In Loving Memory of Mom Norfolk, by The Eagle Peeps [easy to read books for adults list .txt] 📗

by cameranut

Dear Mods,

We just wanted to take the time to pass along a great big THANK-YOU to you for your dedication to the eagle cam and blog this season. You’re all so “talon”ted in teaching, typing, and taking us under your “wings”!! You “cere”tainly have done an outstanding job!! We viewers have received the most incredible “Ed”ucation day after day as we’ve “perch”ed at our computers waiting to see what will happen “NX”t.

We’re VERY thankful that you’re so patient with us whenever something throws us into a fre”NZ”y! Hopefully we haven’t “eggs”aspirated you too much since we seem to have a tendency to “carrion” so. Maybe someday we’ll learn to believe you when you say all will be fine and that we should have “nare”y a care!

You “eggs”cellent mods have kept an “eagle eye” on the blog as you keep “talon” us so much about eagles and other wildlife. As a matter of fact, you’ve helped us learn so much that it became necessary to make a special diction”aerie” to keep track of all the terms. Among other things, you’ve taught us that “Amanda”ble is the lower part of an eagle’s beak, that “PS” doesn’t just mean Post Script anymore, and that we mustn’t do anything ill”eagle” with the photographers’ pics. Not only do you help us grow in knowledge, but you continually “crack” us up with your great senses of humor. You mods are just the bestest and make us proud to be a part of Eagle Nation!

Mind if we get a little “nest”algic for a few moments? Remember those nice waitresses at the “nest”aurant when the kids first arrived at WCV (lots of blue plate specials served with lousy tips in return)? Then we all tried to help “feather” the cause of WVC and NBG by voting for them on Chase Community Giving. We got it done! WCV received $225,000 and NBG got $125,000. (“Pip-pip” hooray for Eagle Nation!) NZ , of course, had us worried when she “raptor” shin on the stair step perch and got a chip fracture. And how about NV? Man, can that little guy fly! (Remember all the times“Vinny” used to get beak-bonked by his sisters? We thought for sure he was gonna be brain damaged!)

Shall we mention all the staff at WCV? So e”fish”ent in all they do! They have everything covered no matter what happens (NV “falling out of bed”, the swinging perch breaking, bat eaglet clinging to the netting, NX refusing to get off the perch to be weighed)! How accommodating and kind they are to Eagle Nation!! We tried to tell Ed that we were addicting “Buddy” wouldn’t listen at first – lately though, he sure seems to enjoy blogging with all of us!

Of course we can’t forget to say how easy it is to be jealous of all the fortunate folks who get to visit NBG in person to look for Dad Norfolk. And now, how “NV”ous we are of all of you that get to attend the release at Berkeley Plantation (but oh so happy for you!!).

This site was just “tail”or made for all of us Eagle Cam crazies – we’ll be so “soar”y to see the adventure come to an end. (My, what a season it has “Ben”!) We greatly appreciate the “tree”mendous amount of time you mods have invested in all of us!! We sure hope we haven’t left you totally “eggs”hausted after you spend hours with us on the blog – we truly haven’t meant to be a “bird”en to you.

You have come to mean so much to us and we just think the world of you. Why? “Beak”ause “y’all” are so gracious, kind, knowledgeable, respectful, and PATIENT beyond belief!!!!! Such “eggs”traordinary people are found nowhere else - cong“rats”ulations on a job well done!

So as always – take care, enjoy watching the eagles and have a peaceful one until you have sweet eagle dreams!

We will never forget you!!!

With Love,

Your Eagle Nation

Dear Diary:

Like a house with empty rooms, a silence now settles into those places that once cradled eggs, chirps, and warm, soft embraces. A single downy feather, dancing upon the late summer breeze, is all that remains of the wonder that captured my heart. The spirit is melancholy, and I yearn for those babies once more. But, alas, youth is a fickle thing, departing all too swiftly. I have entered the world of eagles, a place of courage and extraordinary devotion; humbled by the encounter, I shall never be the same. Now, as evening crickets sing a lullaby to weary summer fields and eagles settle into leaf-laden trees, perhaps, one day, I shall be granted one last glimpse as my babes bid me a final farewell.

Anne Atkinson © copyright 2011

Remembering Lady Legacy….and honoring the love of her life.

Twas the night before release

E.G.Strasser

Twas the night before release, and all through the cage
only a fish, was on center stage.

The eagles were nestled all snug on their perch
as they dreamed they were flying, over a church.

Way high above, the lofty old steeple
Far, far away, from all kinds of people

But while they slept, alone in the dark
a person appeared, why look, it's Ed Clark

He and his staff of great dedication
without them there would be, no Eagle Nation

They deserve all our thanks, for all that they do
all kinds of animals, What, no kangaroo?

