Hey all, have you ever been outdoors and saw something out of the ordinary and just had to see what it was? Tell me about it in the comment section below. While you are there, hit that Like button and the circle shaped Restack button so more people will see my stories.
When I first saw whatever it was, it’s movement befuddled me. In the failing light of a winter’s late afternoon all I saw was a black blob bouncing up and down. As it bounced, the blob traversed the ridge line about a quarter mile away from right to left. If it wasn’t sky lined, I never would have seen it. My binoculars didn’t help in the low light. Despite the late hour and being a little hungry, I was overwhelmed with curiosity. I had to know what it was.
Walking as fast as I could, I stepped over the first wire fence I came to. The top wire had a bit of a sag to it making it easier. Down through the corrals I went, jumping the creek at the bottom and climbed the steep hill on the other side to get to the gate that led into the calving pasture. As I hustled across the pasture, I eliminated some of the possibilities in my head. The calves from last year were sold. There were no new calves yet so it wasn’t some wayward baby cow. It was too small to be a deer, even a fawn. Maybe a coyote or a fox? They hunt in the snow by bouncing and pouncing on voles or mice, but we didn’t have any snow. Do they hunt like that in tall grass? Could be, but that ridge marked the edge of the sainfoin field that had been hayed. There was a little tall grass on the sides of the ridge but not where the blob was bouncing.
I was breathing hard by the time I broke out on top of the ridge at last light. The sun had disappeared behind the Crazy Mountains and all that was left was a fast-shrinking glow as the shadows from the Crazies grew. Carefully sticking my head up over the edge to see the field, I saw nothing. As I finished the last few steps up the ranch road to the field my field of vision grew. I could now see the entire field which was barren of any life. I stood there, puzzled, as darkness fell. Where did it go?
Turning back home, I was grateful for the starlight that illuminated the ranch road. I hadn’t brought a headlamp which was dumb of me. Up ahead I saw something moving fast in a big semi-circle around the pasture. It stopped moving then headed right at me. It was Seamus the Red Setter. He was pleased to find me but took off back the way he came and disappeared into the blackness of the tree lined creek. Our son Mike suddenly appeared with Seamus leading the way.
“Mom sent me to look for you. I figured Seamus would find you quick enough.”
“Thanks for looking. I saw the strangest thing and had to investigate. I can’t imagine what it was…”
I told Mike about the blob as we headed toward the glow of the kitchen window in the distance. He thought we should bring the dogs up to the field in the morning and see if they could find the mysterious bouncing thing. Sounded like a plan to me but now, supper was calling.
Unfortunately, the next day, the dogs came up empty. Frustrated, I headed off to trim a few horses for a rancher. I was even beginning to wonder if I saw something ordinary and the low light tricked me into thinking it was something else. Later that afternoon I came home on the north side of our loop road and saw something dark out on the neighbor’s field. It turned broadside to me, and I recognized it at once as a Golden Eagle. We see eagles all the time here, both Bald and Golden, usually down by the Yellowstone River. At calving time, however they hang out near calving pastures to scavenge afterbirth. This Golden was a little early for that, I thought. Maybe he is on a dead deer or something. When I got home and sat down, it occurred to me that if that eagle was on a carcass there would be other birds there too. Bald eagles, Ravens, Crows and Magpies would all be trying to muscle their way in for the feast. I hadn’t seen any of them. As a matter of fact, I didn’t see a carcass. I just assumed there was one in the grass. I grabbed Mike and we went back out and that eagle was gone. Mike hopped the fence and went out to get a good look. He came back shaking his head.
“I didn’t see anything dead out there. That’s just strange for an eagle to be standing on the ground for no reason.”
“I’m wondering if the blob I saw was this eagle. The sainfoin field is just over there to the east.”
“Could be I suppose,” Mike said, unconvinced. To be frank, so was I.
A week passed and we didn’t see the blob or the Golden again and believe me, we were looking.
The forecast called for a major snowstorm on the way, so we put aside our mystery to get ready for it. We put chains on the feed truck (Its always easier to put chains on before you need them rather than wait until you are buried in the snow and need them), and plugged the tractor in to keep the engine relatively warm for easy starting. Sure enough, that night the snow came down in buckets while the temperature plummeted. We drove both the tractor and feed truck out to the haystack to load up some large hay bales. They weigh about 600 lbs each so a tractor is needed. As I lifted the first bale, I saw something big leap out of the stack into a drift outside the fence. It was a Golden Eagle. It sat there in the snow up to its neck looking all around. It was cool to see it but something was wrong. It should fly away or at least try to. I climbed down off the tractor and Mike got out of the feed truck to go look. We could walk right up to the bird. It didn’t do anything but blink at us through the blowing snow.
