Penny the Bald Eagle, a very lively raptor from the American Eagle Foundation, participated in the ceremonial puck drop along with her handler, Mary Beth Gosnell, and former Capitals greats, Peter Bondra, Calle Johansson, and Olaf Kolzig. Penny made her entrance after the three Capitals legends were announced to center ice, and she got particularly enthusiastic about her introduction by PA announcer Wes Johnson, flapping and hurling herself upside down near the Capitals bench.
When bald eagle power couple Jackie and Shadow's two baby girls flew their Big Bear nest earlier this summer, it was bittersweet. Thousands of adoring fans had watched them hatch on a 24-hour webcam that monitors the family and now they were growing up - fast. But one of the internet-famous youngsters, Gizmo, may have just dropped by her childhood home, an unusual occurrence for an eagle of nearly six months.
The legislation that made the eagle official came from members of Minnesota's Congressional delegation. The federal act recognizes the eagles' centrality in most Indigenous peoples' spiritual lives and sacred belief systems.