The term “eagle-eyed” is brought about earnestly.
Garry Crain and Bill Whinery of Operation WildLife (OWL) were at Iola Elementary School Friday to regale the students with a number of facts about the bald eagle.
They were accompanied by Frank, an 11-year-old bald eagle, who was tethered to a perch, keeping the throngs of youngsters in hushed, rapt attention for the hourlong program.
Operation Wildlife, which has a center in Linwood, provides rehabilitation services for injured and orphaned or otherwise displaced wild animals.
“We take anything that walks, crawls or flies,” Crain explained.
Whinery spoke about the eagle’s legacy in North America.
Unlike other species, which can be found all corners of the globe, the bald eagle is found only in North America, he explained.
Arriving Pilgrims found the majestic birds, giving it the bald eagle nickname because of the bleach white plumage for the adult birds.
In that case, “bald” didn’t mean hairless, but was connected to the Old English term “balde,” which meant white, Whinery said.
After being adopted as United States’ national bird in 1782, eagles nevertheless saw their population plummet over the next 160 years, primarily due to hunting and and then by eating bugs and other wildlife exposed to DDT-tainted pesticides.
By 1960, the number of bald eagle nests in the lower 48 states was fewer than 60, prompting the government to place them on the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
Most importantly, the feds also banned the use of DDT.
The recovery was remarkable. In the subsequent 60 years, the number of eagle nests in the lower 48 states has grown to more than 73,000 in 2023, Whinery said.
YES, eagles have legendary eyesight.
If a human had an eagle’s eyesight, he could stand beneath the goalposts of a football field and could read a book placed at the opposite end, Whinery said.
He also showed a pair of photos comparing what a fish swimming in a lake would look like to a human compared to how it would appear to an eagle soaring overhead.
