Ghia—Let’s talk about Bald Eagles. Do they make a good national symbol or not?

Return Flight: Restoring the Bald Eagle to the Channel Islands https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/nature/bald-eagles.htm

Hooray, GIA here I'm this week's host

of the Creative Spiritual Journey

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podcast, where Judy and I talk about

those things that bring us joy.

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For me, I find joy by connecting

with nature, connecting with Jesus

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Christ and our heavenly parents.

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Seasonal living and all the bits of magic

and wonder I come across while navigating

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this remarkable journey we call life.

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It's the first week of July and

I can't help it, but during this

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time of year, my thoughts are

always dominated by Independence

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Day in the United States right now,

everything is red, white, and blue.

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It's all about watermelon,

sparklers, and family picnics.

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So I wanted to pick a patriotic

theme for this podcast, but I also

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wanted something that connects me

to Jesus Christ through nature.

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Believe it or not, my topic came

to me while I was in South Africa.

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Okay.

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During my time there, I was out

on safaris, spending precious,

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wonderful moments in nature, seeing

all kinds of animals, elephant,

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giraffe, cheetah, warthog, and zebra.

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so with all these animals, you

know what I didn't expect to see?

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In Africa, I saw tons of eagles, fish,

eagles, snake eagles, black eagles,

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hawk eagles, and the list goes on.

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I have to admit, I was so embarrassed.

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I had no idea there were so

many different kinds of eagles.

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I only thought there were two

golden eagles and bald eagles.

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It wasn't until I got home that I

discovered while there are nearly 70

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species of eagles in the world, there

are actually only two in North America.

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So it makes sense.

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Of course, I would've only been

familiar with two types of eagles.

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That made me feel a lot better.

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now as many of you probably know,

the bald eagle is the national

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Bird of the United States.

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Making it a very patriotic symbol.

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Thus, it has become my patriotic as well

as nature related theme for this podcast.

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How the Golden Eagle became our National

Bird is a very interesting story.

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On the 4th of July, 1776, right after the

Declaration of Independence was signed.

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the newly formed US Congress appointed

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and

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Benjamin Franklin to design a national

seal to be used on official documents.

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After much debate, they came up with

a seal featuring Lady Justice with a

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sword and Lady liberty with a scale.

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It was a very complicated design,

which apparently no one liked because

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Congress appointed a new committee.

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But the new committee

didn't do much better.

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In fact, it wasn't until the fourth

committee that a concept was produced

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that anyone liked, it was drawn by William

Barton and featured a Golden Eagle.

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You might wonder why Congress

approved such a fierce looking symbol.

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Historians speculate that it was

because the United States was in

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the middle of a revolution with

England, which makes sense, right?

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Granted, they did try to temper

it by picturing the eagle with

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an olive branch in its talons.

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They also changed the eagle from

the golden eagle, which can be

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found in Europe with the bald eagle,

which only lives in North America.

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If by now you are wondering what the

United States Seal looks like, all

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you have to do is pull out a $1 bill.

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It's there on the back.

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Now you, like me, may have heard

that Benjamin Franklin rallied for

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the Turkey to be the national bird.

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I.

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I always assumed Benjamin Franklin didn't

like the bald eagle because of its fierce

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nature, but this story isn't exactly true.

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Benjamin Franklin never publicly advocated

for the Turkey to be the national bird.

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What he did was write about the

idea in a letter to his daughter.

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apparently the original design that

William Barton produced made the

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eagle look somewhat like a Turkey.

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This prompted Franklin's

thoughts on the subject.

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Listen to this excerpt taken

directly from the original letter.

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I did edit out a couple non-relevant

sentences just to make it more

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readable, but here's the quote,

almost word for word for my part.

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I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen

as the representative of our country.

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He is a bird of bad moral character.

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He does not get his living honestly.

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You may have seen him perched on some dead

tree where too lazy to fish for himself.

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He watches the labor of the fishing

hawk and when that diligent bird has

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that length taken a fish and is bearing

its to its nest for the support of its

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mate and young ones, the bald eagle

pursues him and takes it from him.

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With all this injustice,

he is never in good case.

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Like those among men who live

by sharping and robbing, he is

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generally poor and often very lousy.

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Besides, he is a rank coward.

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The little king bird, not bigger

than a sparrow, attacks him bodily

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and drives him out of the district.

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He is therefore by no means a proper

emblem for the brave and honest America.

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I am on this account, not

displeased, that the figure looks

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more like a Turkey for in truth.

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The Turkey is in comparison, a

much more respectable bird and

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with all a true Native American.

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Eagles have been found in all countries,

but the Turkey is peculiar to ours.

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He is.

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Besides though a little vain and

silly T is true, a bird of courage

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who would not hesitate to attack a

grenadier of the British guards who

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would presume to invade his farm

yard with a red coat on end quote.

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So what do you think?

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Should we have had a Turkey instead

of an eagle for our national bird?

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I must tell you, I watched a video

about the creation of the United

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States National Seal, where they

showed the various renditions of the

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seals that the committees worked on.

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Nothing looked good to me until

they flashed the final image.

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When I saw the eagle, I thought,

yes, that's the best design.

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But am I biased?

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Do I like it because I have been raised

in a country that dominates the world

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and fosters a go get it attitude.

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And I say, go get it.

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Attitude, because I thought it was funny.

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While in South Africa, a safari driver

asked our group if we were ready

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and someone said we were born ready.

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And the driver laughed, noting

that it was such an American thing

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to say, and I think he's right.

