"music" Golden Eagles rule the sky beautiful and intelligent, fierce and protective, they are monarchs of the American West.

The Bighorn Basin of Wyoming is Golden Eagle territory.

Lying within the eastern margin of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Basin is a sagebrush sea of surprising, subtle beauty.

When you spend time here, it becomes a part of you.

For 13 field seasons, one extraordinary man has ranged through the rugged, complex landscape of the Bighorn Basin.

He has witnessed the changes the eagles are facing and has discovered some keys to their survival here.

Dr. Charles Preston has seen firsthand the many challenges that Golden Eagles face in the American West.

In this study alone, he and his dedicated team of ecologists and volunteers have monitored 83 Golden Eagle nesting territories and examined and banded nearly 100 Golden Eagles.

He is deeply committed to understanding these amazing birds to help ensure their survival.

These top predators should have everything they need to thrive here in the Bighorn Basin.

However, survival skills that have evolved over tens of thousands of years are being tested by the unforgiving and rapidly changing landscape in the West.

I had a dream of the West.

I was standing in a serene and untouched landscape, under a sky that went on forever.

With deep focus, I observed the rulers of this land, the Golden Eagles.

Everywhere they rode air currents above the high ridges of the Bighorn Basin with such grace and elegance, as if they knew they were the monarchs of the skies.

Immersed in the wild landscape, I came to a place of wonder and acknowledgment.

As a writer and artist, I was inspired by the dappled palette of colors adorning the cliffs and hidden canyons, captivated by the feathers and fur of the wildlife roaming the land.

And on hidden cliffs throughout the Bighorn Basin, there were eagle nest sites.

I had a vision of what it was like for a Golden Eagle to be up there looking out across this expanse, a regal bird living like a king with these palaces high on the cliffs.

My vision became reality when I had the privilege of accompanying Dr. Charles Preston into the field.

Preston is a wildlife ecologist and educator and the founding curator of the Draper Natural History Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

He's also a leading Golden Eagle researcher in Wyoming and the Greater Yellowstone region, with a unique knowledge and personal history with the eagles in his study area.

I was able to join his team as they continued their critical research.

A band is a special bond between the bander and the bird.

Banding is a mutually intimate experience.

It's a scientific process, but when you have the honor and responsibility of holding an eagle, it becomes a personal process, too.

You become part of its life and it becomes a part of yours.

As I gear up for my 13th and possibly last full season studying and banding Golden Eagles in Wyoming's Bighorn Basin, I'm as excited as I was the first season.

I'm filled with the anticipation of new discoveries and the promise of gathering more memories of this spectacular landscape and the eagles and other wildlife that call it home.

2020, 03 July.

I noticed that Richard Jones had observed a Golden Eagle nestling in #8.

A lot of times I fly right along this ridge, looking for eagles.

A lot of times there's eagles sitting there.

New nest, south of all alternatives high up on the ridge.

At this point we confirmed young eaglets in 10 nests, a few other nests apparently abandoned after incubation.

This is unusual and may be due to rabbit hemorrhagic disease.

I am really eager to make my rounds through the ever-present Wyoming wind and sun this season to check on the breeding territories and the young eagles growing up here, as I've done for more than a decade now.

Each year is different, always full of new adventures and surprises.

I wanted to check on a few nests in the northern part of our study area, one in particular.

It's in a precarious position high up on a cliff and just off a major road.

It's unusually hot.

I check the temperature at 5:30 a.m. and it's already 85 degrees.

There is something especially interesting about this pair of young eagles.

They are really aware of each other, but I've seen little aggression between the two so far.

Competition can be fierce between siblings when food is brought to the nest, but behavior is difficult to predict, and I've found that each individual has its own personality.

For these young nestlings, it's pretty difficult to walk on a bunch of sagebrush with those massive talons and feet.

Just part of growing up Golden Eagle, I guess.

For all their awkwardness in the nest, they will more than make up for it once they take flight, a few weeks from now.

There isn't anything that moves out here without catching the watchful eye of the Golden Eagle, even this young pair.

I'm a little envious of how they spend their days watching other birds and even insects and spiders crawling around in their nest.

The cliff swallows provide daily entertainment for the curious young eagles.

A neighboring skunk that visits them below their nest gives them moments of excitement and curiosity.

They are constantly exploring and learning.

I just watched them for a while and thought about how they grow and develop, observing and processing their surroundings every day for eight to 10 weeks or more.

