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Tuesday, February 8, 2011

An ideal Eagle Scout: Golden eagle visits Court of Honor in Mendon


 Monday, February 7, 2011 1:15 am | Updated: 11:46 pm, Sun Feb 6, 2011.
By Arie Kirk |
Boy Scout troops in Mendon welcomed a special guest to their Eagle Scout Court of Honor on Saturday.
Nizhoni, a golden eagle believed to be about 30 years old, was presented at the ceremony as an "ambassador for her entire species" and a symbol of the qualities Boy Scouts develop as they earn their Eagle Scout.
Jennifer Waterhouse, bird programs educator with Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City, said the skills Eagle Scouts have worked on "mirror" those of wild eagles.
"To accept the name eagle is not to be taken lightly," she said. "Although it is a small word, it holds great meaning."
Waterhouse spoke to the troop about the nature of eagles. She said they are courageous, wise and loyal. Eagles are also strong and have 10 times the vision humans have, she said, explaining that an eagle can see its prey from up to a mile in the air.
"The Eagle Scout who sets his sites on lofty goals shares this vision with the eagle," Waterhouse said.
While Waterhouse spoke about eagles and how the bird came to be the United States' national symbol, Nizhoni kept a watchful eye on the crowd as she stood perched on the arm of Linda Wignall, one of her trainers.
Nizhoni has a 6-foot wingspan and weighs about 14 pounds, which makes her "pretty large for a golden eagle," Wignall said. "Nizhoni" means beautiful in Navajo.
Wignall, who is a bird trainer at Tracy Aviary, said the bird was found in Casper, Wyo., in 1985 with a wounded right wing. After being shot, Nizhoni suffered permanent muscular damage, so she is unable to fly and be released, Wignall said. She said Nizhoni lives at Tracy Aviary, where she likes to eat beef heart, her favorite food.
This isn't the first time a live eagle has come to a Boy Scout Court of Honor in Mendon. David Kotter, Eagle mentor for the Mendon 2nd Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said an eagle came about 17 years ago.
"It was so much fun before that we just thought the boys would really appreciate it for their Eagle Court of Honor to have a live bird here," he said.
Wignall said that right now, they take an eagle to a Boy Scout event about once a week.
"For a lot of these boys, even though they're earning the rank of Eagle Scout, a lot of them have never seen an eagle in person before, so the program that we offer gives them the opportunity to actually have that close-up encounter with the bird that they're getting their name from and as majestic as the bird actually is, we find that it's exciting to have in their ceremony," Waterhouse said.
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