He had been chasing prey and hit a barbed wire fence damaging his right eye. Because of the seriousness of the injury, Jack lost that eye entirely during his rehabilitation. Resultantly, he could not be released to the wild again, and so he was made to be an Education Bird and we at the Birds of Prey Center in Boise were fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to have him be a part of our family of educators.
Jack was a magnificent creature, and in spite of his injury always demonstrated the beauty, the courage and the distinctive uniqueness of being a wild creature that allowed us to view just a little bit of who he was, what he was and his importance to mankind.
As a volunteer at the Velma Morrison Interpretive Center, one can serve in many capacities. As is my normal approach to every job I take I "wanted it all." So I began in January of that year working in the Gift Shop as a cashier and greeter of our guests. But, my long term goal was to "work with the birds" in what ever capacity was available. To be eligible, you had to have two years or two hundred hours of volunteer time. Then you went through considerable training to "handle" the birds and that began with some of the smaller, oft shown raptors at the center. One went from Gift Shop, to Docent (Tour Guide), to chamber cleaner, to feeder -- what ever was needed to accrue those valuable 200 hours. At four and a half hours per shift, it was a lot of shifts, but by early winter I'd done it all and was there.
One thing the raptors love is being outside. So on non-windy days we often take them out to perch in the court yard in the sunshine. The picture above was taken one November afternoon when I was given the opportunity to "bird sit" Jack on the perch in the yard. It's really special as you get to observe the raptors so closely. They miss nothing, catching every ground squirrel or rabbit that scampers across the grass, or notice the flick of a wing of a house finch or dove flying over. Often, free wild raptors floating on the air currents above the Center soar over and always notice we have an educational bird out. This is an intruder in their territory, so both Jack and I were ever watchful and alert to make sure they did not decide to take any aggressive action towards this "other" raptor in their area.
While Jack was fed by many of us and we assisted in his care such as coping, his handler was Trish, our Raptor Specialist. He and Trish had a bond most of us will never know. They were a couple in as much as you can say that about a human and a wild creature. But he knew Trish, he trusted Trish, and when he traveled throughout the region as an ambassador to the Center it was Trish who took him on the road. For several years they delivered the conservation message to school children and adults alike.
On the day Jack was in the courtyard I took several pictures of him. It wasn't until a year or two later when I was sorting through my files to save the pictures onto a new external drive that I noticed something about one of Jack's pictures. I was enlarging the photos, cropping some, and renaming them when I picked up a sparkle in Jack's one good eye on one shot. After Jack passed away from exposure to the West Nile Virus I enlarged that picture, printed it and gave it to Trish.
I thought about it yesterday on TBT -- Throw Back Thursday. This is how I will always remember Jack -- the sparkle, the golden feathers on the back of his neck, the six and a half ft. wingspan, the rock hard, muscular nine and a half lbs body. He truly was a magnificent creature.
Golden Eagle Facts:
Average Life Span in the wild: 30 years. Longevity may double in captivity.
Dive at as much as 150 mph
Weight: Males around ten lbs, females about one-third larger.
Wingspan: Males around six and a half ft., females to seven and a half ft.
Clutch: one to four eggs, both incubate them
Gestation: 40-45 days average.
Talon Grasp: Estimated between 300 and 900 psi between front and back talon.
Videos show Goldens taking down wild goats, deer, foxes as well as smaller animals.
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