The dawn soon will break, and all will arise
they'll gather together, perhaps tears in their eyes

The birds will be readied, to go on their trip
and things will be done, with nary a slip

Then at the plantation, there arose such a clatter
The eagles want out, or the cage they will shatter

Then what to my wondering eyes should appear
but Ed Clark in slippers, so nothing to fear

The birds were released, and flew out of sight
Thousands cheered, As I thought they might

But I must exclaim, in my own kinda way
Thanks mods and staff, for you caused this day.

Legacy Lady

by Carol Flaer Senechal

Now flying high
Now flying free
But not alone
All hearts with thee
Our lovely Lady Legacy.

As you soar high
On cloudless flows,
Your wings extend
And then steer so
They see you.

They feel you close
A mother’s love
And soon they too
Will fly above
So near you.

Missing you
With eagle sighs.

Freedom

By: Wings

Somewhere along the James River in Virginia, in a stand of trees, are many juvenile eagles learning to stay alive for the first time in their short lives. They spend the day foraging for food, fighting for food, squabbling with each other and bathing in the river.

At night after the day’s activities, they gather in the trees to rest with others of their kind. Sometimes, conversations start up amongst them and they recount how they came to choose this place to live. In this convocation of eagles are three juveniles who recently took up residence. They were asked, if they were from Norfolk, how did they wind up in this stretch of the woods?…..This is their answer. Most of the narration is done by

NZ

with occasional comments from

NX

and

NV

.

NZ:

I hatched first on March 13, 2011 at 11:25 A.M. on a Sunday. I was the favorite.

NX:

I hatched 2 days later on a Tuesday, at noon on March 15, 2011. I was the cutest.

NV:

I hatched on a Thursday at 1:30 P.M. March 17, 2011 and I had 2 bratty sisters to compete with. It was a hard, cruel life. I barely made it out of the nest bowl with my feathers intact.

Okay,--- this is our story of our life in the wild, our capture by The Earth Walkers and our final release back to the wild.

NV:

NZ, Why don’t you call them 2-legged aliens…They have 2 legs.

NZ:

We have 2 legs and we are not aliens

NV:

We walk on the ground and we are not aliens either

NZ:

Because they can’t fly and I am telling the story Rooster Face!

Our Mom, who has many names – Mama Norfolk, Legacy Lady, Lady of the Garden- to name a few, was the BEST Mom in the whole world. She and Dad--who was absolutely the best Dad anywhere--built this beautiful, cozy nest for us way high up in a Loblolly Pine tree in this beautiful garden. It was magnificent up there, you could see for miles and all those Earth Walkers on the ground looked like ants. We had fresh air, sunshine, most of the time, and we had this wonderful symphony of all kinds of birds singing to us every day. Mom told us we were special because we were the only eagles in the garden and that’s why the other birds sang to us every day.

When it was cold or it rained, Mom would sit over us and spread her wings to keep us warm and dry. She would chirp to us softly and tell us stories about all the great eagles in history, all the while keeping our minds off the terrible weather.

NV:

And how hungry I was!

Dad, who is not only handsome but strong, was the best hunter in all of the garden. He brought us lots of fish and once in while he would bring us strange birds. Mom would rip off the feathers and use them to make our nest nice and soft. She would tear little teeny tiny pieces of meat and gently feed them to us.

NV:

And I was always getting beak bonked by NZ because she was a hog and wanted it all.

NX:

Well, so was I. It wasn’t easy for me either.

NV:

Yeah, but you tried to steal my food as well, it’s a wonder I survived on such meager rations!

Once in a while when Mom wasn’t around, Dad would feed us. What a treat that was. Of course, sometimes he started feeding himself before us. It was probably because he was working so hard trying to feed this large family that he never had time to eat himself. Once, he came back to the nest with this huge fish and Mom left to go get some lunch for herself. We were in the nest bowl waiting for him to feed us and he just started eating.

NV:

Yeah, Hoggo NZ decided to escape, even though Mom told us never to leave the nest bowl, and crawled over to Dad screaming for food.

AnyWhoooo….For every 3 or 4 bites Dad took he would give us one.

NV:

US! ….You hog, you wouldn’t let NX or me near him.

NZ:

I was famished you toothless prairie chicken, I was the oldest and growing fast and you two came along and the food had to shared with you two bottomless pits.

NX:

Oh please, NZ, you are such a drama queen! You were getting plenty to eat; your butt was so big it took up half the nest bowl!

NV:

Oh, like yours was any smaller NX. I was so squashed by you two I had a hard time breathing and it’s amazing I had room to grow!

NX:

Yeah well you [NV] smashed my face into the nest and crawled over me to get to Dad. And even though your crop [NZ] was as big as a golf