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    Gifts of an Eagle: The Remarkable Story of a Bird and Her Family
    Gifts of an Eagle: The Remarkable Story of a Bird and Her Family
    Gifts of an Eagle: The Remarkable Story of a Bird and Her Family
    Ebook179 pages2 hours

    Gifts of an Eagle: The Remarkable Story of a Bird and Her Family

    By Kent Durden

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    About this ebook

    New York Times Bestseller: The “extraordinary” true story of a golden eagle adopted by a California ranching family, and how she changed their lives (Delia Ephron).

    In 1955, Ed Durden brought a baby golden eagle home to his ranch in California, where she would stay for the next sixteen years. As her bond with Ed and the Durden family grew, the eagle, named Lady, displayed a fierce intelligence and strong personality. She learned quickly, had a strong mothering instinct (even for other species), and never stopped surprising those who cared for her. An eight-week New York Times bestseller, Gifts of an Eagle is a fascinating up-close look at one of the most majestic creatures in nature, as well as a heartwarming family story and “an affectionate, unsentimental tribute” (Kirkus Reviews).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateSep 11, 2012
    ISBN9781453271711
    Gifts of an Eagle: The Remarkable Story of a Bird and Her Family
    Author

    Kent Durden

    Kent Durden (1937–2007) was a wildlife photographer, documentarian, and writer best known for his acclaimed book Gifts of an Eagle (1972), an account of his family’s sixteen years caring for a golden eagle named Lady. In a column for the Wall Street Journal, Delia Ephron named the memoir among the five greatest books about animals. Durden also wrote the novel Flight to Freedom (1974) and the memoir A Fine and Peaceful Kingdom (1975). A native of Southern California, Durden toured with the Audubon Society for many years, giving lectures and screening his film about Lady, which included original footage of many of the events from the book. It is available at giftsofaneagle.com. His daughter, Krissy Durden, lives in Portland, Oregon, and contributed a new foreword to Open Road’s edition of Gifts of an Eagle.

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    • 4/5
      An intimate account of 16 years spent with a golden eagle. The illustrations and photographs are a nice addition to an interesting story.

    Book preview

    Gifts of an Eagle - Kent Durden

    Gifts of an Eagle

    Kent Durden

    Illustrations by Peter Parnall

    To My Mother

    who for so many years

    shared her husband with an eagle

    Contents

    Chapter I: Lady Comes to Live With Us

    Chapter II: Early Training

    Chapter III: Adolescent Years

    Chapter IV: A Relationship Grows

    Chapter V: Filling the Larder

    Chapter VI: Eagle Sense

    Chapter VII: Motherhood

    Chapter VIII: A New Home

    Chapter IX: Bit Parts

    Chapter X: A Feature Role

    Chapter XI: Mature Years

    Chapter XII: A Courtship in the Air

    Chapter XIII: Epilogue

    Foreword

    In 1971, my father, Kent Durden, sat down and began to write a book about the relationship he had witnessed over the last sixteen years between his father, Ed, and Lady, the golden eagle they had raised, studied, and filmed.

    Kent had never planned or tried to write a book before. But he was inspired by the remarkable story he’d been involved with over the years that the golden eagle had been such a large part of his family.

    Once the manuscript was done, Kent sent it off blindly to publishers. At Simon & Schuster, an editor somehow managed to find it in a pile of submissions and was immediately enthralled. Gifts of an Eagle was published in 1972 and spent eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

    Kent followed Gifts of an Eagle with two other books, Flight to Freedom and A Fine and Peaceful Kingdom. He also created a film version of Gifts of an Eagle, with all the footage he and Ed had captured over those sixteen years of living with Lady. He toured with the film for the Audubon Society for several seasons, and it is now available on DVD. You can find it, along with more information and images, at www.giftsofaneagle.com.

    I’m very pleased to be able to make this book available again, both for readers who remember Lady and for those just discovering her story. I know you’ll enjoy meeting Lady and spending some time with her. We all did. I was only seven when my dad sat down to write Gifts of an Eagle, but I remember Lady clearly.

