How Bald Eagles became the U.S.’ national bird
Happy 4th of July to my American readers!
I hope everyone is having a great 4th of July, regardless of if you celebrate it or not.
Personally, I don’t (I don’t really celebrate my own country’s National Day that much either, as I am not a fan of huge crowds or loud fireworks…) but I thought it would be fun to do an article on the one bird almost everyone associates with the United States of America: the Bald Eagle!
Get ready for a thrilling tale of how the Bald Eagle became the U.S.' national bird!
(Okay, I lied, it’s actually quite a boring story. It’s not like people duelled to the death to make this bird the national bird lol)
It all started back in 1782 when the Founding Fathers were tasked with designing the official seal for the newly independent United States.
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams gave it their best shot, but their designs didn't quite make the cut with Congress. By the way, I TOTALLY know the names of these Founding Fathers, because I am a big fan of Hamilton the musical!! :P
Anyway, back to history.
Along came Charles Thomson, the secretary of Congress, who took the best elements from the previous designs and made the majestic Bald Eagle the star of the show. This powerful bird, a symbol of strength and resilience since ancient times, replaced a smaller white eagle in the design and was officially adopted on June 20, 1782.
And just like that, the Bald Eagle became a proud American icon!
However, apparently, Benjamin Franklin was a #hater and did not love the Bald Eagle as the national bird. (I also know who Ben Franklin is because I watch a lot of TV and see $100 bills whenever someone is balling out!)
Apparently, Ben Franklin wrote to his daughter and criticised the original eagle design for the Great Seal. He wrote that the “Bald Eagle...is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly…[he] is too lazy to fish for himself.” (This is because the Bald Eagle is known to steal food from other birds from time to time!)
Bald Eagles are among the most flexible and opportunistic foragers Bald Eagles mostly eat fish, and can be found along habitats with large concentrations of fish, waterfowl, and small mammals.
Fish usually makes up around a quarter to half of the bird’s diet. They also scavenge for carrion (aka dead things) and, when the opportunity arises, will even steal food from other animals for a quick and easy catch!
They can switch their diets to mostly fish, mostly waterfowl and small mammals, or both depending on the availability of these food items.
Bald eagles can be kleptoparasitic!
Kleptoparasitic comes from the word Kleptomaniac, which means having an impulse to steal. While eagles do not have the urge to steal food from other birds, they supplement their food intake with food procured by other birds.
While scanning their surrounding from tall perches, eagles also watch for what other birds are doing. If a gull catches a fish or other type of food, a bald eagle is likely to chase the gull until it lets go of its food to let the eagle have it.
Bald eagles also chase eagles of lower hierarchies, e.g., juvenile birds, to take their catch! A thief, AND A BULLY!!
So this was what Ben Franklin meant when he said “Bald Eagle...is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly…[he] is too lazy to fish for himself.”
Anyway, the Bald Eagle’s story doesn't end there!
Despite its significance as a national symbol, the Bald Eagle faced a real-life threat of extinction.
In the late 1800s, there were 100,000 nesting bald eagles in the country, but their numbers rapidly declined due to habitat destruction and hunting. In 1940, Congress stepped in and passed the Bald Eagle Protection Act, making it illegal to harm these magnificent birds.
But that's not all! A new danger emerged in the form of DDT, a pesticide widely used after World War II. Bald Eagles were eating prey contaminated with this toxic chemical, which further threatened their survival - gosh darn it!
By the 1960s, there were only around 400 breeding pairs of Bald Eagles left in the continental U.S., and in 1978, they were listed as an endangered species.
Thankfully, with the help of federal protections and regulations regarding DDT, the Bald Eagle population started to recover. In 1995, their status was changed from endangered to threatened, and in 2007, they were finally removed from the list altogether!
Today, the Bald Eagle soars high as a true symbol of America's strength and conservation success! This ‘comeback’ example can also be seen in China’s panda diplomacy / breeding efforts.
(By the way, many other birds of prey also suffered at the hands of DDT, and also made a comeback after the pesticide was regulated. I am really very happy that the pesticide was dealt with as quickly as possible!)
Ok, last fun fact! Bald Eagles aren’t actually bald. So how did they get their name?
Their Latin name “Haliaeetus leucocephalus” means “white-headed sea eagle”, referencing its genus classification. The simple name could have been White-headed Fish Eagle (in fact in Singapore we have a bird called the Grey-headed Fish Eagle)!
But in the past, the Bald Eagle was referred to with an old English world ‘balde’, which means ‘white’.
That’s all for today! Have a good day, for anyone celebrating. And for those who don’t… have a good day anyway!