“Mike, go back to the house with the truck and bring that old blanket in the mudroom we use for the dogs.”
Mike took off and was back in no time.
“So, what are we going to do?” he wondered.
“I think we can wrap the bird in the blanket and cover its head and talons. We can then take it back to the house and put it in the old grain shed and see what’s wrong with it. Then we call the raptor sanctuary over in Bozeman and ask what to do.”
“Good plan,” said my dutiful son. “How do we want to capture him?”
We decided to spread the blanket out between us and walk toward him, swaddling the eagle carefully while avoiding his sharp beak and talons. As we approached, the eagle must have understood we were going to catch him and jumped out of the snow drift. He tried to flap his wings but one of them was obviously broken. He started hopping away from us. Instantly I recognized the blob’s hop! The poor eagle got stuck in another drift, so we swooped in and wrapped him up. He was too weak to struggle and just gave up. Mike carried him all the way back to the house. For such a large bird he was surprisingly light. Kerry came out and we all went to the empty grain shed and gently put our captive on the floor. Now that he was out of the wind, he looked a little better. That ugly wing however did not. There was bone sticking out at the first joint and I knew that meant the wing probably couldn’t be saved. It might have been exposed to the air for over a week. Now I felt bad I hadn’t made more of an effort to find him.
Kerry called the raptor sanctuary but we would have to wait for the storm to subside before they could come and get our patient. They told us we could see if the bird would eat some venison we had in the freezer. It had to be raw of course and cut into little pieces. I was astonished at how readily he gobbled it down. That gave us some hope that maybe they could amputate that wing and keep him as an educational bird at the sanctuary. To be honest I didn’t think he would be alive in the morning, but I was wrong. He seemed pretty chipper considering the circumstances. He ate some more venison and made some baby eagle noises at us like he was begging for more.
I have a friend and customer who is licensed for falconry. He used a falcon to hunt small game that his bird dog would find and flush. It was fun to watch. We gave him a call for advice but when I explained the situation he wasn’t very hopeful. He basically said we were doing all we could do.
It’s interesting that his birds always seemed to be sizing me up as they glared at me. “Can I eat him?” was the definite vibe I would get every time. This eagle though, didn’t act like that. He seemed more curious about us than anything else. He wouldn’t back away when we brought food. I was tempted but thought it best not to hand feed him. That beak had a wicked hook to it.
The volunteer from the sanctuary finally showed up and we got our friend bundled up and put in a kennel for his ride. We stood watching as she drove away wondering if he might pull through and we could go visit someday.
It was not to be. They called us and said the vets assessed the damage as too severe for our friend to survive so they had to euthanize him. We were a little sad but not surprised. Ever since then I think of that bird when we see eagles. Imagine how tough he had to have been to survive out there badly hurt with no food or water. What I still can’t figure out is how he could disappear so fast without being able to fly. Maybe he could flatten himself out to hide when he saw us approach? Game birds do that. You probably are wondering, as we did, how he broke his wing. There are so many dangers out there for a raptor. They can hit barb wire fences or tree branches as they dive for prey. Sometimes their prey fights back. They fight amongst themselves as well. It could even have been a car hitting him if he was dining on roadkill along the highway.
I know this wasn’t a very happy story. Sorry about that. Kerry wrote in a piece a long time ago that living on a ranch in Montana teaches kids, and adults for that matter, about life and death. Black and white. There are no grays or nuances. There is no bargaining with life. It just happens and we need to figure out how to survive it and if we are lucky, to flourish in it. Maybe even soar above it like our eagle did for a time. But, like the eagle, we all come crashing back to earth from time to time. Hopefully, when those crashes occur, there is somebody who scoops you up and tries to help you fly again.
P.S. I know this is going to come up so, the Raptor Center said he was a immature Golden Eagle. I acquiesce to their expertise.
Really enjoyed this story, John, thank you!
A lesson here. Always investigate black bolbs. Too bad he didn't make it. Nature can be so unforgiving. Another great story.