What is the Great Speckled Bird in the old Roy Acuff gospel song?

SUMMARY:
The bird is a metaphor for being true to the beliefs you know are righteous, no matter what difficulties you may encounter as you try to do so.

In Jeremiah's day, the kingdom of Israel was destroyed. God delivered the people of Israel into the hands of their enemies, because they did not believe the message of the prophets and repent of their sins. (--http://injil.org/TWOR/56.html)

DETAILS:
"Great Speckled Bird"... can be found in Biblical reference of Jeremiah chapter 12--

"Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about
are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come
to devour."

I think the Great Speckled Bird represents righteousness, and the verse tells how hard it is to remain righteous when faced with the temptations of the daily life.

The song continues the thought, in that the singer is granted a place in heaven for remaining righteous:

"I'll be joyfully carried to meet Him
On the wings of that great speckled bird."

Another source quotes this from Jeremiah:
"Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 12, verses 8 and 9:
“My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest
She roars at me, therefore I hate her.
Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack?”

Again, the "inheritance" means the obligation to avoid temptations and remain righteous -- a very hard thing to do.

A third source says:
"And the great speckled bird in the Bible
Represents you, the great church of God."

I'm not sure which church is considered THE great church of God. In this third source, it's the church itself that is the entity that is encouraged to be true to what it knows is right (i.e., remain righteous). In reality, in Jeremiah's day there were no churches. So I think the use of the word "church" here makes the verse more meaningful to Christians. In Jeremiah's day, the events that made Christians come into existence had not happened yet.


WHAT TYPE OF BIRD IS IT?
It's described as a "bird of prey." One source calls it a "brightly colored bird."

If you look at the painting at
nature-discovery.com/ home/nd1/page/37/35
you'll see that the spotted birds of prey are kites, hawks, harriers, etc. Most of the birds in the painting could be considered spotted.

And finally, according to the online Catholic Encyclopedia:
"BIRD, SPECKLED, Hebrew çãbhûá' (Jer., xii, 9). A much discussed translation. The interpretation of the English versions, however meaningless it may seem to some, is supported by the Targum, the Syriac, and St. Jerome. In spite of these authorities many modern scholars prefer to use the word hyena, given by the Septuagint and confirmed by Ecclesiasticus, xiii, 22 as well as by the Arabic (dábúh) and rabbinical Hebrew (çebhôá'), names of the hyena."