Thursday, September 16, 2010

Eagle Accessories

Lauren brought back a lot of eagle equipment from Asia (as we all do) but as she had spent more time and been more places. Most useful were a couple of pairs of eagle -- boots?-- gloves? At any rate, foot warmers for the birds' naked feet (golden eagle legs are thickly feathered). The boots cover only the tops of the feet, and attach via loops around the talons, as you can see on the underside. Olgii in winter may not be Antarctica, but it is the coldest place I have ever been, with temps going to -50 F at night. Lauren in spite of good clothing lost some toenails to frostbite. I imagine the eagles are grateful.







The other interesting piece of equipment was a sort of prosthetic claw for an eagle who has lost one to a fox-- not a rare occurrence when the bird is learning, before she figures out that she must immobilize the dangerous end (the head) immediately. Apparently it works!

5 comments:

Jess said...

Eagle spats. Cool.

Annie D said...

I'm having trouble visualizing how the eagle 'spat' (great name for it, Jess) fits. Any pics?

Steve Bodio said...

Look at the one on the right in the top pic or left in the second (more obviously shaped like eagle feet than the other) and picture it as the BACK of a glove, without the palm piece, that attaches by loops under your fingernails.

Josh said...

The eagle prosthetic is really, really cool.

Annie D said...

Got it! Thank you.