When we get baby birds in at Bird TLC, one of the cardinal rules we follow is to not let the birds imprint on us so that when we set them free, they are still wild and afraid of people… a must if they are to survive. But this year we got in a baby eagle who fell from the nest and broke its wing. It will never fly well enough to be releasable and so is destined to a life as an education bird. This means that we are actually encouraged to get the eagle to imprint on us so that as he grows, he views people in a friendly manner and whoever ends up being his caretaker can tend to his needs without undue stress or either the caretaker or the eagle.
All of which is to say that today I will sit with an eagle, gently touch its head, look into its eyes, and do my best to get a wild creature to trust me. Wow. Life doesn’t get much better than that.