Eagle memorial garden is planned

I got a surge of hometown pride last week as I read in our paper that the Wildlife Center in Waynesboro is receiving accolades from the public for its care of Norfolk Botanical Garden’s orphaned baby eagles.

These are the babes that were taken from their nest at the garden after their mother was hit by a jet earlier this spring. And eagle lovers are grateful to the Wildlife Center for raising the youngsters to the age when they can be released to the wild. Three babies would have been too much for a single dad to care for.

But it seems that Norfolk Botanical Garden, where the eagle family took up residence years ago, isn’t lacking in support either. I visited the folks at the garden recently to learn about the many declarations of love for the eagles that folks have sent and the sadness they felt after the female’s death.

Garden staff has been overwhelmed by thousands of sympathy letters, packets of drawings from schoolchildren, emails from all over the world, flowers and photos. Even a handsome eagle sculpture was one expression of grief.

The tall pine tree with the huge eagle nest high up in the branches has been the focus of some of the sorrow, said Donna Krabill, director of education and communications at the garden.

“Someone tied a yellow ribbon around the tree,” Krabill said. “And others have laid bouquets of flowers at the base of the tree.”

Schoolchildren from all over the world followed the progress of the babies late last winter on the WVEC Eagle Cam. The children were most probably online when the parents set up housekeeping, when the eggs were laid and when the youngsters hatched.

After the female eagle’s death, these same children sent manila envelopes full of materials from as far away as Nova Scotia, Arizona, Texas and Washington state, Krabill said. They wrote letters of condolence, drew pictures and sent tokens.

“We have gotten thousands of emails and phone calls, people calling us in tears, people going to the tree in tears,” Krabill said.

The garden also has received more than $100,000 in donations since the eagle pair became a world wide hit on the Web several years ago. More than half of that amount has come in since the female’s death.

To donate and receive a professional eagle photo of your choice, visit the Norfolk Botanical Garden website: www.norfolk botanicalgarden.org. Click on “Eagle Cam” to find out about donating and more about the eagles.

The donations will be used to build an eagle memorial garden. Its focal point will be the donated eagle sculpture, Krabill said. The garden hopes to hold a dedication of the memorial some time in August to coincide with the release of the youngsters to the wild.

The babes will be released in Hopewell, along the James River far from any airport and where there is a huge concentration of eagles.

In the meantime, their father has been hanging around Norfolk Botanical Garden since the accident, and other adult eagles have been seen in the area.

It’s not too soon to hope he will find another mate.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
Frances Wolf sighted a turkey vulture dining on roadkill in Wesleyan Pines. And Ellen Keeter sent a photo of a handsome young Cooper’s hawk in her Birdneck Point yard.

Steve Coari sent a wonderful photo of a mama wood duck and a string of youngsters swimming at the canoe launch at Carolanne Farms.

Robert Meads in Kings Grant wanted you to know that when he switched from commercial nectar to four parts water to one part sugar in his hummingbird feeder, the hummers began feeding.

Sabrina Ricketts sent a close- up of a black widow spider at her home in Kempsville Lakes. John McCaffrey snapped a male black widow spider and a female in a web in his Hunt Club Forest yard. The male is skinny with brown-banded legs.

Bob Capria snapped a photo of a wolf spider with her babies riding on her back in his Great Neck yard. He found the spider in his swimming pool and when he skimmed her out a few of the babies fell off but they quickly jumped back to her back. “Clearly Nature can bring so much fascination and through a camera you can see it up close and personal,” Capria said. See the mama spider and her babes along with the black widow spider on my blog.

Harvey Seargeant was disappointed and angry to see that the osprey nest had been removed from a boat anchored near the Churchland Bridge in Portsmouth.
Woody Stephens sent photos of two ladybugs. One called “twice stabbed” was black with two red dots. The other, the seven-spotted lady beetle, is orange with, you guessed it, seven black spots.

Mike Potter photographed a house finch perched on his hummingbird feeder at his home in Highland Acres. Finches were imported from California to the East Coast as caged birds many years ago. I think they like the nectar because in California the finches are big fruit eaters.

Mike Inman sent a delightful photo of a pileated woodpecker feeding its youngsters at Norfolk Botanical Garden. Both little heads had popped out of the tree hole to get a morsel. Jewel Berg sent a photo of a handsome gray fox in her Trant Berkshire yard. See both photos in Thursday’s Close Encounters.

Joe Morelli got a close-up of a charming young red fox in his Chic’s Beach neighborhood.

Sherry Quiban took a photo of handsome white moth, decorated with black circles, called a giant leopard moth. Maureen Anderson sent one of a big Pandora sphinx moth with its mottled Army camouflage colors.