9: Bald Eagle
My friends,
I write to you from Arapahoe, Ute, and Cheyenne land. I am interested in learning about the different animals that live in the place where I was born. I want to mention that biological classification as taught by western science has its roots in racism, sexism, and transphobia – here’s a good explainer about why.
Now please watch this majestic AF video.
Everybody knows about bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) but I did not know, until recently, that they could swim. Search “bald eagles swimming” and the youtube algorithm will take you down a dark path that very quickly leads to watching in awe and horror as adult bald eagles grab mountain goats and fling them off cliffs.
Since we do all know quite a bit about bald eagles (I assume), I thought I would share something today that you may not know about them. The USA has eight eagle repositories which hold the remains of eagles to be used by Native Americans in ceremonies. One is federally run by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and is located right here in the Denver, Colorado area. The other seven are all tribally administered and are throughout the country.
There are only two types of eagles found in North America, the bald eagle and the golden eagle, and both are considered sacred by Natives. However, non-native Americans almost made them extinct in the 20th century, due to hunting, trafficking of eagle parts, and extensive use of the pesticide DDT, which impacted the eagles’ food chain and caused their eggshells to be thin and brittle. Environmental protections in the 1970s made it illegal for any American to own any part of an eagle – aside from Native Americans who wish to use them for ceremonial purposes. Unfortunately but not at all shockingly, the federal government, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, used these laws to abusively raid homes on reservations, known as “feather busts”.
I found this passage describing the treatment of a dead eagle by a Comanche man, Waha Thuweeka, to be particularly moving: “When one of his eagles dies, Waha Thuweeka starts by painting the top of its head with a traditional dry ochre paint often used in Comanche ceremony, then traces the paths of its major arteries and the pads of its feet in red. Next, he removes the bones that form the crux of its powerful wings, to be used for eagle bone whistles. He positions the feet as if the bird were at rest, its head tucked on its breast, then binds it in red fabric and buckskin…All the while, Waha Thuweeka (who also uses the English name William Voelker) burns aromatic juniper and pinyon pine resin over hot coals. The resin is meant to symbolize tears, he says; “When we put it on hot coals, we let the tree cry for us.” After the ceremony is done, he leaves the eagle’s wrapped body in a high crevasse specially chosen by his community for that purpose.” Source.
Finally, I wanted to say that if you want to see some bald eagles, I’ve got a few good places to look. First, I have seen them all around the Upper Colorado River, especially north of I-70 and on the Eagle River along I-70. Second, they like to hang out at the Wild Animal Sanctuary northeast of Denver, presumably because they can get some of the food left out for the wild animals. And finally, I lived next to City Park for several years and I did once see this fellow – you might too!