Our eagle’s journey of survival and reproduction was abruptly halted when she was hit by a vehicle. But her story didn’t end. She was rescued, rehabilitated and re-released into the wild, but not before her importance to her species was understood.
This eagle? She was 34 years old –the third oldest recorded wild bald eagle. During her life, she raised anywhere from 29 to an astounding 87 chicks to adulthood – many of whom would go on to reproduce and contribute to an increasingly healthy gene pool of eagles on both sides of the border.
Think about it. One eagle in one ecosystem, at a dire time, played a massive role in bringing back an iconic species from the brink. The power of one, helped along with a little help from her friends.
So look up and if you see an eagle soaring in the sky, don’t just think of it as beautiful or the symbol of one of eight countries and numerous Indigenous nations, wonder about its story and what that eagle might be doing, unheralded, in the ecosystem where you live.
She did the usual bald eagle things. At five, she started to breed and raise her own chicks. She survived and thrived – helped her young survive and thrive – thanks to the eagle’s evolutionary superpower: sight.