Decorah Eagles

As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young,   spreading   out its wings. Taking them up, carrying them on its wings.  Deut 32:11, NKJV

Established  as a nonprofit organization based  in Decorah, Iowa, in 1988, the Raptor  Resource  Project  (RRP) states that  its mission is “the preservation   of falcons,  eagles,  ospreys,  hawks,  and  owls.” For convenience, ornithologists lump all of these large birds of prey into one group called raptors.  To accomplish   their mission, RRP creates, improves, and maintains nest sites and works to “deepen the connection between   people and the natural world.” One way of doing that is by maintaining   cameras at nest sites with 24/7 online streaming so that the world can watch.

For several years thousands of online viewers have observed   a famous pair of eagles called the “Decorah Eagles.” The pair has maintained   a half­ ton nest high in a cottonwood tree since 2007. From  there  they have raised several  broods   of young  eagles, including  a brood  of two  in  2008,  and  a brood  of three each year from 2009 to the present.  The three young eaglets today are fully feathered but have not fledged yet. I have been checking in on them periodically from the days that the eggs were laid in late February and early March.  As I review some of the numerous   video  clips about  this  pair  of eagles  posted  on  YouTube, I am  impressed   again  by the  parents’ commitment    and  dedication   to raising  their  young.  Hour after hour, day after day, 24/7 they are on duty-patiently      protecting,   feeding, cleaning, and brooding   their young.  One particularly poignant clip filmed on April 3, 2011, shows one of the young bobble-headed   chicks that had somehow slipped out of the nest bowl and was alone on a lower level of the monster nesting platform.  The  struggling,  chirping  chick  tried  again  and  again  to return to the  nest,  but the  upslope  was too  steep  and  the  chick  too  small and too weak, The tension  builds. Then mother eagle simply stretched out. Her neck, put her massive hooked bill behind the chick, and gently drew it back under her wing and into the protection of the nest bowl.                    .

Mothers of so many species demonstrate   commitment   and care that is powerful and touching.  Most are hardwired for such behavior-it is something that they do without any instruction   or training.   For all we know, animals are incapable of loving. Come to think of it, without the fruit of the Spirit, we also are incapable of loving as God does.