Many people consider the bald eagle to be the most beautiful and impressive of all birds. Fully grown, it stands three feet high, weighs about ten pounds, and has a wingspan of six to eight feet. A mature eagle has a dark-brown body with white feathers on its head, neck and tail. Its eyes, sharp-hooked beak and legs are bright yellow.
The Creator designed this bird for its special place in His creation. It has exceptional beauty, whether sitting in a tree or circling high in the air. Its eyes can spot a mouse a mile away or a fish far below. Its main food is fish, but it also eats mice, gophers, rabbits, snakes, birds and dead animals. Spotting prey, it may circle down swiftly or make a direct dive at a speed of a hundred miles per hour, stopping suddenly as its curved talons grab its victim.
Spotting an osprey or fish hawk flying with a fish, an eagle may swoop down and frighten it into dropping its food. Then the eagle dives down and catches the prize for itself. Often while looking for food, it will perch on a dead tree high on a bluff, just as they did in Bible days when the Lord asked Job, “Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on ... the strong place. From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off” (Job 39:27-2927Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? 28She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. 29From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. (Job 39:27‑29)).
Eagles keep the same mate for life. Their nest, called an aerie, is usually in the top of a high tree near water. They use the same aerie every year and add new material to it, so many old aeries are as large as twenty feet deep and nine feet across. Only one or two white eggs are laid each year and take about forty days to hatch.
The eaglets live on food brought to them by their parents. If both eaglets are healthy, they gain strength by playing tug-of-war with sticks or having little battles. They first learn to fly by hovering over the nest, but when eleven or twelve weeks old they leave the nest. If one is afraid to fly, the mother may push it out, then swoop below and allow it to rest on her back when it gets tired. The Lord spoke of this concerning His people Israel: “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead [them]” (Deuteronomy 32:11-1211As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. (Deuteronomy 32:11‑12)).
Another Bible verse says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles” (Isaiah 40:3131But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)). If the Lord Jesus Christ is your Saviour, you will find Him always able and willing to give you the strength needed for your Christian life.
ML-02/22/2009