The Bald Eagle has Landed!

On December 24, 2024, President Biden signed legislation passed by Congress officially designating the Bald Eagle as our country’s national bird.

While the Great Seal of the United States was created in 1782 and featured a Bald Eagle – it was never officially designated as our national bird. The omission was discovered 15 years ago by Preston Cook, the country’s preeminent Bald Eagle advocate and curator (who recently donated his 40,000+ collection of eagle paraphernalia to the National Eagle Center). Since then he’s made it his mission to give the bald eagle the prominence it deserves.

Thanks to the tireless effort of Cook and The National Eagle Center, in collaboration with a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators and House Representatives, the bill to designate the Bald Eagle as the country’s official national bird finally advanced to the President’s desk where he signed it.

“This is an exciting day. The Bald Eagle has symbolized American ideals since its placement on the Great Seal in 1782,” said Preston Cook, Co-Chair of the National Bird Initiative for the National Eagle Center, and author of American Eagle – A Visual History of Our National Emblem. “By signing this bill into law, we honor its historic role and solidify its place as our national bird and an emblem of our national identity.”

U.S. Representative Brad Finstad (R-MN) led the effort in the House with support from Angie Craig (D-MN).  U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) spearheaded the effort in the Senate, which passed last July.  The Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes, representing 36 Indigenous nations and four tribal organizations, also supported the effort.

“For nearly 250 years, we called the Bald Eagle the national bird when it wasn’t,” said Jack Davis, Co-Chair of the National Bird Initiative for the National Eagle Center, and author of The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird. “But now the title is official, and no bird is more deserving. “