The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) was adopted as the national bird of the United States of America in 1782. The founding fathers of the United States were enamoured with the Roman Republic’s unique form of government which, they believed, had preserved liberty for thousands of years. Eagle, usually the golden eagle, imagery was strong in Rome representing the military and political power of the Empire as well as the divine power of Christ, so it’s no surprise that an eagle was chosen to symbolise the new Republic.
The bald is a sea eagle, the only sea eagle endemic to the United States, and the largest true raptor in North America. Only the California Condor and American White Pelicans are larger.
Female bald eagles weigh up to 5.6 kg while the smaller male has an average weight of about 4.1 kg. They measure up to a metre in length and have a wingspan of anything between 1.8 and 2.5 m.
It can be found across most of Canada and Alaska, all of the United States except Hawaii, and Northern Mexico. Birds that reside the furthest away from the equator are the largest in line with Bergmann’s rule.
During breeding season, bald eagles live in wetland habitats including coastal areas, rivers, large lakes, and marshes, with large coniferous and hardwood trees surrounding the water for perching, roosting, and nesting.
It builds the largest nest of any bird in North America with new material added each year until it measures up to 4 m deep and 2.5 m across, and weighs up to 1 metric ton. Nests are reused for about 5 years until they collapse from their weight although one nest in the Midwest was found to have been occupied continuously for 34 years.
They lay between 1 and 3 eggs, but it is rare for all the chicks to survive with the oldest sibling occasionally attacking and killing its younger sibling or siblings. Young eaglets can gain up to 170 g a day in weight which is the fastest growth of any North American bird. They leave the nest at about 10 weeks but will stay with their parents for a further 6 weeks.
Bald eagles are partially migratory and in winter many will move south in search of food, although some will occupy a territory all year round. It is an opportunistic feeder with fish comprising more than half of its diet. They will also take birds and mammals, as well as reptiles, amphibians, and crustaceans. More than 400 species are known to be included in their diet including trout, salmon, catfish, grebes, ducks, herons, egrets, rabbits, turtles, and snakes.
To hunt fish, the bald eagle swoops low over water snatching the fish from beneath the surface with its talons. It eats by holding the fish in one claw and tearing the fish with the other, using ridged barbs on the pads of their toes to help them grasp the fish. Bald eagles have incredibly powerful talons and have been observed carrying a 6.8 kg mule deer, the heaviest verified load for any flying bird.
In the wild bald eagles live for about 20 years with the oldest confirmed specimen reaching 38 years. In captivity they can live up to 50 years.
The bald eagle is an important bird in Native American culture. Its feathers are used in various religious and spiritual customs, and the birds are considered messengers between gods and humans in some tribes. Pow wow dancers use the claws as part of their regalia and feathers form part of fans, and headdresses.
Today, the bald eagle is protected under the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 which prohibits the taking, possession, and commerce of the birds except under certain conditions, and only people with certifiable Native American heritage enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are allowed to possess bald eagle feathers. Some Native American groups have questioned whether this law is constitutional as it violates the First Amendment which prevents the government making laws that prohibit the free practice of religion.
It is was the bald eagle’s strength, courage, freedom, and longevity, as well as the fact that it was indigenous to North America, that made it the perfect candidate to represent the newly formed United States.
On the 4th July 1776, the day that independence was declared from Great Britain, a committee was formed, consisting of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, to design a national emblem, called the Great Seal, for the country.
It took 6 years, and 2 more committees, before the final design was agreed, with a bald eagle with outspread wings forming the centre of the obverse of the Seal. It is depicted holding a bundle of 13 arrows in its left claw and an olive branch, usually with 13 leaves and 13 olives, in its right. The eagle’s head is turned towards the olive branch to symbolize the United States’ preference for peace, although it is always ready for war, while the recurring number 13 represents the 13 original states.
The seal is used to authenticate documents issued by the United State government and the design is also used on many official documents including passports, military insignia, license plates, embassy plaques and letterheads, and flags.
During the 20th century the population of bald eagles plummeted to fewer than 500 nesting pairs in the 48 contiguous states due to hunting, poisoning, and the use of DDT in pesticides.
In 1961 President John F. Kennedy wrote to the Audubon Society expressing his concerns about the disappearance of the national bird:
The Founding Fathers made an appropriate choice when they selected the bald eagle as the emblem of the nation. The fierce beauty and proud independence of this great bird aptly symbolizes the strength and freedom of America. But as latter-day citizens we shall fail our trust if we permit the eagle to disappear.
With the banning of DDT and the regulations provided by the Bald Eagle Protection Act, numbers have recovered, and it was removed from the U.S. government’s list of endangered species in 1995. It’s now thought that the total North American population is over 100,000 individuals with at least 10,000 breeding pairs in the United States.
It is often said that Benjamin Franklin opposed the choice of bald eagle as the national symbol of the United States in favour of the wild turkey.
In a letter sent to his daughter, Sarah Bache, in January 1784 Franklin wrote:
Others object to the bald eagle, as looking too much like a Dindon or turkey. For my own part I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly.
You may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labour of the fishing hawk; and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him, and takes it from him.
With all this injustice, he is never in good case, but like those among men who live by sharping and robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank coward: the little king bird not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district.
He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America, who have driven all the king birds from our country, though exactly fit for that order of knights which the French call Chevaliers d’Industrie.
I am on this account not displeased that the figure is not known as a bald eagle, but looks more like a turkey. For in truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America.
Eagles have been found in all countries, but the turkey was peculiar to ours, the first of the species seen in Europe being brought to France by the Jesuits from Canada, and served up at the wedding table of Charles the ninth. He is besides, (though a little vain and silly tis true, but not the worse emblem for that) a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on.
Parts of this letter have been taken out of context for decades and used as evidence that Franklin argued for the turkey instead of the bald eagle to be the United States’ national bird.
But the letter had nothing to do with the Great Seal. He was, in fact, writing about the badge of The Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal, hereditary, military club founded by a group of former officers of the Continental Army.
Franklin, along with other prominent statesmen opposed the club, as he believed the society was attempting to re-establish hereditary nobility in the new republic. He was blowing off steam in his letter sarcastically joking that a turkey, instead of an eagle, would have made a much better emblem for the club instead.