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Americans are always ready to

jump in and make things happen.

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This leads me to believe that the

bald eagle is a very appropriate

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symbol for the type of people we are.

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But what about Benjamin

Franklin's arguments?

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Do bald eagles have bad moral character?

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Are they lazy and dishonest?

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Now I have to say that I'm very happy

to learn that Benjamin Franklin was in

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tune with nature enough to notice the

lives and characters of birds like bald

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eagles and turkeys in the first place.

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This is really cool and something

I am glad to know about him.

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But Benjamin Franklin

didn't see the bald eagle.

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I know.

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Let me tell you a different story and

you can decide about the character

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of the bald eagle for yourself.

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Off the coast of California

are a string of islands known

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collectively as the Channel Islands.

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I grew up sailing to these

islands with my family.

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I also studied these islands and the

Native Americans that inhabited them

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as part of my elementary education.

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But it wasn't until I was in my thirties

that I learned about the critical role

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the bald eagle plays in this island

habitat I to take a boat out to Santa

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Cruz Island where I plan to spend

a few nights camping and exploring.

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I had been warned to bring my food

in mouse proof containers, but on

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the first night in camp, I stared

in absolute shock at the number of

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mice that showed up and began running

over and under and inside any place

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they could get, they were everywhere.

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Thankfully, I am not afraid of mice.

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I don't want them running on me, and I

certainly don't want them pooping on me.

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But otherwise, in a Beatrix Potter kind

of way, I have to admit they are cute

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with their little hands and big ears.

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Turns out that in the mid nineties

while I was there, the Channel Islands

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had developed a massive mouse problem.

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There were several reasons for this

first unusual weather patterns created

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years of heavier rain than usual.

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This rain caused an abundance

of grass producing an excellent

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environment for mouse reproduction.

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The second reason for the outbreak was

a decline in natural predators, and here

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is where our story gets interesting.

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There is a variety of fox, which

is native to the channel islands.

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Humans were most likely responsible for

bringing the mainland gray fox to the

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island over 7,000 years ago, where it

adapted and became its own species Like

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most fox, this species is beautiful, but

it is also super cute because it evolved

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to be about the size of a domestic cat.

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Under normal conditions, the fox

would've done a good job at keeping

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the mouse population in check.

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Unfortunately, the Channel Islands Fox was

going extinct, primarily due to predation.

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By the Golden Eagle.

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Hmm.

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The plot thickens.

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Traditionally, the channel Islands

were inhabited by bald eagles.

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Bald eagles.

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Unlike golden eagles, predominantly eat

fish and would have left the fox alone.

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Bald eagles are also extremely territorial

and will fight off any golden eagles

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that venture into their territory.

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Note the bald eagle will allow the

little king bird, which is of no

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consequence to drive it away, but

the real threat it stands up to.

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So the question is, how was it

that the golden eagle ended up

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inhabiting the channel islands

and preying on the island fox?

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Why wasn't the bald eagle

there protecting its territory?

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Here's what happened first, the bald

eagle population was greatly reduced

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by ranchers who brought sheep to

the islands in the mid 19th century.

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But the final devastation occurred when

DDT was produced during World War ii.

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Turns out 25% of the world's DDT

was produced by Montrose Chemical

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Corporation based in California.

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Chemical discharge from the plant

was dumped directly into the ocean.

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This pollution affected all the

marine life in the area, but chemicals

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concentrate as they move up the

food chain the bald eagle as an apex

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predator was devastated by the chemical.

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It didn't kill them outright.

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What it did was weaken their eggs

so that when the eagle couple who

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mate for life, by the way, try

to sit on the eggs, they break.

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by 1980, there were no bald

eagles left in Southern California

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without the bald eagles.

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To keep the golden eagles off the

islands, the natural balance of the

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ecosystem went completely out of whack.

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Now you might say, GIA, wouldn't

the Golden Eagle have kept

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the mice population down.

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And the answer is yes, they would have,

but in an effort to save the island

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Fox, which was going extinct because

of Golden Eagle predation, the National

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Park Service Live trapped all of the

golden eagles and relocated them.

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So while I was there, the golden eagles

were gone and the fox had not yet fully

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recovered leaving the island without any

predators to handle the mouse outbreak.

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I am not going to give you all the

details, but it took 10 years of

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litigation and decades of dedicated

scientists to reestablish the bald

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eagle once again in the Channel Islands.

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It's a fascinating story, so if you

are interested, I will leave a link

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in the show notes to a documentary

that gives all the details,

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but that's my Bald Eagle story.

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While bald eagles, like all apex,

predators, lions, tigers, bears, orcas

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do steal food from smaller animals.

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They are also fiercely territorial.

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And I for one, love

that about bald eagles.

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And I love this example because it shows

that without bald eagles, an ecosystem

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can become completely devastated.

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Eagles play an intricate role in

God's creations here on Earth,

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So you can make up your own

mind, but for me, the Bald Eagle

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is a wonderful national symbol.

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Judy and I know your time is precious

and that you have many choices.

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We love that you have chosen to

walk with us for a few minutes as

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we navigate this journey of life.

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If you like this podcast, will you take

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Your efforts will help this podcast

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us the motivation to keep going.

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Thank you in advance for your help.

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Let me close with this

scripture from Isaiah 40.

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They that wait upon the Lord

shall renew their strength.

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They shall mount up with wings as eagles.

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They shall run and not be weary,

and they shall walk and not faint.

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I want Eagle Wings, don't you?

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Until next time.

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Namaste.