Eagle flight
Looking at the eagle, it seems that it is slowly soaring on huge wings. In fact, the bird flies with amazing speed, a misleading impression arises because the bird flies at a great altitude (not lower than 700 meters). And it dives with an incredible grayness of 320 kilometers per hour .
The eagle's wings end in “spread fingers”, thanks to which the bird logo maneuvers and cuts through strong air currents. The bird is a pimp and easily balances in the air, so the eagle “swims in the sky” without moving its wings. And it “works” with its wings only during takeoff, or for acceleration during hunting. In all other cases, the eagle's flight is very stable. During a hurricane, the eagle slightly folds its wings, “spreading its fingertips” as much as possible. This allows the bird to glide smoothly.
Interesting facts about the eagle
Females of all eagle species are larger than males, and the difference in size can be quite significant. But the enormous power of the wings and the height of flight are relevant for both sexes - each eagle can overcome a height of 7, even 9 km . And these birds even tend to build nests at the highest point in the area where they live. It is not surprising that a strong, proud and inaccessible bird, conquering heights no worse than an airplane, became a symbol of the ancient gods and appeared on many coats of arms, including the Russian one. It is also worth noting the following facts:
- It’s not just the eagle’s visual system or the structure of its wings that is unique. Even the bird’s skeleton is adapted for flying at altitude - it weighs half as much as its feathers;
- The strength of the celestial predator is such that it is able to grab and lift into the sky a not too large fawn;
- The Eagle requires good aerodynamics. If a feather falls out of one of its wings, it is also lost from the second - even if the first was torn out on purpose or was lost due to injury or blow.
Interesting: Interesting facts about Ancient Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia)
Eagle king or martyr
Even in ancient times, this bird symbolized unlimited power, this was facilitated by a special temperament and unshakable pride. The flight of an eagle is mesmerizing.
But not everything is so simple, few people know that after forty years the eagle turns into a helpless baby, this happens because with reptiles the eagle gradually grows to such a size that the bird is simply unable to provide food for itself, the victim literally escapes from the “unkempt” eagle claws
The situation is no better with the beak. Over time, the eagle's beak becomes so bent that the bird cannot eat. And the appearance of the eagle is not pleasing. Feathers fall out, bald patches appear on the wings of the chest, all this makes weeding more difficult.
This is where the tough nature of the predator comes into play; he must choose to live or die. If a bird chooses life. He needs to undergo a difficult and, most importantly, painful procedure that will last for 150 days.
To survive, the bird climbs to the top of the mountain where the nest is located. Here the eagle brutally hits the stones with its beak. This is done in order to completely split the beak. Some time will pass before the eagle has a new beak, now it can get rid of unnecessary claws, it literally rips them out of the body. The final touch remains: with the help of its beak and claws, the eagle pulls out old feathers.
One can only envy such strength of character; after 5 months of hellish pain, the eagle will be reborn like a phoenix and will live for many more years.
Chicks
Eagle chicks
When talking about chicks that are born in families of raptors, it is worth noting the following:
- The eggs are incubated primarily by the female eagle, but the male actively helps her in this, replacing her if necessary;
- Incubation of eggs lasts 40-45 days depending on the type of eagles;
- Also, depending on the type, the clutch may consist of 1-3 eggs;
- If the chick appears more than one, for the first 2 months there is a competitive struggle - the stronger one tries to get rid of its brother or sister. If this cannot be done within 2 months, peace reigns in the nest, the chicks no longer conflict;
- At 3 months, the parents' care for it stops, the chick is able to hunt on its own;
- Maturity comes to the mighty bird only at 4–5 years.
Vision
Eagles have fantastic vision, it is six times better than that of humans. Eagles fly out to hunt during the daytime. The bird is not disturbed by the sun's rays, the glare of the water; they can easily see the smallest objects and small living creatures in the grass from a bird's eye view.
An eagle can simultaneously track two objects with one eye. The human eye “catches” one object.
Eagle eyes are protected by two eyelids (transparent and dense). The first eyelid protects eagle eyes from air currents and the claws of prey. A thick eyelid closes the eye during sleep.
"An eagle is born to fly"
Each bird has its own unique character. To understand at least a little how to handle them, one phone call or a few read articles on the Internet is not enough. It takes years, but it would be more correct to talk about the work of generation after generation of ornithologists.
