APOGEE PHOTO MAGAZINE: The Lone Survivor by Noella Ballenger

The Lone Survivor
by Noella Ballenger

Copyright 2007 Anne Westfall

The young eaglets are growing up. About 4 weeks after hatching, their real feathers are beginning to show through their soft down.

Copyright 2007 Noella Ballenger

Golden eagles return to their nests year after year. They add new branches to the nest each year. The nests can be extremely large … this one was about 6 feet across at the top. One of the parents is carefully shielding the newly hatched eaglets from the hot sun.

This photograph was taken about 2 days before two of the eaglets were killed. They are almost ready to fly. As soon as an eaglet is able to fly, the parents train it to hunt for food and pass along all of the other eagle behavior knowledge they will need to survive in the wild.

Martin Tyner holds his eagle Scout at the release ceremony for the Lone Survivor at Cedar Breaks National Monument. Scout is a Golden Eagle that is used for educational purposes and can never be rehabilitated for release in the wild.

Martin Tyner is holding the Lone Survivor just prior to handing him to Steven Cantonwine to release.

Steve Cantonwine is just seconds away from releasing the Lone Survivor.

Notice the size of the talons and strength in the legs of the eagle. That eagle is ready to fly!

Steve Cantonwine thanks Martin Tyner for the opportunity to release the Lone Survivor. They are pictured here with Martin’s Golden Eagle, Scout.

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WARNING: THE TWO PHOTOS BELOW MAY BE DISTURBING TO SEE.

DO NOT SCROLL DOWN, IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO SEE THE EAGLETS THAT WERE SHOT!

The eaglets had almost been ready to fly when they were brutally shot and killed in the nest.

The eaglets were defenseless and unable to fly away from the attack. One eaglet barely survived the assault by falling out of the nest and “gliding” to the bottom of the mine pit where it was later rescued.

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