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Peacocks were also said to have been imported to Jamestown but were less successfully bred for feed as were pheasant and partridge. Geese and ducks, however were domesticated and provided settlers with poultry year-round. That didn't mean those colorful backyard wild birds, song and tweeters, weren't still utilized as foodstuff. Wild birds; everything from pigeons to blue jays and cardinals, hawks and falcons, even eagles and buzzards were widely hunted for eating. Yes, eagles, our national symbol was part of the menu. They were prepared much like chickens though usually with a shorter cooking time. They could be roasted or more elaborately fixed by "potting" which was being specially preserved in highly flavored gelatin that could be on the pantry shelf for a long time. So many kinds of birds were so regularly used that specific terminology was used to define their preparation for the table ... A swan was "lifted;" a goose was "broken;" hens were "spoiled;" mallards "unbraced;" pigeons "unwinged;" and woodcocks "thighed." An eagle being sliced up wasn't listed but they were common on the frontiersmen's tables. Perhaps they were hunted and roasted like a turkey, just another big bird. (A turkey could reach up to fifty pounds in "olden days.") Here is a recipe from New American Cookbook - 1805: Grate a wheat loaf ? pound of butter ? pound of salt pork, finely chopped 2 eggs A little sweet marjoram Summer savory Parsley Pepper Salt (If the pork be not sufficiently) fill the bird and sew it up. The same will answer for all wild fowl. Water fowl require onions. The same ingredients will stuff a leg of veal, fresh pork or loin of veal. Like many wild fowl/birds, turkey and eagles gradually diminished in numbers not only for being hunted but because their food sources were greatly decimated with the encroachment of civilization. Little or no foods for our once common birds was one reason they became endangered, don't you see. It seems to us today that hawks and eagles, for instance, could not be regular foods what with their soaring and gliding so swiftly, but certainly they'd perch sometime or be silhouetted on their noticeable nest which could grow as large as 10 foot by 20 foot in size and weight two ton. Those nests called "aerie" or "eyrie" were made of branches and twigs, added onto every year for many years. They'd become a landmark to be exploited if not for the table then in marksmanship. Perched on the nest or tree branch searching for fish in stream or a rabbit or vole on land, the eagle was a target quite easily profited from. Hunters were responsible for the annihilation of several specimen of birds such as the passenger pigeon and the heath hen whose last refuge was at Martha's Vineyard. The eagle nearly so. In the aerie, one or two eggs are laid (it is called a "clutch"). If a third egg appears in some species, it will overburden the parent's care. In recent times conservation officers will move the third egg to a nest with only one and it will likely be hatched. This, it is estimated, has helped increase the numbers of eagles by about forty-three percent. It is the number of hatchlings which determine the perpetuation of the species. The parents can only care for so many. Too, if there are too many in a nest, predators may more easily spy them out and rob the aerie. Also, the "wear and tear" on the parent in the care and feeding is a factor in immediate survival. If too many mouths to feed, they are unable to endure or are in a weakened condition on finally leaving the nest. They are not able to subsist and thus susceptible to being a victim of other prey or the shotgun. No one knows for certain what makes the eagle or any other bird leave its nest. Perhaps the nest becomes too crowded, appetites become too big or the parents decide it's time for them to "get on with it," and urge them to leave. The young eagles may have spent days and days setting on the edge of the nest just flapping their wings for time on end ... Perhaps they are practicing what they see other eagles doing or are building up their flapping muscles but it's a common sight. Those flapping muscles must be strong because eagles are known to fly as much as 125 miles in a day's time in their migration. They average ninety-five but some eagles have been monitored as flying five consecutive days, one hundred twenty-five each. If this isn't a phenomenon the size of their territory has to be. A Least Flycatcher, for instance, requires a mere 700 square meters in which to survive while the Golden Eagle needs 93,000 but which can be diverse in size and shape. No wonder eagles have diminished what with civilization usurping