    Unfortunately, Ed and Kent are no longer with us, but the story Kent tells is timeless and I am glad to introduce it to new generations with this edition.

    Kristine Durden

    July 2012

    I

    Lady Comes to Live With Us

    MANY TRUE STORIES HAVE been written describing the relationships between man and the various members of the animal kingdom that have become his devoted and loved pets. Few true stories record a relationship lasting as long as this one, and even fewer involve a creature as proud and noble as a golden eagle. This, then, is the story of Lady, who for sixteen years shared her life with a human family and gave her devoted loyalty to her master.

    It is difficult for me to recall a time in my life when Lady wasn’t part of the family. There are faint recollections of that brilliant spring day in 1954 when my father and I inched our way down a steep cliff, carefully lowering ourselves to a point just above a huge pile of sticks. Clinging to scrub oaks and manzanitas, we made the decision to take the final step and capture the huge nestling golden eagle that we knew rested quietly against the cliff just beneath us.

    For several years we had entertained the thought of training a golden eagle for falconry. Together Dad and I had trained many hawks and falcons, and often while flying our hawks, we would see eagles in flight. We would gaze in awe at their huge size, and the thought of being able to cause an eagle to plunge from the sky at our beck and call haunted us day and night.

    At that time the golden eagle was a state-protected bird—now they are federally protected—and, as such, they belonged to the People of California. In order to legally retain an eagle in captivity, we had to obtain a permit from the State Department of Fish and Game. We were thrilled when we finally received the permit. It stated that we were obtaining the eagle for educational and research purposes, to increase the public’s knowledge of the golden eagle. Also in the fine print it stated bluntly that our permit could be revoked at any time without cause or reason.

    Now the search for an eagle’s nest was begun in earnest. Dad took to the air in his small plane and began to search the country for adult eagles. It wasn’t long before he spotted a pair of adult eagles soaring high over the Conejo Valley to the east of our home in Carpinteria. He joined the big birds for a while as they circled in the thermals. They seemed not to mind the company of the large red and white bird, and he often passed within a hundred feet of them without causing alarm. Then he drifted away and began a thorough search of the cliffs on the mountains around the valley. In less than an hour he covered more cliffs than a man could explore on foot in a week. At last he spotted the telltale sign; a ledge with a jumbled pile of sticks streaked with the whitewashing of years of use. He swung closer on the next pass, and as he glided by, got a glimpse of the downy nestling lying quietly in the cup of the nest, waiting for the return of its parents. The chick raised itself up to look at the big bird passing by. Dad eased the throttle open and headed for home. He planned to return from time to time to check on the size of the young bird. It was important to let the old birds feed it for as long as possible.

    The training of the golden eagle was not our only goal in getting the bird. We wanted to study the intelligence and behavior of the king of birds and, above all, we wanted to record the entire story on motion-picture film. The first chapter of our film would be the training of the golden eagle.

    By capturing the nestling, we knew, we were accepting the responsibility for her welfare and safety, not a thing to take lightly. I fastened the rope and held it taut as Dad made his way over the edge. It was three hundred feet to the bottom, and I kept a cautious eye on the oak that held the lifeline. I heard a low whistle as Dad got his first close view of the object of our efforts. The eagle was a nestling in name only. By her size one wouldn’t classify her as a helpless infant, as the word nestling implies. She stood almost two feet high and was almost completely feathered out, with only a few downy tufts remaining around her head.

    She made her defense at the back of the ledge, facing her enemy with gaping mouth and extended talons. A considerable time passed as Dad and the eagle eyed each other. Dad knew that he had to get her by the ankles, just above the large talons, before she had a chance to use her weapons. There wasn’t much room to move about on the ledge, the nest being about six feet wide and four feet deep. Made up entirely of sticks and twigs piled one upon another, it represented several years of nesting activity. Every movement by Dad sent a tremor through the wobbly pile and reminded him of the three-hundred-foot drop to the valley floor.

    As he eased toward the bird, she pressed her back against the cliff and stared wildly at his face. He carefully selected his precise target and with lightning speed grabbed the bird’s ankles. In an instant she was thrashing all around the nest, causing the whole pile to wobble threateningly. With great difficulty he finally succeeded in putting her into a gunnysack and tying a rope to it. The signal was given, and I began to pull the sack up the cliff.

