Eagles

Vikings Fan Introduces Bill to Make the Bald Eagle America’s National Bird

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Dec 19th, 2024 · 11:07 AM EST

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If this isn’t a sign that the Eagles are going to the Super Bowl:

My bipartisan legislation to recognize the Bald Eagle as our national bird just passed Congress and is now headed to the President’s desk to be signed into law! 🦅

— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) December 17, 2024

Thank you, Senator. You know what to do, Mr. President.

Confession: I thought the bald eagle already was our national bird. Apparently not. NPR explains that a guy from Minny named Preston Cook, who is a bird enthusiast, is the catalyst for this:

Around 2010, while doing research for a book about the birds, (Preston) Cook realized he could not find “anything whatsoever that the bald eagle had ever been legislatively designated as our national bird nor any presidential proclamation,” as he told NPR’s All Things Considered this week.

Alarmed, Cook wrote a letter to the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. She sent staffers to the National Archives, who did more research and ultimately confirmed his hunch.

The U.S. recognizes the rose as its national flower, the oak as its national tree and the bison as its national mammal. But nowhere does it legally establish a national bird.

Cook took it upon himself to change that. After years of lobbying lawmakers, he joined forces with the National Eagle Center last year to write what he calls “a very simple bill.” But getting lawmakers on board wasn’t easy, in part because so many figured bald eagles already held the distinction.

Sources say the next bipartisan piece of legislation involves changing the Vikings’ “Skol” chant. It will now be known as the “Foles” chant. Foles.. (clap) Foles.. (clap) Foles.. (clap) FOLES (clap) FOLES (clap) FOLES! (clap) Go Birds.