During a school field trip to the San Antonio Zoo, four-year-old Ezekiel Saldana of Floresville saw an American flag near the bald eagle exhibit and began singing “God Bless America” to the bird. The spontaneous performance later reached millions of viewers online.
The video went viral, drawing millions of views, according to News4SanAntonio, which was first to report the story. Ezekiel had learned the patriotic song for Veterans Day and had been practicing it in an after-school choir he asked to join earlier this year. When asked why he sang, Ezekiel kept it simple: it was about America, he said, and at another point he declared that Jesus made America.
In the News4 San Antonio report, Ezekiel’s parents, Alexandra Delgado and Johnny Saldana, said they were at the field trip and saw him make the connection between the flag, the eagle and the song on his own. Delgado said she was proud of him and stressed that the family had not planned for the video to go viral.
A Larger-Than-Life Kid, On and Off Camera
Johnny Saldana said the clip showed the same spirited personality Ezekiel brings to everyday life at home.
Saldana said the video's popularity around Veterans Day was coincidental, not a planned release for the holiday. On a return visit to the zoo, Ezekiel thanked veterans, and Delgado also expressed gratitude to them.
Chinook Stuck Around for an Encore
According to News 4 San Antonio, Chinook is a Southern bald eagle who hatched in 1995 and came to the zoo in 2017. During Ezekiel’s return visit, Chinook remained outside long enough for the two to pose for a photo before the eagle went in for the night. Ezekiel sang to him again.
Chinook has a left-wing injury that prevents sustained flight. He shares his habitat with Haley, another eagle who cannot return to the wild after a wing injury; both receive ongoing care at the zoo. A 2021 WOAI report said the two eagles were rescued and rehabilitated before becoming zoo residents. Chinook was injured near an airport in Washington state, while Haley was found shot in Ohio.
Bald Eagles Recovered, but Protections Remain
The eagles’ injuries are individual circumstances within a species that has recovered at the population level. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, estimates based on 2018 to 2019 data counted 316,700 bald eagles, including 71,467 breeding pairs, in the lower 48 states. The agency says bald eagles were removed from the Endangered Species Act list in August 2007 after their populations recovered sufficiently, but remain protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. That broader recovery does not change the fact that Chinook and Haley cannot return to the wild because of their injuries.
Zoo Says It Wanted To Do Something Special
Victoria De Leon, the zoo’s senior director of public relations, said the zoo arranged a thank-you for Ezekiel after the clip spread online. The family received four free zoo memberships through the end of the year, according to News 4 San Antonio. De Leon said children and families can respond to unexpected moments in ways that surprise others.
The wooden American flag standing near the exhibit, the one that first caught Ezekiel's eye alongside the eagle, was made by people in recovery at Warriors Heart in Bandera, as reported by News 4 San Antonio. It's a detail that adds a quiet layer of meaning to the backdrop of a moment that otherwise unfolded entirely by chance, one four-year-old's spontaneous tribute at an eagle habitat that the zoo had opened with a ribbon-cutting back in March 2021.
