Prompted by Rural Miss, a long ago but never forgotten memory came to my mind recently. It was a pic of an eagle that reminded me i have never really written of it except some brief diary entries. Maybe a short version on FB or 2. Its a yarn about a friend i made some years ago, In the form of an eagle, I never named it, and looking back i cant explain why. I know i have written of the largest i have seen, this was not it, I have also written of the white eagle i once found, this was not it, I got to thinking and said to my wife, i never named it, wonder why i never named it ? She replied promptly, because you were Jayman, You never gave titles or names to wild animals, remember when i moved in and there were the 2 grass (ring neck) parrots who lived in the stable with the horse ? you never named them because the old Jay didnt need to. They were always there and you just considered them friends without needing a reason to. Rox was right. So here goes. It was the morning of the 2nd of may 2003, The previous night i had set some rabbit traps, not for their intended use but rather for foxes, Ask for explanation if you must later, but in previous yarns i have mentioned how i came to my preferred bait, Nacho flavoured Doritos. I dont know why or how,(i have a few theories), but on that morning i found instead of a fox i had somehow caught a rather large eagle. After the natural head scratch and WTH am i going to do about this, Instinct kicked in so i grabbed a towel and headed out there with Patch, my trusty mate a Bullterrier X as some readers may remember her. She wouldnt go near the damn thing and went back to the house, Its partner was there to. It leaped and bounded and took off then circled and landed by its mate, I think thats what scared patch off. It repeated the exercise taking off in front of it as if to show it what to do, circled and landed behind it 3 times while i watched. I headed out there after it took off the 4th time. The bloody thing was almost as big as Patch with its wings folded, It seemed calm as i approached weary of the one circling overhead. I threw the towel over it and held its wings down and to my surprise it didnt fight much, I checked its leg thinking the whole time, i cant keep this damn thing, and to my relief the leg wasnt broken. Its claws were flexing their grip below where the steel trap had a grip of its leg. It seemed in no way really hurt or injured other than being trapped, and i suppose it didnt fight me too much due to being weary from fighting the steel grip on its leg. It took a bit of manoeuvring to hold it still with both hands and use my foot to release it from the trap, at which point it just sort of went limp. I took the opportunity to remove the towel and ran a short distance away, leaving it there in the paddock. It sat there for a while and i became a bit worried before returning to the house and watching from afar. Not to long after its partner swooped almost low enough to touch it from behind, and it got up, laboured and bounded before taking to the air in the way only a large eagle does. I went inside for breakfast and came back out about a half hour later to find an eagle still circling the house. Now to be fair i dont actually know if it was the partner or the one i had freed. To look at they seemed the same, But i think it was the one i freed. I went on to feed the horses and it seemed to follow me on my round of chores, But the clincher was when i went back to the house then jumped in the car and headed to town. It followed me a good 10kms and i spent the whole time constantly checking the sky to see it there. I did what i had to in town mail run, fuel etc and headed home to find guess what? an eagle circling the house. Now this is where i may start to sound crazy, I decided to go for a walk down the side road and began to think i had made a friend, for which i felt partially guilty as it was my fault it had been caught in the trap in the first place. As i walked i noticed the circling stoped, when i looked up it was still there, but hovering like a kite, i stood still for a while and watched, it didnt move. So i ran up the road half a mile or so and when i stopped it was right above me 30 to 40 feet straight up, So i turned and ran back stopping half way i noticed it stop to and so it followed even facing the same direction as me. So i put my arms out to replicate wings and began running in zig zags stopping now and then to watch as it mirrored or shadowed my every move, Then i jogged into a patch of scrub and it never faltered. It knew exactly where i was at all times, I spent a good hour or more doing this and it followed me as if attached by a string, Best i can describe it was wonderfully weird (from my diary). Any how i went home, started tea, then he/she followed me while i did the arvo horse feed and i called it a day. Next morning there it was circling the house, and as i went out it stoped circling and became like a kite again, always facing the same way as me as it followed. After feeding and trough top ups, it was gone. But it returned later in the evening to circle the house, This went on for 6 months or more, giving me at least the chance to show a few mates. Then one morning it just wasnt there, I looked for days but i never saw him/her again and never again did an eagle circle my house. sorry its not the greatest ending but that is how it was. One day it was just gone. I may never know why, but i appreciated its presence while it lasted, even if i did carry the guilt of being the reason it needed rescuing in the first place.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 04:26:31 +0000
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