Why Ben Franklin wasn't a fan of the bald eagle

Let's start with the basics: bald eagles eat fish which they catch with their feet.

As sharp as their talons might be, they can't auger holes in ice. So, in the winter they hunt for fish by open water.

Since moving water is slower to freeze, eagles are drawn to rivers in the colder months. If the winter temperatures are mild, they have many choices for fishing spots. If the winter is bitter cold, they will be crowded at the churning waters found below dams or along rapids.

This is why you will hear about winter excursions planned to observe bald eagles. For example, they can be found near dams along the Mississippi, Illinois, or Fox rivers. Watching bald eagles in the U.S. is an activity that goes back to the days of our Founding Fathers.

Benjamin Franklin and Stillman

That Ben Franklin wanted the turkey rather than the bald eagle as our national symbol has become the stuff of legend. Why did he feel this way?

The explanation can be found in a 1784 letter he wrote from France to his daughter Sally in Philadelphia. An excerpt from the letter follows:

“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk (osprey); and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.”

Now, flash forward to the summer of 2016. Peter Schwarz, a hardworking Stillman Nature Center volunteer, was coming down our service drive. He looks up and what does he see perched up in a large silver maple by our pond? An osprey picking at a fish held under its talons. We've seen osprey many times here before but this was a close and convenient sighting.

So, Pete looks for his new camera in the car and gets it pointed at the branch — just in time to snap a couple shots of a bald eagle bullying the osprey off its perch.

First, seeing this raptor interaction in Northwest Cook County is a testimonial to the success of the Endangered Species Act. You see, both of these birds of prey were once endangered in Illinois. When I was a boy growing up not far from here, getting this close a look at an eagle or osprey would have been something to do on a summer vacation, not something you could do nearby.

Second, Benjamin Franklin was right. Here in suburban Chicago, the bald eagle remains “a bird of bad moral character.”

Of course, wild predators and prey are focused more on survival than ethics. As paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote, “Nature is what she is — amoral and persistent.”

• Mark Spreyer is executive director of the Stillman Nature Center in Barrington. Send your questions and comments to him at stillnc@wildblue.net.