Oh, how I wish I could fly like a bald eagle.
To soar as high as 10,000 feet and survey Earth. I would be a symbol of strength and courage.
Or, how I wish I could be a Siberian tiger or a snow leopard or a panda. This week, you will learn about the American bald eagle, which, by the way, is not bald.
The year was 1782 when the bald eagle was placed on the Great Seal of the United States. Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed, July 4, 1776. The Continental Congress gave Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams the job of designing an official seal for the new Nation.
Bald eagles live only in North America. They represent strength and dignity. Eagles may live 20 to 30 years in the wild. The oldest eagle recorded was 38 years old. It was hit and killed by a car in New York in 2015. It had been banned in New York state in 1977.
The National Wildlife Refuge System protects the 150 Million acres where eagles live from the Caribbean to the Pacific, plus more than 418 Million acres of marine monuments. There are significant eagle populations in the Great Lakes states, Florida, the Pacific Northwest, the Greater Yellowstone area, and the Chesapeake Bay region.
The eagle is a national symbol of America. This majestic animal, seen soaring in the high sky, displays august plumage. Our spirits rise when we see one in person, possibly nesting close to Mooseheart near Batavia, or, gliding across the Fox River near Montgomery. Or, the injured one housed at the Phillips Park Zoo in Aurora.
The bald eagle is a scavenger. Around the village of Unalaska and the nearby Dutch Harbor, which is the largest fishing port in the United States, the eagles can be seen hanging around the fishing boats. They go to where the fishermen clean their nets. And when they find the leftovers, they dine. Eagles eat trash and stolen food. An eagle may weigh 14 pounds with a wingspan of eight feet.
They do not mate until four-to-five years of age, and some begin much older. Bald eagles are loyal to their mates.
When, and only when, its companion dies, will they search for a new mate. The eagle builds huge nests known as aeries at the tops of tall and strong trees. The eagle uses weeds, grasses, soft mosses and feathers to make their nests.
Once in danger of extinction, bald eagles were removed from the endangered species list in 2007. Their range extends across most of North America. In the 1780s they numbered around 60,000, but by 1963 only 800 eagles remained. Congress passed a law making it illegal to capture, or kill a bald eagle.
Soar, on this old December morning, high and free, bird of power and might.