The Eagle Huntress by Liz Welch

Author:Liz Welch [Aisholpan Nurgaiv and Liz Welch]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2020-05-12T00:00:00+00:00

The next morning, we saddled up our ponies and packed rope and a big blanket that we would use to wrap the eaglet in once captured. We then set off for the nest. Otto followed behind us in a van. Once we arrived at the spot, my father found the eaglets with his binoculars. When I placed them to my eyes and saw two bobbing heads, my heart skipped a beat.

The eaglets were alone—their mother must have been out hunting for food, and they were still too young to fly on their own—but old enough to leave the nest. My father had timed it just so. And Otto’s timing was lucky.

Before my father and I began the ascent to the top of the ridge, Otto placed a small camera on me, attached to my sweater.

“I am going to film you snatching the eagle,” he explained through the translator.

I had no idea how this device worked, but it did not get in the way of my climbing, so I did not question him. I did question his enthusiasm.

I found it odd. I was excited, since this was something I had wanted to do for so long. And I knew from the dozens of tourists who had come to visit that others found eagle hunting as fascinating as I did. But I had no idea at the time that what Otto was doing would get so many others interested.

I know now that people find the idea of taking a baby eagle from its nest very strange, and perhaps even cruel, but in my culture we have such profound respect for these birds that we treat them like beloved family members. This ritual, of obtaining an eaglet from a nest before it can fly, is something my family has done for many generations. And it is not something we take lightly. There is a sacred ritual when you take a baby eagle. You must either tie a piece of white material to the nest, as a sign to other hunters that this nest has been marked, or you must drop a piece of jewelry, either a ring or an earring, into the nest. This is a way of offering something of great value—our way of giving thanks. It is purely symbolic, of course, since the mother eagle has no use for jewelry, but it is how we acknowledge just how precious we know the eaglet is, to us and to Mother Nature.

My father had a silver ring that he slipped into my pocket and said, “Leave this, so we are also offering a gift instead of just taking one.”

With the ring in my pocket, my father and I started to climb.

The higher up I got, the more I started to understand how difficult it was going to be to descend to the nest, since it was on such a small ledge. The only way to get to it was by rope.

My father had brought several long lengths of thick rope, which he doubled up and then looped around my waist, tying it in a double-tight knot.

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