Bird Flu Articles   Wish List   Programs   Memberships  Visit our Friends   What's New  Bird Sactuary  First National Pigeon Day
Home   Eagle Chick   Release facility  Banding chick  Bald Eagles  Falcons  NY Times Story  Bird articles  Bird Store Free Bird Pictures

Berkshire Bird Paradise Sanctuary
and Botanical Gardens
for injured and unwanted birds

Cara - Golden Eagle Story

Memory Soars on Bird's Wings

Albany Times Union 12/29/02 by Fred LeBrun

We huddled under the awning over the freshly opened grave, seeking shelter from a blustery spring wind and a cold misty rain. And the comfort so hard to find for why we were there. My niece Daphne, a sweet child of 33, and her friend Steve, in a small plane, heading for a vacation in Florida. A crash. The dreaded call in the middle of the night, when you know before you even fumble for the phone that the news will be the worst. The dull ache that eventually becomes part of your life. But at that graveside service deep in rural Renssealaer County, all of it was too raw, too new for the long view. The finality of Daphne's passing was more than we could get our arms around and comprehend. Maybe that's why we kept looking and listening for signs her spirit was still with us. When a solitary Canada goose flew low overhead halfway through the service, and paused for a moment over the grave, we all looked up. Then we all stared at each other with half smiles and silently mouthed the same word. "Daphne." That was on a dreary May 2nd. After the service as best we could, we all returned to the business of life.

Within a week I heard from my old friend Pete Dubacher, whose calling is to care for the wounded and disabled bird life at the Berkshire Bird Paradise in Petersburg, NY. Peter was excited, but guardedly so, and what he had to say served as a badly needed distraction for me, so I got right into it. He had hatched a baby eagle on May 4. A Golden Eagle whose coming to being is a testament to the triumph of life over probabilities and adversity. First you have to know that Peter cares for many eagles, golden and bald, at his sanctuary. They were flown there from zoos or wildlife rehabilitation centers from Alaska to Arizona to Wisconsin. Some were shot by hunters, or hit by cars. Part of Peter's dream for his sanctuary always has been to raise healthy young from disabled birds, then release them to the wild a sort of final dividend affirmation. He'd actually done it once, in 1999, but other attempts had been thwarted. Mating couples didn't lay viable eggs, or eggs, broke, or young chicks died early on from a dozen problems. This golden eagle chick's natural parents were Cara, a Utah Golden Eagle blinded by 40 birdshot pellets still in her head and neck, and Ross, a golden raised in a zoo that had closed. Previous matings had shown that Cara's blindness led to broken eggs.

So this time, Peter took the egg produced by Cara away from her and gave it to a pair of severely disabled bald eagles, Zipper and Olympia, to raise. They proved to be doting, protective stepparents. Wildlife artists and biologist Wayne Trimm came by and pronounced the chick a female from its large size. Wildlife pathologist Ward Stone came by regularly to ooh and aah at the baby. So did member of my family. Then knew it was a long shot for the eagle to survive, so it got a lot of prayers.

The eaglet didn't just survive, it thrived, getting bigger and stronger by the day. Pete Nye, head of the state Department of Environmental Conservation's endangered species unit, came by and banded and attached a radio transmitter to it. Sixteen weeks and a day after the chick was born, early on a late summer's morning a bunch of us stood at a respectful distance as Peter Dubacher carefully peeled back the protective netting over the enclosure that harbored the eagle family. Zipper and Olympia, with broken wings and capability only of hobbling, were perched proudly side by side. The eaglet, registered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and officially named Daphne, took a few strong strokes and was high in the sky. Borne on eagle's wings.

If you would like to be a part of this good work please