Ballpark Flying

World Bird Sanctuary is home to numerous bald eagles.

Many of these are rehabilitation birds that were injured in the wild and deemed non-releasable.  Some of them have wing amputations, rendering them unable to fly.  You can see many of these birds on the display line at WBS, just past the hospital and down the gravel path.

 Just two of the non-releasable Bald Eagles on exhibit at WBS

However, some of our bald eagles, while still non-releasable for myriad reasons, are able to fly quite well.  Two of these eagles, Lewis and Clark, can be seen flying from Homer’s Landing out to the pitcher’s mound at Busch Stadium before certain Cardinal Baseball games.  I recently had the opportunity to go along with Roger Wallace, our lead eagle trainer, as he practiced flying the eagles at the stadium.  It was a very cool experience.

 Volunteer, Melanie Kunkel, waiting with Clark as he waits his turn in the release box

When we got to Busch Stadium, we met one of our long-time volunteers, Melanie Kunkel, who enjoys helping out with the eagle training.  She, Roger and I unloaded both birds, and a stadium employee drove up on a golf cart to help us take Lewis’s and Clark’s crates up to Homer’s Landing.

Once there, we deliberated. The birds had both flown well in the past, but we wanted to make sure that they were going to be comfortable during their flights.  Clark was a very experienced flier, but Lewis had a troubling habit of making circles around the field before he came down to land.  After a few minutes, we decided to fly Clark first.  We put his crate in a special release box that the stadium keeps for us, while Roger climbed down a ladder into the field, and began to walk toward the pitcher’s mound.

Melanie and I waited.  Since Roger was so far away, we had to rely on hand and body signals to know when to release the eagles; we never would have heard him if he had shouted.  We watched closely as Roger got closer and closer to the pitcher’s mound.  Suddenly, he turned around.  That was the signal!

Clark came bounding out of the release box

Melanie quickly opened Clark’s crate, and the big eagle bounded out and into the air.  At Roger’s whistle, Clark began his descent, and soon after, alighted upon Roger’s arm.  The whistle sounded twice, and Clark got a treat—some nice, juicy mice.  Then Roger walked back to us with the bird.  He had flown beautifully, and we were very proud of him.

Lewis flying straight and true to Roger Wallace 

 After a couple more flights, it was Lewis’s turn.  We decided to try a different approach with Lewis.  To get a straight flight, we flew him from next to the wall in the outfield--at the same elevation as the pitcher’s mound, instead of from up on Homer’s Landing.  We hoped it would negate the circling, and give him a smoother flight.  I held Lewis as Roger walked to the mound.  When he turned around, I released Lewis.  We all watched nervously as the eagle began his flight… and flew a perfectly straight line from me to Roger.  We were all very happy, and Lewis got an extra big treat.  We flew him once again from on the field, and then once from the top of the outfield wall.  Each time, Lewis flew straight and true, from my glove and then Melanie’s, over center field to the pitcher’s mound, and the snack he knew was waiting.  As Roger returned each time Lewis displayed another habit of his—he chirped, which seems to be the sound he makes when he’s happy.  By all means, he should have been.

 Lewis chirping, a sound he makes when he seems to make when he's pleased with himself

Roger took Lewis to fly at the stadium on July 4^th.  Unfortunately, I had to go out of town, and was very sad I missed the opportunity to see Lewis in flight just before the game started.  Roger told us what happened later.  He said, “I told Lewis (as if he was really listening to me) he could make one circle around the field, and then he had to come to me.  So when he was released, he made three circles, just to show me who was boss, then came and landed on my glove.”

I smiled. I’d been to a game to watch the eagles fly before, so I tried to guess from a human’s perspective what Lewis had been thinking.  Maybe he was caught up in the sheer exhilaration of seeing—and being—a bald eagle in flight.

Submitted by Emily Hall, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist/Trainer