Amazing night sky

This picture was taken a few days ago using a normal phone camera. The reason you see so many stars is because it was taken from a rural place where electricity is't common, hence making the stars seem so bright and noticeable .

     This picture is completely unedited!!

Eagles face the unavoidable

As soon as an eagle is born, it is taken care of by its parents. They provide it with food and shelter. Use their bodies as shields to protect the young from strong hails and storms. Life seems all too easy for them. All they really care about is the next feeding time and thats it. No worries and life is all the same.
When the youngs reach 10 weeks, the mother eagle teaches the little ones to fly by making their nest so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave it and commit themselves to the unknown wold of the outside. She further makes them to starve, putting pressure on them to hunt on their own.
Intelligent creatures!!

Aren't we humans like them too? We take care of our youngs, teaching them as much as need be and then just when they are ripe, we expose them to the world.
I surely can relate to it, and i am sure you can too. Some of us leave our houses, go to different unheard places, study or perhaps settle there. At first the thought might bring a feeling of sadness in us, the thought of leaving your loved ones behind. But its all part of life.

And to continue where i left, and it might even cheer you up a bit if someone close to you is leaving too. Once the eagle takes it first flight, it soars thorough the heavens enjoying the freedom. Flies as much as its weak wings can bear.Then it hunts and slowly and gradually develops its own nest. But every once in a while it comes back to meet its parents and sometimes even bringing food to them :)

Male vs Female eagle ?

In addition to my previous post (http://whatiseagle.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-to-differentiate-between-male-and.html) , i would like to add something. I found an amazing youtube video which would make the job of differentiating a male from a female very easy, so here it is...

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And yes, i do not own this video, just sharing it for educational purposes.

Enjoy :)

How to differentiate between a male and a female eagle ?

A friend of mine, Fabeha once asked how its possible to tell the gender of eagles just by looking at them. So then i realised maybe others might not know as well. So here i am writing to help you distinguish between the male and the females. However the focus is going to be on Bald eagles but these conditions apply to almost all types.

For a normal ( a bird watcher) observer its a pretty simple job. The only thing one need to look at is the relative size. The female ones are larger than males by roughy a third of the size. Technically female bald eagles have a size of 37 inches while males are 30 inches long.

Then one can look at the talons for further verification. The number is the same on both males and females but the length of these talons differ. Females have longer talons as compared to males.

And if you are a good listener then you can differentiate by the sounds of the two. Females have a lower pitch voice as compared to males.

Although these might look simple to read but distinguishing isn't a very simple job. It requires you to dedicate a lot of time looking at these raptors and to get used to their size and sounds.

Hopefully now you know the difference....

Seeing an eagle is true happiness

How true :)

Eagle tests before it trusts

The Eagle tests before it trusts. When a female eagle meets a male
and they want to mate, she flies down to earth with the male pursing
her and she picks a twig. She flies back into the air with the male
pursuing her. Once she has reached a height high enough for her, she
lets the twig fall to the ground and watches it as it falls. The male
chases after the twig. The faster it falls, the faster he chases until
he reaches it and has to catch it before it falls to the ground, then
bring it back to the female eagle.

Bald eagle dives to retreat the twig

An eagle carrying a twig
The female eagle grabs the twig and flies to a much higher
altitude pursued by the male, until she perceives it high enough, and
then drops the twig for the male to chase. This goes on for hours,
with the height increasing until the female eagle is assured that the
male eagle has mastered the art of picking the twig which shows
commitment, then and only then, will she allow him to mate with her!
Amazing, isn't it ?

Hunting with eagles

Hunting with golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) is a traditional art of the Eurasian steppes, particularly defined as "Horse Riding Falconry" or "The Eagle Falconry" in Central Asia. It is a type of falconry.

Kazakh eagle hunter in Mongolia.

The relationship of the bird and its master is constant and all-consuming. In the training of a young eagle, the berkutchy (trainer) must sacrifice his sleep for a long period. For weeks, the growing bird is rendered sightless under its hood until its dependence on its master becomes complete. Such intimacy must turn into a lifelong trust with the eagle - twenty years or more. It is said "that as the man trains the eagle, so does the eagle train his man." There is a proverb in Kazakhstan: "There are three things a real man should have: a fast horse, a hound, and a golden eagle."


First In 936-45 AD the Khitans, nomadic people from Manchuria used this practice of hunting with eagles. Then the tradition was passed to the Kyrgyz during the reign of Genghis khan.


Even today,Kazakhs living in Mongolia continue to hunt with eagles. There are an estimated 250 eagle hunters alive today practicing this tradition. Every year they gather for the Golden eagle festival in Mongolia.

If you are lucky, perhaps you can meet them someday but remember, hunting with these raptors is their family tradition so they wont disclose the secrets to you.