We have an eagle at the Wild Bird Rehab Center where I volunteer on Tuesday mornings whose top beak was shot off. She’s a wonderful bird. We call her Beautiful…ok, I actually call her the Beakless Wonder but that’s just me. Being Italian, I’m the cook on Tuesday for the birds. I get to cut up old salmon and moose, defrost dead mice, quail and hamsters and – my favorite part – plump them up again with lactated ringer’s solution. I also get to hand feed Beauty because without an upper beak, she can’t feed herself.
There is no feeling in the world quite like when an eagle allows you to get that close to their world. Each Tuesday I leave there and think, “Wow. I can’t believe I am so privileged.”