The crowd in Baxter 101 gasped and yelled with a mixture of delight and fear as the large hawk swooped back and forth over their heads. He flew from one side of the room to the other and back again, just inches over peoples’ heads.
No, a bird had not gotten loose in the building. The hawk, named Jesse, was flying between trainers as part of a demonstration put on by the American Eagle Foundation. The foundation, based in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and supported in part by Dollywood, is dedicated to the protection of the bald eagle but takes care of and rehabilitates birds of prey of all stripes and feathers.
Karen Wilbur and her daughter Danielle Dickerson were the presenters of last Thursday night’s show. They showed different birds of prey to a packed room of Wabash students and Crawfordsville locals.
Among the different birds they exhibited were Friar Tuck, an African crow; Frankie, a diminutive screech owl; Albert, a black vulture; the aforementioned red-tailed hawk; Bo, a kestrel; Tecumseh, a golden eagle; and America, a spectacular bald eagle.
Mrs. Wilbur began the show by taking Friar Tuck out of his cage and letting him flutter around a little bit. Unfortunately, Friar Tuck was then too shy to participate, but usually, Mrs. Wilber explained, he is a fairly talkative bird and can say a number of words, all with perfect pronunciation. After the show was over, he finally decided to speak and said his favorite word, “What?” as a young child looked into his cage.
The tiny screech owl, Frankie, came out next, and did speak for the crowd. Unfortunately, the screech owl cannot actually speak English. Nor does it screech; the misnamed owl actually produced a long, wavering whistle.
After Frankie the screech owl came Albert the black vulture or buzzard, as they are colloquially known. Vultures are very smart birds, and Albert was allowed to fly above the crowd, back and forth between Mrs. Wilbur and Ms. Dickerson. Mrs. Wilbur also told the crowd about another black vulture, Cujo. Cujo is a young, female vulture who was taken from a neighborhood in North Carolina. A family in the neighborhood fed her a few times, and she finally began pecking at their windows and then waiting at their doors in expectation of food, scaring the living daylights out of the family’s children. Black vultures are very intelligent.
Next the red-tailed hawk, Jesse, was brought out and allowed to fly around the room. Red-tailed hawks, also known as chickenhawks, have individual feather patterns, which are as distinctive as human fingerprints.
After Jesse came Bo, the kestrel. Kestrels are often called sparrowhawks, though they are actually falcons. Kestrels are small birds, commonly seen on power lines and fences in the country. Kestrels have what are called “moustache-marks,” which serve a similar purpose to the eye black worn by football and baseball players. Like most birds of prey, kestrels have excellent vision and hearing, but cannot smell very well.
Tecumseh, a golden eagle, came next. Golden eagles have long been worshipped in different Native American religions and because of this, the American Eagle Foundation names all of their golden eagles after great Native American chiefs or leaders. Tecumseh once lived in the Topeka Zoo in Kansas and has an impressive, 6-foot wingspan.
Last, but certainly not least, came America, a majestic bald eagle. Originally from Alaska, he was introduced into the lower forty-eight states as part of a repopulation program in Michigan. He was shot by a farmer in Michigan when he was six months old and sent to be rehabilitated at the American Eagle Foundation. A few months after arriving, America was released into the wild near a place where an unmated (bald eagles are monogamous) female lived. Just a few months later, America was miraculously found far away from where he had been released, nearly dead. His mate had disappeared, and the young eagle had wandered, lost, until he was half-dead of starvation and found in Kansas. After that, he was christened Phoenix (America is a stage name) and sent back to the American Eagle Foundation, where he has lived for the last 19 years.
For the show’s finale, America was raised on Mrs. Wilbur’s fist and struck a majestic pose as the trainer told the crowd, “America is our most majestic eagle, and is a living symbol of our nation.”
The crowd was very enthusiastic during and after the show, many of them making plans to go to the Cayuga, Indiana show on the 26th. After the show, Chase Garrett, a local Cub Scout and eight-year-old, said, “Seeing the bald eagle was really cool. I’ve never seen one before.”
Chris Beedie, a Wabash freshman football player, said, “It was really cool, getting to see all of these wild animals close up. It’s something you only ever see from a distance. I also learned a lot of things. For instance, I didn’t know that some owls can hear a mouse’s heartbeat from 60 feet away.”