Haliaeetus leucocephalus. © eagle1
A thick dew covered the forested landscape. It glistened brightly in the newly rising sun. The rust red cliffs seemed to radiate their hues down on the lush green valley below, creating the vision of fall colors on the leaves. The serene quiet of the forest was broken by gentle blowing of the wind upon the leaves and the stirring of the little creatures on the forest floor. The pond shimmered with a crystalline blue and reverberated, on its surface, the minute movements from within its depths. The trees below were now filled with the sound of small chicks awakening to the awareness of their hungry stomachs and their mothers searching for the worm that would calm their screeches. Now as the forest began to awake to the new day the sun shimmered with an increased brilliance and shown brightly on now emerging forest creatures. This was the image captured by my eagle eyes as I soared through the heavens mindfully searching for my prey.
My eyes searched, watched, and waited for the minute movements in the underbrush or on the wind rippled lake. As my watchful eyes pierced through the mirror-like lake, I saw a fish leap from the water and catch a fly then slide back into the water. I let out a piercing shriek as a wave of joy ran over me, breakfast has arrived! I tipped my wings and sent myself into a steep dive towards the lake. Although the lake was coming towards me fast, my trained eyes stayed transfixed on the fish. Just as I was about to enter the water, I lifted my wings and flung my sharp talons outward. I thrust them into the water and tightly clasped them around the bony flesh of the fish. Immediately I knew that it had been caught. The air, now compressed between my massive wings and the water below me, vigorously lifted me and the fish upward towards the sky. The fish began to struggle as the waterless air incapacitated its gills. It only struggled minimally because my massive talons ripped through its vital organs. I flapped my majestic wings and began to climb to my roost in the rustic red cliff. Haliaeetus leucocephalus. When I reached its heights I began to eviscerate the fish with my beak. A portion I gave to my mate who was incubating our offspring still in his hard shell. When she ate her portion and I ate mine, I looked towards the valley and prepared to leap and search for more food. Then I leaped forth and spread my wings. I was now once again soaring above the valley searching for food. I have recently noticed that crawling abominations have been Then, as I patrolled the skies, I spotted a small rodent on the forest floor entering a clearing. From what I could tell it was a medium size rabbit with a dirty brown coat. As per my routine, I tipped my wings and began my descent. As I plummeted towards the earth, a flash of fiery red darted towards the rabbit; it was a fox and it was closing on the rabbit faster than I was. Before I reached them, the fox had already clasped its mighty jaws around the rabbit. Knowing I was beaten to the prey, I pulled up and returned to the search. Haliaeetus leucocephalus. © eagle1 When the day was coming to an end, I returned to my roost atop the cliff. Then I gazed at the blight upon the land that each day continually encroaches farther into the forest. I turned to my fragile egg and feared for the future. This blight may not be a problem in my lifetime but will be for him. But for now I only hope I can give him a future to worry about.
Photo courtesy U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
encroaching upon the forest. They give off such great plumes of smoke and leave death and devastation in their wake. This blight has been affecting the animals in the valley for some time now. The noble trees whose spirits I'm attuned to weep for the lost as the cut trees are being gathered up by the behemoths and carted away. The fragile equilibrium of the forest ecosystem that sustained it for hundreds of generations was now failing. Without the abundant grasses and resilient ferns the herbivores are having a harder time finding food. The carnivores, including me, are finding the population of the herbivores to be diminishing quickly. The fish who I believed to be unaffected by the blight originally, now seem to have their own problems. The crystalline lake sometimes becomes clouded by globules of dirt caused by the runoff from the now treeless section of the forest. It also seems that the water is being polluted by the smog that covers the air.
Reviews
I thought that your story of the eagle was very descriptive and very creative. You included heavy detail and many adjectives. Your level of description in your story far surpasses my skill in that area of writing. Overall your story was pretty nice.
- Nick
I found myself hooked on this story from the first paragraph. The way the eagle is portrayed in this first person narrative really captures the noble attitude and proud feeling that this bird of prey carries with it. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, which not only provided a sense of realism for the animal world, but put a lot of significant facts into perspective. These things include how the eagle searches for its prey, went into detail about its mating habits, and showed the effects of human development and pollution on the eagle’s habitat. The story was both engaging and informative, and I greatly enjoyed reading it.
- Zach
Wow! The fact that this story takes the point of view of an eagle is extremely creative. The description used to explain every event that takes place in the story is well-written. Because your story makes references to all five senses, I feel as though I am the eagle, soaring and diving in order to sustain an insatiable appetite. The reference to human impact on the environment also provides the point of view of animals, whom, as you state would be devastated by even the slightest change in their environment. My favorite aspect of this story was the fact that the animals had feelings toward the environment they lived in, such as the eagle to the trees.
- Nikhil A.
