<p>Freshman daughter is packing and getting ready to leave. I am trying to be happy, but I am boo-hooing and walking around with tissues from time to time. She left me a wonderful note on my bed with a directive to watch the video I have listed below. To all of you leaving children at school, especially if it’s a freshman, I invite you to watch the video as well. You will be glad you did. (And yes, for an 18 year old, she is pretty darn amazing…) Enjoy.</p>
<p>Google “Eagles Need a Push” to find the video.</p>
<p>It’s a nice sentiment, so I hate to be a pedantic killjoy. But the scientist in me forces me to point out that the photography is staged or mislabeled. With the possible exception of one brief picture near the beginning, these don’t show a mother eagle and her youngsters on the nest, because bald eagles don’t develop their striking white headed plumage until they are about five years old. Fledgling bald eagles have dark brown heads. Thus all these white-headed birds learned to fly long ago and aren’t being pushed out by their mother. In most of the pictures the apparent youngster learning to fly is probably actually the male of a nesting pair, since for hawks and eagles the males are usually about 2/3rds the size of the females.</p>
<p>Joining in the pedantry-- Eagle Mom is unlikely to have two little eagles to teach to fly. The first sibling hatches a day or two before the next. The older, bigger chick grabs most of the food so the younger starves. Sometimes the older chick even kills and eats the younger sibling.</p>
<p>coureur is right, eagles do take until around age 5 to fully mature and become white headed. We have an eagle tree by our yard and are well acquainted with young & old ones (and feel lucky every time they hang around by us;))</p>
<p>The Norfolk Botanical Garden has a camera trained on a bald eagle nest. Earlier this year, the bald eagle adult pair had three eggs that hatched (on camera!) All three chicks thrived, branched, and ultimately fledged under the care of their watchful parents. One of the juveniles, Azalea, is still hanging around the nest. When I checked the cam this AM, she was sitting on a branch near the nest. (The large black spot in the picture is a spider in the camera lens.) It’s been amazing to watch these beautiful birds develop over the past months.</p>
<p>Also check out the biologist blog. One of the biologists posted a photo of the male adult passing a fish to Azalea in mid-flight. It’s a great photo.</p>
<p>Well, I guess I am a metaphorical thinker…and apparently my daughter is as well. I admit to knowing very, very little scientific information about eagles. But I do know an awful lot about raising kids and letting them go. Again, my information isn’t scientific, but rather somewhat instinctual. </p>
<p>I do need to give my daughter a metaphorical push…perhaps I just needed her to tell me that it was okay to let her fly. So, eagle mother, mouse mother, cat mother, or human mother…this letting go stuff is difficult and it sure is a gift when our kids realize how hard it is to let them leave. I was absolutely touched that in her time of total excitement, she took a few moments to think about how hard this is on mom. Pretty good stuff, really.</p>
<p>I really do not see how the technical aspect of the eagle has to do with the point of the video. People like that looks into everything too deeply, and sometimes the miss the blessing of joy/point of a situation.</p>
<p>Colclifmuir,
What a lovely message your D shared with you. She is quite a young lady and I’m sure she will soar to amazing heights and share the view with you. Our kids are all such amazing folks, especially when they show compassion for our feelings, even in their excitement about the life unfolding before them. My D is especially good at sharing her feelings with us while S is quieter about them. </p>
<p>I’ve shared this lovely video with others who have kids who are also soaring.</p>