The smaller bird isn't very active, even when parents bring prey to the nest.

Big sister seems to sense this.

There appears to be food in the nest, and the ever-vigilant parents sit on utility poles off my left shoulder a few hundred yards away.

It's clear to me that the younger bird is lagging far behind its sibling.

It's saddening, but nature can be harsh.

Not all nestling survive to fledging, and only about half of those survive one year.

All the more reason to recognize and minimize manmade challenges to eagle reproduction and survival.

You've got to be impressed with the savvy of these birds.

When you consider their nest sites, you can't just walk right up to these nests and start banding eagles.

Golden Eagles tend to build their nests with a keen awareness of wind, sunlight, severe weather, and potential predators.

They take full advantage of the inaccessibility that steep rock ledges and cliff faces provide to keep out predators and protect nestlings from the elements.

Some nests may be used by several generations of Golden Eagles for a century or more.

In our study area, all but one of our Golden Eagle nest sites are on cliff faces or rock outcrops.

But this nesting pair chose to take up residence in an old cottonwood tree on a friend's farm.

From a distance, I was able to observe these nestlings from hatching to fledging.

It's fascinating to watch them grow.

If ever there was a pair of vigorous, animated and entertaining characters, it's this pair of eaglets.

My name is Corey Anco.

I am the Interim Curator of the Draper Natural History Museum with the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

And what attracted me to the Draper Natural History Museum was the fact that they had a long-term monitoring program with Golden Eagles.

It was an active research program here in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

And as landscapes continue to change like this, we're finding fewer and fewer living laboratories to work with.

We're using Golden Eagles as a focal species to study the system and how this landscape changes with time.

There are a lot of factors we consider when deciding to approach an eagle nest.

First and foremost is the safety of the birds.

If at any point that is in question, we do not approach the nest, of course, human safety is part of that equation as well.

Safety will always override any other decision to approach a nest or to decide to handle a bird.

When we decide to enter a nest, we want to maximize our time.

We collect prey remains, and if the substrate and the conditions allow, we install remote cameras.

So first, for prey remains, by collecting these things, we get a sense we get a little bit of a window into the diet or what that organism consumes.

And what we find is that each nest is a little different.

So if we were to look at the prey remains from a single nest, we might think that in this one, for example, Golden Eagles across our study area primarily subsist on pronghorn.

By looking at the study area as a whole, we see that truly cottontails make up the bulk of their diet.

In fact, about 73% of Golden Eagles' diet here in the Bighorn Basin are cottontails.

And so what that tells us is, that while they may consume a wide diversity of prey species, they primarily subsist on only a couple.

And so there are many supplements to their diet, but there is no substitute for cottontails within this ecosystem.

It makes information like the emergence of novel diseases in the study area increasingly important to our program.

And so when things like rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus enters the ecosystem, it poses the question, what impact does that have to our Golden Eagle population here in the Bighorn Basin and to Golden Eagle populations across the Intermountain West?

And without long-term monitoring programs like the Golden Eagle Research Program, we can't ask and answer those questions.

Monitoring Golden Eagles in this immense area is truly a team effort.

The dedicated citizen science volunteers of the Golden Eagle Posse spend many hours observing their assigned nests.

After watching this nesting pair for several weeks, Preston's entry team prepares for their initial descent down the cliff face to examine and band the nestlings.

Adults are somewhat tolerant of a one-time disturbance at this stage of nesting, but the team must be efficient and complete their work quickly before departing the site.

Skilled climbers clip onto their ropes and dangle four stories above the sagebrush as they begin their nest entry.

As climber Nick descends, safety climber Corey monitors the situation carefully.

They work in tandem as Nick lowers himself over the edge and into the nest.

Two birds.

You copy me?

Copy.

Copy that.

The discovery of the deceased nestling is surprising and sad for the eagle team.

The hood placed over the young eagle's head to block its vision helps to keep the bird calm.

This is a technique used by falconers for many centuries.

Got one eaglet in the bag.

You can pull whichever rope does not feel like it has me on the end of it, and you'll have an eaglet.

Dr. Preston pulls a single feather from the bird's wing for DNA and stable isotope analysis.

This doesn't harm the bird, and the feather will soon grow back.

The legs are zip-tied together to keep the young eagle from harming itself or the researchers with its huge talons.

Bands with unique identifying numbers are placed on the eagle's legs.

A series of careful measurements is part of the data kept on every individual in the study.

Dr. Preston checks to make sure the bands fit securely but not too tightly.

