The bald eagle has been a symbol of power and strength in the US for more than 240 years but has only recently been declared the national bird.

President Joe Biden signed a bill on Christmas Eve, designating the predator as America's symbol after it first appeared on a Massachusetts copper cent coined in 1776.

However, the announcement was met with confusion as many Americans have believed that the bald eagle has always been the national bird.

'Am I the only one who thought the bald eagle was the national bird already,' one person asked on X. 'Swear this was something I learned in elementary school.'

The skepticism has also led many people to believe the Mandela Effect, a phenomenon where a large group of people share a false memory about a specific event, is happening across the nation.

The bald eagle was only deemed a national emblem of the US, used on The Great Seal since 1782.

The seal features an eagle, an olive branch, arrows, a flag-like shield, the motto 'E Pluribus Unum' and a constellation of stars.

Congress that same year designated the bald eagle as the national emblem, and its image appears in a host of places, ranging from documents and the presidential flag to military insignia and US currency.

Biden's declaration has sparked hundreds of social media comments from Americans all saying the same thing.

'You mean to tell me it hasn't been this entire time,' one user shared on Instagram.

While an X user posted: 'I went to school in the 70's. The bald eagle has always been our national bird. Now they're saying that it wasn't. Makes no sense to me.'

One user joked on Instagram, saying they believed the bald eagle was always the national bird and the Christmas Eve announcement was just a rebrand.

Regardless it was not until last week that was it made official.

Benjamin Franklin deemed it 'a bird of bad moral character’ when it debuted on The Great Seal.

Centuries later, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Brad Finstad, both of Minnesota, said the bald eagle is 'a historical symbol of the United States representing independence, strength and freedom.'

The majestic creature is known for its white head, yellow beak, brown body and large wing span, and uniqueness in North America.

It is featured on post stamps, the $1 bill, and displayed above federal departments and agencies across the US.

The majestic creature was driven to the brink of extinction in the second half of the 20th century.

Recently, its population has been bouncing back due to one of the most successful conservation efforts in history.

Data collected in New Jersey from 2023 revealed the state's eagle population is soaring to new heights - with nearly 250 active nests identified last year.

This is more than twice the number counted a decade earlier - in stark contrast to 1970 when the state had just one pair of breeding eagles.

There were fewer than 1,000 breeding pairs in the US in the 1970s, largely due to the prevalence of a toxic pesticide, DDT, which thinned their eggshells and reduced the likelihood of hatching.

After a federal ban on DDT was imposed in 1972, the eagle population gradually experienced a resurgence.

And in 2007 the government was finally able to remove the bald eagle from its list of endangered species.

According to the most recent national count by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, there are an estimated 316,700 individual bald eagles, including 71,400 nesting pairs.