Stephen Colbert's Bald Eagle

Watch Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, and you'll see a Bald Eagle streak across the screen, screaming, talons outstretched, ferocious, majestic. But - in the spirit of truthiness - we must declare that the bird you hear is not a Bald Eagle, but a Red-tailed Hawk. Be sure to read the story about Stephen, Jr. - a real Bald Eagle named after Stephen Colbert.

BirdNote^®

Stephen Colbert’s Bald Eagle

Written by Ellen Blackstone

This is BirdNote!

[Opening music from The Colbert Report, with Red-tailed Hawk screaming, from opening credits]

Anyone familiar with Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central will recognize this signature sound.

[Red-tailed Hawk screaming, from The Colbert Report opening credits]

A Bald Eagle streaks across the screen, talons outstretched, ferocious, majestic. But a word about all this… A few years ago, Stephen made famous the word “truthiness”.

[“Nation, ‘truthiness’ is Merriam-Webster’s 2006 Word of the Year.”]

And so, in the very spirit of truthiness, we must declare that the bird you hear is not a Bald Eagle at all, but a Red-tailed Hawk. [Red-tailed Hawk cry]

Truthfully – or truthily — a Bald Eagle doesn’t sound all that ferocious or majestic. Here’s how it really sounds. [Bald Eagle call]

In 2006, the San Francisco Zoo named an unhatched Bald Eagle in Colbert’s honor – “Stephen, Jr.” Stephen, Jr. was taken as an egg from Santa Cruz Island and hatched as part of the California Bald Eagle breeding program.

[“Last night, Stephen, Jr. hatched! That’s right! I’m a daddy again. Who wants a cigar?”]

Junior migrates to Canada and back every year. He now has his own breeding territory, on Santa Cruz Island.

[Call of Bald Eagle]

And speaking of migrating! As Stephen Colbert leaves one show for another, we wish him – and Stephen, Jr. – all the best!

[Call of a Red-tailed Hawk]

And Nation, that’s the word!

###

Calls provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Call of the Bald Eagle recorded by J. Storm. Call of the Red-tailed Hawk recorded by L.J. Peyton.

Producer: John Kessler

Executive Producer: Chris Peterson

ID# colberts-BAEA-01 colberts-BAEA-01b

http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/thu-april-15-2010-aimee-mull…

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/79473/december-1… :31

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/61793/april-18-2…- :07