My personal experiences with bald eagles were in my mind recently as I watched a YouTube video about a wildlife rehabilitator caring for a very ill male eagle.
The bird was suffering from lead poisoning, and if not for the concern of a local rancher who reached out to a wildlife rescue organization, the eagle would not have survived. It was not an easy rehabilitation – the eagle was very, very sick – but eventually he became stronger and healthier and was able to be returned to the wild.
This story made me want to learn more about bald eagles and other birds of prey, so of course I looked to the library for help. If you, too, have an interest in eagles, and wish to become more familiar with Haliaeetus leucocephalus (the Latin name for the bald eagle species), check out the library’s catalog at www.fvrl.org, and place a title or two on hold. We may not be able to soar like an eagle, but we can certainly become eagle-eyed readers.
• “Bald Eagle Nest” by Kate Davis.
• “Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3-D Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle” by Deborah Lee Rose.
• “Eagles & Birds of Prey” by Jemima Parry-Jones.
• “The Empire of the Eagle: An Illustrated Natural History” by Mike Unwin.
• “Majestic Eagles: Compelling Facts and Images of the Bald Eagle” by Stan Tekiela.
• “Raptors of the West: Captured in Photographs” by Kate Davis.
• “Year of the Eagle: A Year in the Lives of Pacific Northwest Bald Eagles” by Kevin Ebi.
Jan Johnston is the collection development coordinator for the Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries. Email her at readingforfun@fvrl.org.