The first thing you need to know: eagles get used to a specific person, they even begin to respond to their nicknames over time. Secondly, you cannot come to them with an aggressive attitude, only in a good mood. And you will have to come often. Wounded eagles need special care and careful monitoring: what and how much they ate, how they look (whether they are ruffled or not), how they shed their pellets (regurgitate what is not digested).
Birds of prey need to be fed fresh meat, which has been frozen beforehand. It is important to monitor your weight, as eagles often die from obesity.
Even birds that have lost the ability to fly freely must regularly work their wings, at least three or four beats at a time, and fly at least a couple of meters. After all, the eagle was born to fly in the literal physiological sense of the word.
Once I drove into the forest. The mushrooms had already started growing there, and I wanted to visit the old eagle nests. One thing is in place: spotted eagles lived there. Thank God no one got to them. And no other nests are visible. There is no forest left. They cut it all down. Where, one wonders, should they live?
It’s a pity, a shame and a shame that we probably already have more eagles living in captivity than in the wild. I remember trying to release the golden eagle who was the first to suffocate in due time. She flew several tens of meters, sat down, and then walked sideways towards me...
So, unfortunately, there is no need to talk about releasing birds that have experienced severe trauma into the wild. Nature has already written them off. But you look into her eyes and you feel that she still really wants to live. Just like any of us.
You can put the eagle outside the door, but it will still stand there, on the street. Wait and hope that they will help. And then they are so grateful to people, if only you knew! Yes, eagles know how to love.
Photo courtesy of the hero of the material
Eagle hunt
With the help of strong claws, the eagle tenaciously grabs its prey not only on the ground, but also in the air.
The eagle kills as many victims as it can sit on itself or feed its chicks. These are usually small animals. The eagle hunts alone, does not hesitate to profit at someone else’s expense, and will snatch prey from a weaker bird of prey directly from its beak on the fly. Eagles can hunt, overtake a bird and dive on prey from such a height that it has no chance of escaping the claws of a predator.
“I thought people wouldn’t hurt her”
I didn’t hide the birds from anyone, I didn’t hide them. I have been working with them for more than a quarter of a century, based on the understanding that it is our common business - the people living in the country - to use their talents and knowledge for the common good. Probably most experts on birds of prey know about me, and in our Bryansk region almost everyone who deals with animals professionally.
The aviary with birds was seen for many years not only by neighbors in the village. It even became a local landmark. In 2016, the region hosted an all-Russian kickboxing competition. Its participants came to see me, took pictures, and shot videos for the Internet. Nobody took money from them for this.
And so this performance happens. In August 2022, some special gifted individuals decided to carry out Operation Poacher, during which the police allegedly accidentally discovered that certain animals resembling Red Book golden eagles lived on a private residential property.
We sent photos to the Bryansk Forest Nature Reserve to find out if they were eagles and not hippos. It’s funny that, firstly, everyone in this reserve has known for many years that golden eagles live with me, and secondly, there is not a single expert on birds of prey there
The reserve sent one of its employees for the operation to remove the animals, and then blamed it entirely on her for what had happened. Within two days, she and the driver already knew that they would be coming to me, and within a day the police called Rosprirodnadzor to find out how to seize the eagles and how to treat them.
But what is the legal price for such calls? Why, if we decided to take on birds that are especially protected by law, did we forget about the need to obtain documents from a veterinarian, about quarantine and much more?
So, on August 11, while my wife and I were not at home, the participants in the “operation” entered my area, that is, actually the territory of private housing. Without judicial or any other sanction. They wanted to do everything quietly, and only when a neighbor noticed what was happening did they call my wife.
These people treated the eagles as dangerous bandits. They tied the paws with tape and put them in some useless, small, flat cardboard boxes. Like broilers. Live birds. Have you ever seen, can you imagine eagles lying on their sides? Do you think this is a normal situation for them? Yes, any child will say no. If you really don’t think about it at all, you could use large plastic “dog” carriers. And here they decided to deliberately suppress or kill the birds.
The first to die was the eagle that I took from the policeman in the house. She suffocated because she couldn’t even turn her head in the cramped box.
And Aisana, who is from the Shakhty Zoo, had a stroke. After this operation they fought for her life for several months, but they could not save her. Why did this stroke happen? Aysana, after all, trusted people the most of all three birds. She was born in captivity and all her life she took human care for granted. She thought that people would not harm her. I was wrong.
