American Eagle Day at Radnor Lake

From 8am-11am this morning, over 200 visitors attended our 4th Annual American Eagle Day at the Barbara J. Mapp Aviary Education Center.

Each year on June 20th, National American Eagle Day honors our national symbol, raising awareness for protecting the Bald Eagle. The day also encourages the recovery of their natural environments while providing educational outreach. The Bald Eagle is both the national bird and the national animal of The United States of America and appears on its Seal.

In the latter 20th century, the Bald Eagle hovered on the brink of extinction in the continental United States. Eventually, populations recovered and on July 12, 1995, the species was removed from the U.S. Federal Government’s List of Endangered Species and transferred to the List of Threatened Species. In June of 2007, as the species continued to thrive, the American Eagle was withdrawn from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in the Lower 48 States.

This holiday was first established by a proclamation made by U.S President Bill Clinton in 1995. But that was only the beginning of the start of this holiday. After his proclamation, 41 U.S States have made this holiday an official observance. It was made an official holiday in 2007 when the United States Senate passed resolutions to make June 20th the day for the official observance of this holiday.

Over the past 4 years, Radnor Lake has held special programming opportunities for our visitors in celebration of American Eagle Day at the Barbara J. Mapp Aviary Education Center to view our captive eagles (injured and cannot survive in the wild) under our care.

In celebration of American Eagle Day, State Park Rangers at Radnor Lake conducted interpretive spotting scope programs for hundreds of visitors from 7am-11am at the Lake Trail observation deck. There will be another spotting scope program opportunity tonight from 6pm-7pm at the Lake Trail Observation Deck.