truth the Turk'y is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America...."
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Franklin further bemoaned the eagle in this letter, adding, it “is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly…[he] is too lazy to fish for himself.” Alas, Mr. Franklin couldn’t have been more wrong here.
The bald eagle’s designation as our national bird comes at a pivotal time: The American bald eagle has bounced back from near extinction.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published the most available data of individuals and breeding pairs in the Lower-48 through their Bald Eagle Population Size Report: 2020 Update. They found that the U.S. bald eagle population grew to over 316,000 individual birds–comprising 71,400 nesting pairs. This figure is quadruple the amount documented in 2009, when there were 72,434 individuals, including 30,548 breeding pairs, recorded in the lower-48. That’s an incredible achievement and conservation success story.
Undoubtedly, the majority of Americans value and cherish this national symbol. But others don’t hold it in high regard. One of the most egregious acts taken against bald eagles came in winter 2023 when a pair of illegal aliens from Guatemala, living in Nebraska, shot and cooked one. The Biden administration was initially dismissive and silent on the issue. Thankfully, one of the assailants was ultimately caught and charged by the Department of Justice. The other, unfortunately, is still at large. Even America’s bird couldn’t evade the consequences of dangerous illegal immigration under the outgoing Biden-Harris administration.
More seriously, our newly-minted national bird is one of a few Endangered Species Act (ESA) success stories. Other species, sadly, haven’t fared as well since the ESA was enacted 50 years ago. Only 3% of listed endangered or threatened species - or 57 of 1,732 listed species - have been successfully recovered and ultimately delisted.
A 2023 Western Caucus Foundation report highlighted where the law has gone awry. Rob Gordon, a leading ESA expert and the report’s author, compares the ESA to hospitals that engage in medical malpractice, writing, “In reality, the endangered species program and inclusion on the List may be likened to a hospital where patients check in but rarely check out. Of the relatively few that do, some are heralded as recovered…Such patients would be no more cured than some of these species have ‘recovered.’ Like doctors engaged in this malpractice, federal officials have repeatedly made claims over decades that are devoid of scientific integrity.”
As a kid living in Southern California, I remember hearing environmentalists claim the eagle’s plight will never improve. Now as an adult in Virginia, I can’t avoid eagle sightings in my neighborhood or in my town. My, how their predictions were wrong!
Even with the eagle’s incredible recovery, the fear mongering still persists. Today, my fellow hunters and anglers are blamed for potentially putting these birds at risk again with continued lead tackle and bullet use, despite us properly removing these items from public lands in accordance with “Leave No Trace” principles.
Nevertheless, the bald eagle isn’t going anywhere. Americans care about its well-being and wants its population to soar to greater heights.
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