Now tell me, what would you do if you were me when you returned home? Would you accept it? Hardly. And I couldn't. Unknown people took and killed two defenseless birds. For what? Who benefited from this?
Began to seek the truth. Complain. Well, they signaled to me that they would imprison me for such zeal. And so, in February 2022, a criminal case was actually opened against me. For illegal trafficking of Red Book animals.
Photo courtesy of the hero of the material
Nest
The eagle builds “his home” at a dizzying height. This allows you to protect your offspring. The eagle's nest is an observation point, a runway, where the bird sets up an ambush. Over the course of many years, the eagles update and expand the nest. As soon as the babies appear, the eagles make a shelter from pine branches to protect the babies from the burning sun.
Offspring
Usually a couple gives birth to two eaglets per year . The family life of eagles resembles the everyday relationships of people. The male must get food, the female raises and feeds the babies, and protects the nest.
The strong character of eaglets manifests itself as soon as they emerge from the shell; it is the children who carry out natural selection; usually the strongest eaglet survives. For two months, the chicks fight for life; if the weaker eaglet manages to survive, then after eight weeks both eaglets will live peacefully in the nest. Kids are very gluttonous. Father and mother often have to fly away to hunt in order to feed the ever-hungry eaglets. A month and a half after birth, the eaglets begin to get food themselves; now they no longer need parental care. The eagle's diet consists mainly of meat.
Eagles in world history
The eagle was respected by all ancient civilizations. The eagle symbolizes good luck, the sun and victory.
- The Romans believed that the eagle was the squire of Jupiter's smog; it was supposed to store and carry menacing lightning.
- In Egypt and China, the eagle symbolized the sun.
- In many countries, the eagle symbolized absolute power. This gave confidence, the person felt like the chosen one of the gods. The Aztecs made jewelry from eagle feathers. The military elite wore capes embroidered with jewels and eagle feathers, which resembled the wide wings of a bird of prey. Sandals tamed by the claws of eagles.
The eagle image has survived centuries. From mythology, the eagle moved into world religion. The soaring eagle can be found in Hinduism and Christianity. The embodiment of the divine face.
In his youth, Lord Byron, who adored animals, had an eagle as his favorite pet. When Byron entered Cambridge, the university dormitory regulations prohibited keeping animals in the rooms, but a genius would always find a way out of the situation, which is how an eagle appeared among Byron’s pets of a fox, a badger, a crocodile, a crane and a heron.
heads or tails
In Tsarist Russia, the state emblem was minted on coins, which depicted a double-headed eagle. And although in the Soviet Union the coat of arms lost its meaning, the name “eagle” remained on the coin. Today, “ploughshare” has returned to the coat of arms and is minted on Russian coins. But if you look closely, different birds are depicted on the coat of arms and on the coin. The sign of the Bank of Russia is printed on rubles; the wings of the embossed bird are directed downwards, in contrast to the coat of arms of the eagle, whose wings are raised high, and the state regalia (scepter and orb) are embossed.
Eagle mythology
In the Lezgin language, the word “eagle” - lek means two completely different concepts - bird and man ; in ancient times, mountain residents left their dead to be devoured by eagles, which usually start dinner with the liver. The mountaineers believed that the soul of a person was in this organ, and after death it was reborn in the body of an eagle. The same interpretation can be found in Greek mythology. The eternal torment of Prometheus, whose liver was pecked out by an eagle every day, is nothing more than the cycle of life and death.
“Thousands of applications lie unconsidered”
The court completely acquitted me. This is a pleasant surprise. But I’m still waiting, I’m afraid, although I’m purposefully working on restoring my good name and bringing to justice the people responsible for the death of the birds.
In general, I did not expect such strong public support that I received during the investigation. Many thanks to lawyer Matvey Zen and Anastasia Fedyunina from the organization “Zoopravo”. Their photographs should be printed and placed in a sacred corner.
I didn't really have a license. It is a fact. But you can’t say that you didn’t try to get it? It is much easier to obtain weapons in our country. At least there is a special form. But there is no such form for working with Red Book animals. Or rather, we asked the official at the trial, and she told us that she did not know about the existence of the forms.
I also don’t understand where Rosprirodnadzor is looking when people with pinned eagles go to resorts and brazenly use them for profit. It turns out that everything is in order with their licenses?
