America's (Almost) First Bird

In choosing a bird as a symbol for the USA, Benjamin Franklin preferred the Turkey, complaining that the Bald Eagle: "...is a bird of bad moral character; he does not get his living honestly. You may have seen him perched in some dead tree where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing hawk and, when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish and is bearing it to his nest for his young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes the fish. With all this injustice, he is never in good case." (National Wildlife Federation).

You never hear anyone saying "Don't let the eagles get you down". From the beginning, turkeys have been the Rodney Dangerfield's of the bird world, and "don't get no respect".