An Eagle’s Trip to the Dentist and the Pedicurist

While eaglets are in the nest, they are growing at incredible rates. They can double their body weight in as little as 4-5 days. Eventually, that growth will level off. Eaglets are full grown at 10-12 weeks of age. However, two things will continue to grow throughout an eagle’s life, their talons and their beak.
  An eagle’s beak and talons are made of keratin. Keratin is a tough, fibrous protein that is the main structural components of hair, fingernails, horns, feathers and hooves.

In the wild the continuous use of the eagles’ talons in catching their prey and landing on a variety of surfaces, will naturally wear down their talons.  Wild eagles also exhibit a behavior called “feaking,” which is when they rub their beaks on the side of a rock or a branch.Not only does this help them to clean up after a meal, it also wears down the sides of their beak so it does not get overgrown.
Our eagle ambassadors at the National Eagle Center no longer use their talons to catch and kill their prey. Since they get their meals served on a silver platter (not literally), their talons grow more quickly than they wear them down. We do provide a variety of perching surfaces to help them wear down their talons to some extent. Sometimes we have to help them with a little maintenance of the talons. It’s not that the talons get too long, so much as they get overly thick.  About 2-3 times a year we soak their feet for about 24 hours which softens the excess growth. Then we can scrape off the excess growth on the talons.

It’s also important to keep their beaks in good shape. Their beak is a tool and when it is overgrown, it is a less effective tool. It can cause the bird difficulty in eating. In order to keep our bird’s beaks from getting overgrown, we “cope” them. Coping is a little bit like going to the dentist, not painful, but not their favorite activity either. We use a small tool to carefully grind of the excess growth and make sure the beak is in the ideal shape. Most often this is done on their regular visits to The Raptor Center. We want our birds to think of us fondly as the ones who bring food, not dread us like the dentist.

Two of our ambassaors, Angel the Bald Eagle and Donald the Golden Eagle had a visit to the dentist today, no not the dentist, I mean The Raptor Center!.They came through their exams just fine!

The Rebirth of the Eagle Story

We have witnessed a great story unfold before our eyes , that of the rescue of Harmon, Harmons return to the nest and the return of the parents.  This has brought to  mind a “story” that I occasionally get asked by visitors at The National Eagle Center and I have also seen it pop up in the chat room as well.   It is how when an eagle gets to be about 40 years old  and wants to live for another 30 years or more, the eagle will fly to a mountain top and go through a rebirth.

This is an inspiring story that has circulated widely on the internet for years. It is a story of transformation and determination to live. The wide appeal of this story speaks to the eagle's extraordinary power to captivate and inspire human beings. While this story is inspiring, and may offer us a way to reflect on our own life journey, the story is just that, a story. It is not accurate biologically.

I have underlined what the storyteller usually says and then I have written below that a rebuttal to that statement.

The eagle has the longest life-span among birds

Eagles typically live between 20-30 years in the wild. As apex predators, they are relatively long-lived compared to many other birds. The oldest wild eagle on record is about 32 years of age.

It can live up to 70 years. But to reach this age, the eagle must make a hard decision. In its 40’s it’s long and flexible talons can no longer grab prey which serves as food.

Talons are hard, sharp and curved throughout the eagle’s life. Talons and the beak are made out of keratin, the same material as our fingernails. Think about how long it takes for your nails to grow.

It’s long and sharp beak becomes bent

An eagle’s beak is hooked to rip and tear it’s food. It has this distinctive hooked beak throughout it’s life, like all birds of prey. Beak and talons are critical to eagles’ ability to catch and consume food. No eagle can survive without a beak or talons for any amount of time.

It’s old-aged and heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, become stuck to its’ chest and make it difficult to fly

Feathers are replaced throughout an eagle’s life. The process is called molting. An eagle does not lose all of its feathers at one time. It is a gradual process, continually renewing the feathers.

Then the eagle is left with only two options: DIE or go through a painful process of change which lasts 150 days

The process requires that the eagle fly to a mountain top and sit on it’s nest.

An eagle’ nest is used only for the rearing of the young. Eagles do not use their nest except for the few months of the year when they are actively raising their young.

There the eagle knocks its’ beak against a rock until it plucks it out

Beak and talons are critical to eagles’ ability to catch and consume food. NO eagle can survive without a beak or talons

When its new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking its’ old-aged feathers

An eagle cannot survive without food for anything close to 150 days. A few days without food might be possible, but no longer.

