SENTINELS of the SKY ENSURING THE SURVIVAL OF WILD BIRDS OF PREY by L AUR IE SA MMIS
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n a warm and dry August day near Vale, Oregon, Joe Atkinson walks to the edge of a long ridge and casts Widow, a magnificent, nearly 10-pound female golden eagle, off his wrist into a light blue sky. With one step and an upward sweep of her wings, Widow is airborne, her wings stretched to over six feet and her shadow gliding low along the ridge. She slides off, soaring along the ridgeline in search of a thermal to carry her up above the desert landscape that stretches from the western border of Idaho into Oregon. This is prime raptor country, a sagebrush sea loaded with ground squirrels, marmots, grouse, prairie dogs and jackrabbits (primary golden eagle prey), as well as other small birds and mammals. As a golden eagle, Widow is perfectly adapted to thrive in this environment. Birds of prey, or raptors (derived from the Latin rapere, meaning “to seize” or “take by force”), include eagles, hawks, falcons, vultures and owls, and are defined by their keen vision, powerful talons and sharp, curved beaks. From her height of 1,200 feet, Widow can see vividly, and with exact precision, a rabbit that is over a mile away, which is approximately equivalent to our seeing a spider on the ground from the top of a 10-story building. Equipped with broad, long wings with almost finger-like primary feathers at the tips, Widow is an expert flier capable of soaring 30 mph and gliding in a hunt at around 100 mph. Golden eagles possess astonishing speed and maneuverability for their size and, when in a full stoop (diving on prey), can reach speeds of up to 200 mph, making it one of the fastest moving animals on earth (behind the peregrine falcon, another bird of prey that has been clocked diving at speeds over 225 mph). The heat has been rising all afternoon and Widow has found a thermal (columns of hot rising air that create lift). Within seconds, she has climbed hundreds of feet, being pulled like Icarus toward the sun and gaining height with every turn. Soon, she is barely visible, a tiny speck above the desert, marked only by a flash of wing that catches the blaze of the sun for an instant and then, just as quickly, disappears.
SUMMER 2017 | sunvalleymag.com
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