the wilderness it needed. Because of that, people aware of the decline in eagle numbers have had a lengthy campaign to "save the wilderness," or at least provide a safe habitat for America's bird, our national symbol. The Eagle Nature Foundation has been very active in our area, northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. They concentrate on the rivers and streamsides, not just the Mississippi, Wisconsin or Illinois rivers but the smaller ones also. They've "preserved" lands for resting and promoted landscapes/habitat for food and safety and much more. Terrence Ingram, Apple River, Illinois, has been just one tireless worker in this program. This year on January 24th - 25th there will again be an eagle count, a highlight of the Foundation's services. It will be the 49th, an amazing record. Ingram announces that volunteers on foot, in automobile, boat or plane will count the wintering eagles! They estimate that eighty percent of the eagles can be counted. And that before 11:00 a.m., the 24th, from Minnesota to Tennessee. You can see how the program has grown and how many eagles should thank those volunteers who are devoted to their welfare. You may ask for a "count form" by writing "Eagle Nature Foundation," 300 E. Hickory St., Apple River, IL 61001 or by calling (815) 594-2306. It's a worthy cause, that aiding the eagle. Thanks to all who have kept the Foundation active all these years. Eagles can easily be seen in our immediate area by sitting beside most any larger stream, the Rock, Elkhorn, etc. but easiest is at Lock & Dam #13 just north of Fulton. You can watch from your car as dozens of them soar and glide over the open water below the churning waters from the dam. Binoculars show many more in the trees opposite the car park. A lookout is a hand (and bracing) place to watch, too. Along the Illinois River any place for good eagle-watching as is Bellevue, Iowa at Lock & Dam #12. The highway parallels the Mississippi there and is an attractive place to see the expanse of Ol' Man River. The drive up there is especially pretty in winter. At Savanna, too, along the bluffs its a spirit-lifting experience. Eagles wings turn slightly like ailerons guiding them subtilely, each feather doing smooth, exquisite patterns. Their primary feathers at the end flex upward at the tip, separating as if each was a finger. The openings between them are called "slottings," slits, formed by indentations of the trailing and leading feathers closest the wing tips. Manuever ability in the air. Since before the American Revolution, the 18th century, the eagle has reigned as the symbol of America. Its design was used on everything imaginable from pottery, glassware and signs to quilts, rugs and needlework of all kinds. The soaring bird represented the spirit of our nation and still does. We don't need a long printed pamphlet to know the meaning of the eagle's representation. When in 1789 George Washington made a triumphant tour of the colonies, now united states, the popular souvenir was transparencies of eagles sketched on paper affixed to window panes throughout, a lit candle setting behind them on the sill, the flickering flame seeming to animate the noble bird. It was just part of the rage for eagles which was long found on pottery, glass, designs on furniture (chairs, bedposts, picture frames, tavern signseverything. As sea captains opened the trade with China much dishware came back ... Stylized eagles often trimmed in gold. Even our former "enemy," Great Britain, flooded the market with goods of all kinds decorated with the eagle ... Fabric, buttons, china, too, furniture, etc. Tavern signs were everywhere painted with eagles. Noted preacher/writer, Edward Everett Hale on a trip through Vermont as late as the 1850's wrote, "Almost without exception their devices (signs) were the American Eagle with wings spread or of it holding the English Lion, sometimes in chains, sometimes the Lion alone, chained ..." We know the story of Benjamin Franklin wanting the turkey for the National Bird, he knowing how important it was as sustenance for colonists and frontiersmen but even though he was much revered, the nation turned thumbs down on the turkey. Keep the eagle! Again in the 1960's there was a campaign to change the national symbol to the Statue of Liberty. While we hold "Liberty" close to our hearts, Letters-to-the-Editor, New York Times, where the suggestion first appeared, were almost without exception, Keep the Eagle! As we enter a New Year we still honor and take pride in our eagle and our flag. Pledge to those fine symbols our loyalty, our steadfastness, no matter the complications that may arise.
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