And after five months, the eagle takes its’ famous flight of rebirth and lives for 30 MORE YEARS

Reading the story definitely makes you feel good, but remember it is biologically impossible  for this story to be true.  Our story that we are watching on this webcam is true, and we all are learning a lot by watching it!

Here come the feathers

With some of the photos that we have seen from our eaglets visit to The Raptor Center, I have been noticing some people in the chat room asking questions about feathers, so let's discuss them in this blog article. We will be noticing the repalcemnet of down feathers with other types that we will talk about below.

Every bird has several different types of feathers. Contour feathers are located on the body, tail and wings. These feathers help the bird stay streamlined and allow it to fly.  Down feathers are fluffy feathers that grow near the skin under the contour feathers.  The down traps warm air, insulting the bird in cold weather.  Semi plume feathers  are a combination between the down and contour feathers and like the down will help trap heat next to the body.  Lastly, bristle feathers are located near the eyes or nose of some birds. Bristle feathers are stiff  and may help keep bugs or other debris out of a bird’s eyes.

  Bird’s feathers continuously wear, become soiled and lose their effective qualities, so birds replace feathers through a  process called molting. Old feathers are molted and new feathers grow in place of them. S Some birds such as ducks, geese, swans, and pelicans are called “synchronous molters”, which means they molt all their flight feathers at the same time. During this period of time, they are unable to fly.

  Raptors rely on flight for survival and thus have a different kind of molt.  Raptors molt a few feathers at a time and are never flightless. In fact, they ususally molt the same flight feathers on each wing, so they remain perfectly balanced, maintaining their agility in flight even during a molt.

  Generally raptors in this area will begin molting feathers in April and continue through the fall.  Eagles don’t molt every feather during one season. It can take two to three years for a complete molt in many raptors.

  A captive raptor might undergo a modified molt because factors like daylight, temperature, weight control and stress can impact the timing and duration of a molt. 

How does a new feather replace an old feather?

  The replacement feather grows inside a feather sheath, a thin, pencil shaped structure.  This is known as a blood feather or blood quill.  The sheath is soft and engorged with blood supplying the growing feather inside.  As it grows, it displaces the old feather.  When the mature sheath splits, it reveals the new feather rolled up inside.  The length of time it takes for a new feather to grow depends where it is located on the body among other things. Some of the larger feathers, like flight feathers, may require up to 75 days to develop.

Reunion Video...

Last night was no doubt one of the most incredible moments we have ever been a part of.  We did our best to keep our distance in hopes that we would not deter the parents from returning to the nest.  Thankfully, it was the right move.  Dr. Ponder, our eagle expert shares the spectacular moment with us.  We hope you enjoy this video update...

Ftrom all of us at Minnesto Bound, thanks for watching.  More updates to come!

Incredible Moments!

It's not every day that something this incredible happens.  This just goes to show the power of mother nature.  Tens of thousands of lives have been touched by this eagle family and their impact has spread all around the world. 

It was a moment of tears for many.  Standing from a distance we were only minutes away from going back up to get Harmon.  Jim, our tree climber saw the mother close by the nest.  Harmon was screaming and it was clear that something was happening.  Everyone stood silent and watched.  Soon, the mother moved closer yet again.  Then, out of nowhere dad flew down and landed in the nest.  It was a reunion for the record books.

Hollywood aint got nothin' on this motion picture!

For the thousands of viewers it was a moment worth the hours of waiting.  I think it's safe to say that a few tears landed on some computer screens.

We are thankful for another day.  Another day for our family to give life to their eaglet named Harmon.  What happens next?  We can only wait and watch.  We are just happy that it is out of our human hands.

We never meant for any of this to happen.  The goal of this webcam was to bring you a unique view into the lives of Bald Eagles and to show it without any human interaction.  Because of the incredible drama that unfolded before our very eyes we were forced to action.  Thanks to the help of many, this young eaglet still has a chance to fly.  It wasn't the plan, and we hope that we never have to interfere again.   But for now, it's a moment to be proud of.

We have many people to thank and many details that we hope to share.  The past 4 days have been a whirlwind.  We will catch you up to speed on all that has happened behind the scenes, and all that we anticipate in the coming days, weeks and months.  Stay tuned for more updates and video's as this incredible story continues to be told. 

From all of us at Minnesota Bound, we want to say thank you.