The TRUTH ABOUT EAGLES
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
-Andrew Strom.
Several weeks ago we published an article about Eagles - and the
lessons we can learn from this majestic bird. A few people emailed
me, questioning a couple of facts from that article. Of course, I had
gotten the article from a Christian website - and in searching for
more info I found that many Christian sites seemed to repeat the
same "facts". But that did not necessarily make them right.
In doing more research, I found that two of the 'facts' in that article
really were very questionable. The idea of young Eagles being
'pressured' to learn how to fly is often true, but they are not dropped
from a height and then caught by their mothers. And neither do
Eagles go through a total "renewal" at age 60 - though they do
'molt' periodically. My apologies for re-publishing these
inconsistencies, my friends. We certainly try to be accurate. I
have been burned a few times over the years, and have learned
that sadly it is not always possible to trust Christian sources for
things. -But most of the time it is OK if you are careful. Again,
I am very sorry for any confusion this has caused.
Below is an interesting piece about eagles from a Christian site
that really has done its homework on this subject:
FORCED from the NEST
-by S. Warner.
Sometimes when a young eaglet is fearful of taking its first flight
away from the nest, a parent will withhold food to force it out. This
is similar to what happens to those who have been closely mentored
and the Lord says its time the "fledglings" got their wings. The
fledglings find their mentors increasingly unavailable and/or are
told to try and hear the Lord for themselves.
I read of one experience written by Frances Hamerstrom who spent
her life studying wildlife. This was her observation of a fledglings
first flight. I thought it a remarkable parable of our lives with the
Lord. The following is a quote from her book, "An Eagle to the
Sky" (1970).
"The.....eaglet was now alone in the nest. Each time a parent came
flying in toward the nest he called for food eagerly; but over and
over again, it (the parent) came with empty feet, and the eaglet
grew thinner. He pulled meat scraps from the old dried-up
carcasses lying around the nest. He watched a sluggish carrion
beetle, picked it up gingerly, and ate it. His first kill.
Days passed, and as he lost body fat he became quicker in his
movements and paddled ever more lightly when the wind blew,
scarcely touching the nest edge; from time to time he was airborne
for a moment or two.
Parents often flew past and sometimes fed him. Beating his wings
and teetering on the edge of the nest, he screamed for food
whenever one flew by. And a parent often flew past just out of reach,
carrying delectable meals: a half-grown jack rabbit or a plump rat
raided from a dump. Although he was hungry almost all the time,
he was becoming more playful as he lost his baby fat; sometimes,
when no parent bird was in sight, he pounced ferociously on a
scrap of prairie dog skin or on old bits of dried bone.
The male eaglet stayed by himself for the most part. He was no
longer brooded at night. Hunger and the cold mountain nights were
having their effect, not only on his body but on his disposition. A
late frost hit the valley, and a night wind ruffled his feathers and
chilled his body. When the sunlight reached the eyrie's (the brood
in a nest of a bird of prey) edge, he sought its warmth; and soon,
again, he was bounding in the wind, now light and firm-muscled.
A parent flew by, downwind, dangling a young marmot in its feet.
The eaglet almost lost his balance in his eagerness for food. Then
the parent swung by again, closer, upwind, and riding the updraft
by the eyrie, as though daring him to fly. Lifted light by the wind,
he was airborne, flying--or more gliding--for the first time in his life.
He sailed across the valley to make a scrambling, almost tumbling
landing on a bare knoll. As he turned to get his bearings the parent
dropped the young marmot nearby. Half running, half flying he
pounced on it, mantled, and ate his fill."
[end of Frances quote]
I thought that story a profound parable of our journey with the Lord.
When its time to leave our nest of comfort and learn to fly, we get
so hungry for the Lord that we are willing to leave our comfortable
surroundings and abandon old childhood habits, all for the taste
and fill of strong meat dropped from heaven. Strong meat is not
easily palatable, but when one becomes hungry enough, it is.
Frances recording was a heroic first flight. Most often an eaglet
will take its first flight to a nearby tree branch, or stump. It will
glide back to the nest if possible. Otherwise the parents continue
to bring food wherever it perches. It is at this time it breaks the
infant bond with the nest.... One month after leaving the nest it
has learned to soar and climb with the winds.
[SOURCE: http://www.thequickenedword.com/eagles.html ]
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