The bald eagle is a symbol of America. It is on coins and bills, adorns the Great Seal and inspires conservation efforts that brought the species back from the brink of extinctionAlthough it was first used as a national symbol more than 240 years ago, Congress never made it official.
he changed earlier this yearAnd on Christmas Eve, President Biden signed Law declaring the bald eagle as the official national bird.
“For nearly 250 years, we called the bald eagle the national bird, when it was not,” Jack Davis, co-chair of the National Eagle Center's National Bird Initiative, said in a release. “But now the title is official, and no bird is more deserving.”
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it's been a long road Haliaeetus leucocephalusThe scientific name of the bald eagle, known for its striking white head and yellow bill atop its brown body. Native to the Americas, populations of the bird – which eat fish and meat, but are also known to hunt livestock, according to Fish and Wildlife Service – Declined first due to habitat loss and hunting.
But it was the introduction of the pesticide DDT that contributed to the birds' near extinction in the 20th century. When birds ate fish exposed to the chemical, they laid eggs with weaker shells. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, those eggs did not survive past incubation and by 1963 their population declined to just 417 pairs.
America DDT was banned in 1972 And, a few years later, the bald eagle was declared endangered. Over the next few decades, the bald eagle population recoveredBy 2007, there were approximately 10,000 nesting pairs in the US and the bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list.
The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the number of bald eagles in recent years to be in the hundreds of thousands. In recent years, bald eagles have mesmerized Bird watchers in downtown New York CityAnd eagles have popped up on cam National Arboretum in Washington, DCBut US Steel in Pennsylvania And in Big Bear Valley, California,
Legislation Designating the bald eagle as the US national bird Led by Minnesota legislatorsWhose home is the state? Senator Amy Klobuchar described Home to one of the largest bald eagle populations in the country.