“Longipteryx is one of my favorite fossil birds, because it’s just so weird—it has this long skull, and teeth only at the tip of its beak,” Jingmai O’Connor, a study co-author and the ...

yellow beak and brown body — as the national bird. The bald eagle has appeared on the Great Seal of the United States, which is used in official documents, since 1782, when the design was finalized.

and no bird is more deserving." It's been a long road for Haliaeetus leucocephalus, the bald eagle's scientific name, known for its striking white head and yellow beak atop its brown body.