I’m out the door in the morning the same time the boys head to the end of the driveway to catch the school bus. When they get picked up, I head to work. So we’re all heading out the other day and the Cowboy comes racing back in, “Mom, where’s your phone?!”

Between my laptop, purse, lunch bag, and coat, I had no idea. He stormed through the house, grabbed it and headed back out.

We had a Bald Eagle. In the driveway.

I dropped my pile of junk by the door and went back for the “real” camera. {smile} He had commandeered my phone anyway.

The eagle sat at the top of our forever-dead-but-not-dead walnut tree, just looking around. They’re not common around here, as in we don’t see them every day. But they are around regularly. We’ve had them here at the farm before.

Our experience has been that they are significantly more shy than, say, turkey buzzards. Of people anyway. They’ll chase a flock of buzzards off, but an eagle will leave if you stop your car to watch them. They’re very suspicious. (Of course, I know this from stopping my car to watch them!)

We’ve had eagles come in the field for the afterbirth–just like buzzards. And we’ve had them swoop in after a newborn lamb if the momma lays down to have twins–that is not like buzzards. Buzzards will ring the field on the fence posts and watch, but they won’t get on the ground until they see that something is actually dead or available. And the only thing I’ve seen that chases off an eagle is a dog, a person, or another eagle.

We’ve also seen them in the fields and ditches with all different kinds of roadkill. One of the reasons you can always spot an eagle–even if it’s a juvenile and doesn’t have that distinct white head and tail–is that it’s a lone bird over the kill. Buzzards and crows will always flock together in groups. Eagles are always alone. I’ve learned to look along the tree line around the field because there are usually one or more birds in the area, but what I’ve seen is that only one eagle eats at a time.

Maybe if you live in Alaska or something this kind of thing gets old, but I doubt it. They are beautiful.

I put together some great, kid-friendly Bald Eagle study resources and projects here for you. Most are for the elementary age group, although I think some of the videos would span age-group interest levels.

For researching basic facts…

Websites…

• Audubon Bald Eagle pages–one of our favorite resources. Solid facts, pictures of birds at different growth stages, and sound files (our favorite!).
• All About Birds Bald Eagle pages by Cornell University–our other go-to bird site. Solid information, but easy to digest format. Breaks all the info into simple categories for kids to absorb and use.
• American Eagle Foundation in Tennessee. This is a comprehensive site of information, photos, lesson plans, and more. You can also sponsor/adopt one of their injured, non-releasable birds–which can be a great community service project for kids related to environmental studies.
• Bald Eagle pages at National Geographic Kids or older kiddos can go to the original National Geographic and search Bald Eagles–tons of NG articles and stunning photos are available for reading and viewing.
• American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines Alaska–under their Education tab, you’ll find a ton of information. Some of it is very scientific and would be interesting for older kids that really want to dive in. There’s also information on the Alaskan Bald Eagle Festival, which would be a neat little cultural-topic addition to a unit study.
• National Eagle Center in Minnesota–tons of info on the website and you can even visit! They originated the eagle nest cams.
• Eagle Nest Cams from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources–just FYI parents, these are NOT controlled situations and sometimes “ugly” things happen. Be sure to monitor.
• Eagle Nest Cams from Eagles 4 Kids–sometimes really cool, sometimes super boring! {smile}

VIDEOS/MOVIES…

• Animal Encyclopedia, Season One, Episode 1 (FREE with Prime).
• Wild About Animals, Season Nine, Episode 5, and Season 10, Episode 2. (FREE with Prime).
• NatGeoWild Eagle Documentary FREE on YouTube–not just bald eagles, but still an excellent resources, 45 minutes.
• National Geographic Bald Eagle Documentary FREE on YouTube–50 minutes.
• Bald Eagle Adventure FREE on YouTube by Brave Wilderness, 10 minutes.
• There’s actually a ton of eagle videos on YouTube, but I would skim them for useful content. Some are cool experiences of hands-on conservation work, some of them are just random eagle encounters.
• American Eagle, a documentary by Nature/PBS. It’s not free, but still an EXCELLENT resource if you have a nature lover! (We caught it on TV a few years ago.)

BOOKS…

• The Eagles are Back, by Jean Craighead. This is a picture book about conservation from the author of Julie of the Wolves. Even though it’s a kids book, it does an excellent job of breaking down the idea of conservation and the illustrations are beautiful. She’s written 3 of these–also Wolves and Buffalo–and we added all 3 to our home library last year. They are long-term keepers, not just kid books!
• Bald Eagle Nest, a Photo Story of Survival, by Kate Davis. The Bald Eagle life cycle told thru amazing pictures.
• The Bald Eagle (True History) by Scholastic. Good book for basic facts. You should be able to find this one at the library. Your libraray should also have Welcome to the World of Eagles.
• Eagle in the Sky, Interactive Adventure by Ryan Jacobson. An old-fashion “choose your own adventure” style book with great illustrations and nature facts. A fun way to apply facts and concepts.
• Eagles Up Close, TIME for Kids. TIME does a great job using a graphic layout to engage comic-book-lovers (we have two of them!) in non-fiction material.
• Eagles and Birds of Prey by DK Eyewitness. We usually have good luck finding these at our thrift store, although they are usually a slightly older version. Sometimes you can also get a good deal on USED books on Amazon. My reluctant readers LOVE the graphic format.
• Challenger, Americas Favorite Eagle by Margot Raven. While not a great literary text, it’s a great story. Fiction based on facts.
• The Legend of Old Abe, a Civil War Eagle by Kathy-Jo Wargin. Another great fiction story pulling in actual history. Non-fiction works on Old Abe’s actual history here, and here.

For reporting on the facts…

• FREE bald eagle lapbook from Homeschool Share
• FREE bald eagle crossword worksheet
• FREE bald eagle facts and word find worksheet, and here
• FREE bald eagle reading facts worksheet
• FREE eagle research pages
• FREE eagle coloring pages
• FREE bald eagle food chain worksheet
• FREE bald eagle research journal
• FREE bald eagle Label the Parts worksheet
• A lot more freebies and low-cost worksheet projects at Teachers Pay Teachers, search Bald Eagle.

For teaching the facts…

• Comprehensive list of available lesson plans and resources from the American Eagle Foundation–updated within the last 12 months, and includes activities, presentations, etc. This site is EXCELLENT.
• FREE Bald Eagle Lesson Plans for grades K-3, 4-8, and 9-12 (that would be all grade levels!) from the National Eagle Center.
• Eagle Day lesson plans from The Science Spot.
• Bald Eagle Journey North, resources broken up by topics of study. Each topic includes an eagle cam link, articles for study, presentation materials for teaching, and an activity.
• Bald Eagle Lesson Plans by grade level from Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.
• Celebrating the Bald Eagle activities including poems, mythology, lesson plans, coloring pages, and puzzle sheets.

Oh, and here’s something fun you could try–an eagle-shaped cheese ball! That would certainly make the lessons interesting! {smile}

Hope you find something helpful in there.

This is the way we usually do Farm School–we run across something we think is cool in real life, and we spend a few weeks looking up all kinds of stuff about it. I like to have a real life experience, add some videos and movies (we are mostly audio-visual learners here!), and pull in a personal non-fiction angle like Old Abe, the Civil War Eagle, to make in memorable. Then add something fun like the cheese ball and maybe a trip to the Living Museum. It’s a simple unit study style that the crew doesn’t even consider real “school.”

Do you have any great eagle resources you’d like to share?