-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
Bri Blom, left, and Christina Roelofs, naturalists for their counties, helped show off "Callie," the bald eagle that was featured at this year’s Clay County Fair. Callie came to Spencer from Shelby County, but was originally from Calhoun County, which is where she got her name.

SPENCER — Just a year after historic flooding ravaged so much of Spencer, it once again became the place to be as fairgoers filed by a bald eagle on display at this year’s Clay County Fair.

The educational female eagle named “Callie” (named as such because her original home was in Calhoun County) came from her present home in Shelby County near Harlan to be part of this year’s fair. Her presence gave people a chance to get an up-close and personal view of America’s national bird.

“It’s called the ‘national bird’ because it can really only be found in North America,” said Christina Roelofs, naturalist on the Shelby County Conservation Board and member of the Department of Natural Resources, who brought the bald eagle to the fair.

Roelofs said bald eagles are becoming more prevalent since DDT was done away with in the 1970s. She said DDT made its way through the food chain and eventually affected eagles by making their egg shells weaker, reducing their amount of calcium so their eggs became weaker and more difficult to hatch.

Today she said eagle eggs are more hatchable, and that helps account for the increase in the number of bald eagles all around North America — along with the fact that there are laws protecting bald eagles as the country’s national bird.

-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
A bald eagle named "Callie" was one of the attractions at this year's Clay County Fair. The national bird drew a steady stream of onlookers both days it was at the fair.

Bri Blom, naturalist on the Clay County Conservation Board, said bald eagles can weigh around 15 pounds (Callie weighs 11 1/2 pounds), and can lay four to six eggs in a nest. Male bald eagles are smaller, around 8 pounds. She said eagle nests are not difficult to find.

“They’re up high in the trees, and are huge. They can weigh as much as a Honda Civic,” she said.

Bald eagle eggs are approximately baseball size. Both the mother and father mate for life, and both sit on the eggs until the birds learn to fly — somewhere between six and 12 months of age.

Blom said eagles are part of the raptor family, in that they have talons that can help them grab onto and hold things. They use their beak for ripping at prey, and can squeeze up to 400 pounds per square inch. They also attack and kill with their feet.

Roelofs said eagles have tremendous eyesight, being able to see a rabbit a mile away and know it’s a rabbit.

-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
A bald eagle’s wingspan can range from six to eight feet. Onlookers at the Clay County Fair got to see it a few times while the bird was showcased at the Log Cabin. This bald eagle’s name is "Callie" because her original home was in Calhoun County.

She said a bald eagle is named that because, when it comes to the eagle family, “bald” means it has a white head and back feathers. Roelofs said it can take up to five years for that to transpire.

She said bald eagles consume 10 percent of their body weight daily, preferring to eat fish. They are considered “scavenger” birds because they “clean up” a lot of dead animals such as deer, rabbits and snakes. Roelofs said they consume a lot of “rough fish,” such as carp, gizzard shad and buffalo fish.

It’s because they eat dead animals that have sometimes been shot by bullets containing lead, that Callie (and other birds like her) have been brain-injured because of lead poisoning.

“You can’t shoot a bald eagle,” said Blom, adding that even their feathers are federal property that need to be returned to Native American tribes eventually, via the proper channels. She said anyone finding eagle feathers should contact their local wildlife repository or conservation office or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Roelofs said eagles are revered in Native American culture, so in order to keep Callie in Shelby County they had to first contact Native American tribes to see if they wanted the bird. Once permission was granted by area tribes to keep the bird, then they could lay claim to her and care for her at the conservation district.

Roelofs said Iowa is the second most common place to find bald eagles migrating from Canada and all parts north during the winter, since there is ample opportunity to find open water on rivers, lakes and streams due to ducks and geese gathering there and keeping waters open, along with open waters under bridges and similar places.

Roelofs said the Shelby County Conservation District has cared for Callie (age 6) for 2 1/2 years. She said bald eagles in the wild live to about 29 1/2 years old, while the same birds in captivity enjoy an easier lifespan of 39 1/2 years.

She said anyone encountering a bald eagle should proceed with caution.

“You need to give them space,” she said, adding that they could otherwise feel threatened.

Anyone who finds a sick or injured bald eagle should contact their local game warden or wildlife rehabilitator.