Senate finally names bald eagle the official national bird, 242 years after it became a symbol of America
Better late than feather.
The Senate has passed a bill officially designating the bald eagle as America’s national bird, a long overdue recognition after more than 200 years of symbolizing the country.
The bill, sponsored by Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, passed unanimously, clearing the way for the raptor to take its rightful place as a formal symbol of national pride.
“For more than 240 years, the bald eagle has been synonymous with American values, yet it is still not officially our national bird,” Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), one of the bill’s cosponsors, said in a press release after the bill passed.
“Today’s bipartisan passage brings us one step closer to solidifying the eagle’s place as an enduring symbol of our freedom, and I look forward to seeing this legislation pass the House and signed into law soon.”
The push to crown the bird was spearheaded by Preston Cook and Jack E. Davis, two educators and authors specializing in the history of the bald eagle.
The two focused on finding lawmakers from states with some of the largest populations of bald eagles – like Klobuchar’s Minnesota, which boasts the nation’s second-highest concentration of the bird, only behind Alaska.
America wasn’t the first to use the eagle as a national symbol, with other examples dating back to Roman times. The bird frequently appears on the fallen empire’s memorabilia, including its infamous ‘SPQR’ governmental seal.
However, the Founding Fathers specifically chose the bald eagle because it’s native to America. Some have since migrated a little further beyond the borders, but the bird by and large lives and breeds in the United States, with some lone fliers scattered throughout Canada and Mexico, according to the National Park Services.
When the bald eagle was included on the seal for the nearly independent United States in 1782, its place as one of the nation’s most iconic symbols was solidified – but it was never formally ratified as the official bird.
It wasn’t even the first animal considered for inclusion – it replaced a plain, white eagle originally slated to appear on the seal, according to the National Museum of American Diplomacy.
Three separate committees tried and failed to create the nation’s seal before handing off their work to Charles Thomson, then the Secretary of Congress. Thomson created an amalgamation of all three committees’ work, which the Continental Congress adopted in June 1782, enshrining it as the Great Seal of the United States.
But at that time, in the wake of the American Revolution, the founders had bigger matters to focus on, like managing a newly independent nation. So, the eagle chatter was shelved, and the legality surrounding its status faded into obscurity.
As bald eagle sightings became more and more elusive during the 20th century, intrigue for the majestic bird only grew. They were hunted in excess due to their prestige as a national symbol. In 1940, the Bald Eagle Protection Act banned the killing or selling of them, which helped stabilize their population.
After World War II, however, many American farms began to use dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane — better known as DDT — to ward off invading insects. Runoff of the chemical in nearby bodies of water decimated the local fish populations, which were the bald eagle’s primary food source.
Bald eagles who chowed down on these poisoned fish didn’t die, but most became sterile. A small number could still reproduce, but their eggs were too weak and often crushed when the birds tried to nest, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
The birds were added to the endangered species list in 1978, six years after DDT was banned.
Through conservation efforts, breeding programs and strict enforcement of the protection act from 1940, they eventually were removed from the list in 2007 and continue to thrive today.
The House is expected to follow suit and pass the bill.
