The Bald Eagle Just Became America’s National Bird. What Took So Long?

The bald eagle is featured on American military insignia, currency, stamps and even the helmets of an NFL team. However, the government has never officially recognized it as the United States’ national bird—until now.

On Christmas Eve, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law making the designation official.

“Bald eagles are a historical symbol of the United States representing independence, strength and freedom,” says the new legislation, which Minnesota’s Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Brad Finstad introduced over the summer, per the New York Times’ Sara Ruberg.

For more than 200 years, the bald eagle has been featured on the country’s Great Seal, which shows the bird carrying an olive branch and arrows in its talons. Charles Thomson, the secretary of Congress, proposed the design in 1782, though it received some pushback: Benjamin Franklin once called the creature a “bird of bad moral character,” according to the Franklin Institute.

The U.S.’s national tree is the oak, and its national flower is the rose. The national mammal has been the bison since 2016, and all 50 states have a state bird. But until this month, there was no national bird on the books.

Preston Cook, an avid collector of bald eagle memorabilia, brought the issue to Congress’ attention after realizing that the bird didn’t have official recognition. Scott Mehus, the education director at Minnesota’s National Eagle Center (which houses Cook’s collection), says he was shocked when he learned of the oversight.

“Preston Cook brought that up to us years ago, and it was like, ‘Oh, come on, you’re kidding me,’” he tells NBC News’ Frank Thorp V and Ryan Nobles. “I’ve been talking in classes all of these years, telling [people] it’s our nation’s symbol and our national bird.”

The Senate passed the bill with bipartisan support in July. When it passed in the House of Representatives earlier this month, Finstad said in a statement: “Today, we rightfully recognize the bald eagle as our official national bird—bestowing an honor that is long overdue.”

Bald eagles are native to North America. Bird watchers can spot them in most states, and Alaska is home to the largest eagle population. They were once considered endangered, but their numbers have recovered thanks to government protections.

Since 1940, it’s been illegal to kill, sell, own bald eagles or harm their nests and eggs. In 1972, the government banned the pesticide DDT, which had caused their numbers to dwindle. The eagle population grew in the years that followed, and the birds were removed from the government’s endangered species list in 2007.

By 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that 316,700 bald eagles soared across the contiguous United States—four times their numbers from a decade earlier.

Still, there’s always more to be done. The new bill’s passage “comes as bald eagles are contending with mounting risks,” including climate change and habitat loss, as Jack E. Davis, author of The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird, writes in Audubon magazine.

Ed Hahn, the communications director at the National Eagle Center, hopes the new designation can also serve as a reminder of the conservation efforts that helped the eagle population thrive.

“When we look at some of the issues that are facing other natural resources today, we can look again at our living national symbol and now our official national bird,” he tells MPR News’ Estelle Timar-Wilcox. “It shows what we are able and willing to do when we truly value something, when it’s important to us.”

Julia Binswanger | READ MORE

Julia Binswanger is a freelance arts and culture reporter based in Chicago. Her work has been featured in WBEZ, Chicago magazine, Rebellious magazine and PC magazine.