The Bald Eagle Isn’t Officially the U.S. National Bird. But It Could Be Soon

It's on our passports and our dollar bills, but the Bald Eagle has never officially been designated the U.S. national bird. But thanks to a bipartisan effort, that "historical oversight" may change this year.

From the Autumn 2024 issue of Living Bird magazine. Subscribe now.

It’s a general axiom that Congress doesn’t pass much legislation in an election year, and that’s especially true in today’s polarized times. But lawmakers are getting behind one bill with unmistakable bipartisan appeal: designating the Bald Eagle as America’s national bird.

The proposed congressional act would officially recognize an eagle that already graces the Great Seal of the United States, clutching an olive branch in one talon and arrows in the other (an old-school version of “peace through strength”). Most Americans, understandably, probably think the Bald Eagle is already the national bird.

But neither Congress nor any of the 45 presidents have ever extended that honor to Haliaeetus leucocephalus.

“The bill is significant because it cor­rects a historical oversight, underscores the Bald Eagle’s cultural and symbolic importance to the American people, and highlights a major conservation success story,” says Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. She sponsored the Bald Eagle bill with fellow Minnesota Dem­ocrat Sen. Tina Smith as well as two Republicans—Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.

“There is nothing more American than a Bald Eagle soaring across the Wyoming sky,” said Sen. Lummis in a statement when the bill was introduced. “These majestic creatures have long been viewed as the official bird of this country and it is past time we made it official without costing taxpayers a single cent.”

The bill is the brainchild of Preston Cook, author of the 2019 book American Eagle: A Visual History of Our National Emblem. Cook, a former San Francisco real estate developer, is an avid collec­tor of eagle memorabilia—including books, photos, stamps, even Bald Eagle jewelry. He started his collection with a pair of brass buttons stamped with an eagle from his U.S. Army uniform in the 1960s; when he was discharged, he had the eagle buttons sewn into his blazer, and he’s added them to successive gen­erations of blazers since then.

Over the years his Bald Eagle collec­tion grew into more than 40,000 arti­facts. So big he decided his collection needed a new home.

“I got tired of being called a hoarder and I thought I should be called a donor instead,” Cook says.

He wanted to move his collection to a part of the country with a special connection to the Bald Eagle. Then he visited the small town of Wabasha, Min­nesota, on the banks of the Mississippi River—which serves as a major flyway for migratory eagles. Wabasha bills itself the “Eagle Capital of America,” hosts a winter eagle-watching festival, and is home of the National Eagle Center, about 85 miles southeast of Minneapolis.

“I liked the town. I liked the location. I liked what the eagle center was doing,” Cook says. “Wabasha was a perfect destination.”

The Preston Cook American Eagle Collection opened to the public in Wabasha in 2022, in an exhibit high­lighting the eagle in American culture. Soon thereafter, Cook and his wife Donna moved from San Francisco to the small Minnesota town as well. That’s when Cook started research for his mammoth coffee-table book. As he tried to dig up the origin story of the Bald Eagle as America’s official bird, he came up empty.

“I could not find any congressional action or presidential proclamation that it is our national bird,” Cook recalls. So he reached out to the late California Sen. Dianne Feinstein to get some clar­ification. Feinstein, in turn, contacted the National Archives.

She wrote back in September 2011, noting that the founding fathers adopted the official seal of the United States fea­turing the Bald Eagle during the Second Continental Congress in 1782. But “no legislation has been passed to designate the American Bald Eagle as our official ‘national bird,’” she wrote.

In other words, Cook realized, “We don’t have a national bird. We’ve never had a designation of a national bird.” He noted that the United States has a national flower (the rose), a national tree (the oak), even a national mammal (the bison, after President Barack Obama signed a law designating it so in 2016).

In 2023 Cook became cochair of the eagle center’s National Bird Initiative, with a goal to add the Bald Eagle to its rightful perch.

“I wrote a very simple piece of legislation that the eagle would be our national bird,” Cook says. He presented the draft to his local congressman, Republican Brad Finstad of Minnesota’s First Congressional District, and to Sen. Klobuchar.

According to Cook, the Bald Eagle deserves official national bird status because it has many characteristics in common with Americans.

“It’s freedom and power,” he says. “It’s independence and … it’s a family bird. They mate for life. It means all of those things.”

Sen. Klobuchar agreed and promptly picked up the legislation for introduc­tion into the Senate.

“The Bald Eagle has been a core part of our state’s wildlife,” Sen. Klobuchar said, noting the high population of breeding eagles in Minnesota. “The National Eagle Center has done great conservation work to ensure this majes­tic animal continues to thrive.”

As of mid-August 2024, Rep. Finstad’s bill in the House had a dozen cosponsors, including both Republicans and Demo­crats.

“Since the founding of our nation, the Bald Eagle has existed as a sym­bol of our country’s independence, strength, and freedom,” Finstad said in a statement when he introduced the bill. “I am proud to introduce this legislation which will officially classify the Bald Eagle as the national bird—its proper place of honor as an integral part of our national identity.”

It took barely a month for the Senate bill to win passage, which is light-speed for Congress these days. Sen. Klobuchar says she isn’t surprised.

“The Bald Eagle holds a special place in the hearts of all Americans,” she says.

Now the House bill has gained the support of every member of the Min­nesota delegation, as well as additional cosponsors from Washington, Wiscon­sin, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Kentucky. The Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes, which represents roughly three dozen sovereign Tribal nations in Min­nesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan, has helped line up support from sena­tors and representatives with significant Indigenous populations.

Eagle bill supporters hope the House will speedily pass the legislation by this fall, with a presidential signature before the end of the current term. The best case for nationalizing the Bald Eagle may have been stated five years ago, in the opening pages of Preston Cook’s book.

“The Bald Eagle’s impressive stature and natural nobility are compatible with the notion of independence that contin­ues to be a part of American identity,” Cook wrote, “and which the eagle still eloquently represents after more than 200 years.”