Widow passage female golden eagle

April 12, 2008

Female passage golden eagle (Widow)

Wt. 9lbs 10 oz.

I started to reduce Widow’s weight about two weeks ago. She is, after all, a trained eagle that has caught 12 plus jacks, so, for her, it is just a matter of conditioning. She really should have been released last year but with our move up to Oregon and not knowing much about the land around here I thought I should wait until I could find a good place to release her.

With Cordi and JJ, our oldest daughter, along we took Widow over to the edge of one of the bluffs on the ranch. It is a reasonably steep hill that overlooks the valley below which is, for the most part, covered in sage brush. I was hoping for more wind to get Widow in the air more but otherwise all went well for the first day. She flew around off the hill and never went too far off. At one point we were joined by a sub-adult bald eagle and just as fast as it came the bald eagle was gone.

There are some unbelievable places to fly eagles in the surrounding areas and the wind does blow so Widow will have to fly and soar.