There’s an eagle in your life and you have a current opportunity to get better-acquainted with it.
We refer to the American bald eagle and the bicentennial of its selection as national bird by the Continental Congress June 20 1782.
This being the 200th anniversary, it’s appropriate that Congress and the President have designated the 20th of June 1982 as “National Bald Eagle Day” and the new year as the “‘Bicentennial Year of the Bald Eagle.”
Unlike some other U.S. Symbols, the national bird has a very active role in American tradition and heraldry. For example, it’s the key figure on the obverse (front) of the Great Seal of the United States.
The Great Seal of course, is the official government impression affixed to certain classes of documents including foreign treaties presidential proclamations, and commissions installing cabinet and other high executives.
If your mental image of the seal is hazy take a dollar bill from your wallet. On the reverse side from the one with George Washington’s portrait you’ll find replicas of the seals two sides.
The American eagle wears a breast shield having 13 stripes. Above the eagle’s head are 13 stars. Symbolic of America’s fight for independence and preparedness are 13 arrows in the eagle’s left talon. The hope for peace is depicted by the olive branch in the right talon. And the scroll held in the eagle’s beak proclaims the union of states – E Pluribus Unum meaning “out of many, one.”
The eagle appears elsewhere in a variety of postures – on coins, military insignia, government publications programs for patriotic observances, etc.
How did the bald eagle happen to be chosen as the national bird?
“Since the beginning of recorded history, it has served as a symbol of power, freedom, and immortality,” said Rep. Edwin B. Forsythe New Jersey congressman during congressional discussions on the bicentennial year.
Alaska Congressman Don Young told Congress earlier: “To see the bird in its natural habitat would make any of us proud to be affiliated with this great creature. Its beauty and grace are a fitting representation of our country.”
Benjamin Franklin, Revolutionary era statesman, saw it differently ”I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen,” he wrote Feb. 26, 1784 in a letter to Sarah Bache.
“He is a bird of bad moral character. Like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor and often very lousy. A turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America.”
Nevertheless, as one source book puts it, “majestic appearance and power of flight won the eagle the title of ‘king of the birds.’ ”
On two species of eagles are found in the U.S. and Canada, the bald eagle and the golden eagle, says Compton Encyclopedia. “The more common bald eagle is an American bird it is unknown in the Old World.”
Congress adopted the Bald Eagle Protection Act in 1940 and the bird has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
How many bald eagles are there? A UPI news account Dec. 17 1981 said that as of the previous January, 13,619 bald eagles were counted in the continental United States.
The “Bicentennial year of the Bald Eagle” should be a time to study, understand and respect the national bird, particularly as it symbolizes America.
Maybe some poet, admiring what britannica calls “perhaps the noblest creature that flies,” will pen a poem to the 200-year reign of the eagle. And why not?