4-Year-Old Boy Goes Viral Singing 'God Bless America' to a Bald Eagle: Video Draws Millions of Views, Zoo Gives Family Memberships and Invites Him Back to Sing Again
Ezekiel Saldana, a 4-year-old from Floresville, Texas, walked up to the bald eagle exhibit during a school field trip to the San Antonio Zoo and sang "God Bless America," and a video his mother filmed of the moment has gone viral, drawing millions of views. According to News 4 San Antonio, Ezekiel had been learning the song for Veterans Day.
His parents, Alexandra Delgado and Johnny Saldana, were both on the field trip. Ezekiel had asked to join his after-school choir this year and had been practicing the song. At the zoo, he spotted an American flag and then the bald eagle, and started singing. Asked why he sang, he said, "Because it was about America." Delgado said watching him put the flag, the eagle and the song together on his own was a proud moment, and that the video was never supposed to go viral. Saldana said his son has the same larger-than-life personality at home, and that what viewers saw in the video was simply who he is.
According to the San Antonio Zoo, the bald eagle in the video is Chinook, a Southern bald eagle who hatched in 1995 and came to the zoo in 2017. A left wing injury prevents him from sustaining flight, and he shares his habitat with Haley, another bald eagle who could not return to the wild after a wing injury. Both receive ongoing care at the zoo. The wooden American flag in the exhibit was made by people in recovery at Warriors Heart in Bandera, the zoo said.
After the video went viral, the zoo gave Ezekiel's family four free memberships through the end of the year and invited them back. On the return visit, Chinook stayed out long enough for a photo with Ezekiel before heading in for the night. Ezekiel thanked veterans for their service, and then sang "God Bless America" for Chinook again. Asked what he loves about America, he said, "That Jesus made it."
Source: News 4 San Antonio
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 资料图：白头海雕（图源：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0） | File photo: a bald eagle (Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