    As the sack came into view, I was eager for my first glimpse of the bird who would become a part of our lives. Looking back in retrospect now, it is no surprise that the first parts of the eagle’s anatomy to greet me were eight long, black, curved sabers protruding through the burlap like some medieval torture trap just waiting to be sprung. A good part of my life would be spent dodging the swift movements of those taloned feet.

    On the ride home, Dad and I talked casually about the future days of training, trying to hide our feelings of anxiety about taking on such a project; meanwhile the eagle lay in her darkened sack at our side, her huge talons clenched in quiet determination.

    The large cage with heavy fishnet sides had been prepared and waiting for weeks in anticipation of our honored guest. We entered with the sack and carefully though unceremoniously spilled the jumbled mass of black feathers, talons, and yellow feet out onto the dirt floor. For a moment the mass of feathers weaved about somewhat unsteadily as the great bird adjusted itself to this abrupt change. Then the feathers began to take on form and shape as the eagle arranged her wing and tail feathers and gathered her feet beneath her. Only then did we begin to realize just how large this bird was. She was magnificent! When standing erect she was almost two feet tall. Her sturdy legs were about one inch in diameter at the ankle, and at the thighs about two inches. Feathers covered the legs all the way to the feet. The thick yellow feet were armed with eight curved black talons from one to three inches long. The broad chest gave indications of the strong pectoral muscles needed to drive the seven-foot wings.

    There is probably no more fierce face than that of a wild eagle. The yellow-brown eyes are set at a forward angle, each protected by a boney, feathered shield called a superorbital bone. This gives the bird a perpetual look of fierceness. The ebony bill adds to the total effect with its wicked hook designed for tearing flesh to shreds.

    At this point in our observations, the eagle became aware of our presence. She wasted no time in coming to the conclusion that we were the cause of all her troubles. As she turned to face us, we realized that this was no ordinary bird. Most birds of prey when first captured will retreat backward until they are cornered, and then put up a fight, or they will simply try to flee. But here before us this golden eagle ignored the drive to flee and instead attacked us! In our haste to retreat we stumbled over one another until we had gained the safety of the outside.

    After she had cleared the cage of unwanted occupants, she surveyed the surroundings. It was a large cage, about twenty feet long and eight feet wide, with sides of fishnetting. An alcove provided a darker place for a resting area. We watched as she walked around the cage in her heavy, swaggering stride. Then she looked up at the perch we had so carefully prepared with soft leather padding fastened with shiny brass tacks; it provided, we thought, a seat fitting for the queen of birds.

    To our delight she hopped up on it. But then a look of contempt came over her as she examined the soft perch. Suddenly she began to tear and rip the leather with her powerful bill, casting each piece disdainfully over her shoulder until our beautiful perch was in shreds, and her yellow feet rested firmly and somewhat proudly on the rough bare wood. She had just demonstrated to us that, although she was our captive, she was still able to exercise certain prerogatives of her own, even if it was only in selecting the type of perch to rest on.

    From this first experience we began to realize just a bit of the proud and aggressive nature of this great bird. We had much more to learn. To the surprise of everyone, we named her Lady. Not lady as a delicate member of the weaker sex (which she certainly did not typify) but Lady as a proud, regal member of the nobility. We retreated to the house to plan our strategy for the next day.

    II

    Early Training

    BEFORE ONE CAN TRAIN any bird of prey, a leash must be attached to the bird. Obviously a collar can’t be put on the neck, so short leather straps are fastened to each ankle by the use of an ancient knot known as the falconer’s knot. These short leather straps are called jesses. To the two jesses a single leather leash is attached by the use of a snap hook. The attachment of the jesses was the first step in the training of this eagle.

    I do not remember how we ever managed to get the jesses fastened to Lady’s feet. However, I can remember ten pounds of thrashing, screaming eagle. Since this was the first step in the training, we had the cameras rolling for the event. It was our belief that the eagle wouldn’t use her bill in defense, and since I had her feet firmly in my grasp, we felt quite

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