Even though the bird is not full-grown, its legs and feet are already essentially the same size as those of an adult.

Preston sometimes offers the bird a small meal after he finishes the banding.

Still down in the nest, Nick collects prey remains and tries to determine what happened to the other nestling.

Copy.

Really kind of a bizarre scene.

I tried to flip it over.

Its foot was totally wedged in a crack.

It's almost like it was stuck.

Yeah, and it was very emaciated.

None the worse for its adventure.

The young eagle is promptly returned to its nest, having added some crucial data to the ongoing study.

Copy.

Thank you, sir.

We're done Nick, you can evacuate.

Copy.

I'm on my way out.

Information on reproduction is key to Golden Eagle conservation, and we've discovered that reproductive success is directly linked to what the eagles are eating in this area.

We assess nesting diet by direct observation, remote cameras, and especially by examining prey remains.

It's like Christmas morning when we collect remains from in and around a nest.

We've identified more than 35 species of prey that adults have brought to their nestlings.

In one nest this year, we found a fresh badger carcass, one of only three or four badgers found among more than 2,000 prey remains we've identified.

Rabbits, hares, marmots, prairie dogs, other ground squirrels are common prey.

But they are capable of eating prey much larger and actually capturing and killing prey much larger.

Even as large as a deer or a pronghorn.

They don't dent the population of pronghorn much, but certainly they take advantage of those opportunities.

They're truly opportunistic hunters.

They're very powerful.

But among the prey readily available here, cottontail rabbits offer the best return for eagles' energy output, and they clearly dominate the nesting diet.

And we've found that the abundance of cottontails is the major driver of Golden Eagle reproductive success in the Bighorn Basin.

We've also discovered that cottontails tend to follow a cyclic pattern of population highs and lows.

At night, when the eagles are asleep, Dr. Preston's team drives a series of survey routes, spotting cottontail rabbits by their eyeshine.

By counting cottontails along each transect in a consistent way, they can see how relative numbers change from year to year.

On this particular night on this five-mile route, they located eight cottontails, much lower than in the peak year 2016, but a bit higher than last year.

The rabbit population here has tended to fluctuate in six to eight year cycles, and this may be the start of another rebound.

This landscape has an unseen power and history.

Recognized and respected by Indigenous people for countless generations.

The Red Road is often referred to by Native peoples as a place of honor, providing serene peace and beauty, a place of harmony and enlightenment that gives a new perspective into deep spiritual understanding of yourself and your connection with all living things.

Walking his own Red Road, Dr. Shane Doyle of the Crow Nation possesses a profound understanding of the teachings of his people.

He has unique knowledge and stories of their reverence for the Golden Eagle.

The Indigenous people of the Northern Plains, like my nation, the Apsáalooke, had to travel through seasonal cycles throughout the year in order to survive.

During the winter, they camped down by the rivers in secluded areas like this place here at the Medicine Lodge.

But when summer came around, they transferred their camps on up into the high grounds and got away from the mosquitoes, and they were able to trade with their partners.

But all of this seasonal movement caused them to have very few worldly possessions.

They had very little by way of wealth.

Their material wealth was very small, but their spiritual wealth was great.

And they believed that through prayer, through meditation and fasting, and through communication with animals like the eagles, that they could receive the medicine in their hearts and in their minds to heal their bodies and souls, and that would make them wealthy beyond any measure.

For Native people, watching eagles as they ventured into the atmosphere, high into the sky, beyond even the reach of your eye, was a clear indicator that these birds had special powers, that they were able to take everything from the ground and connect it to the heavens in a way that no other bird can.

And that's the reason why we emulate them.

That's the reason why we honor them and why we try to be like them.

They're able to take our prayers.

They're able to take our messages and be an emissary between the Creator and us.

And I think that's how I see them.

I think that's how Native people see them.

And the site expresses that through the rock art.

Watching the eagles, seeing how they live their lives, the supernatural abilities that they so easily exercise every day.

These are inspirations for us, and these are spiritual lessons that teach us how to soar in this life and to elevate our spirits to a higher plane, to a higher power.

And this is the true value of a ceremonial way of life.

Indigenous people here may not have had many possessions, but their ceremonial objects and their masterful works of art show a life rich with knowledge, skill, and creativity.

The display at the Plains Indians Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, vividly depicts Native people's relationship with eagles and their landscape.

Eagles figure prominently in Plains Indian clothing and artifacts.

It's a memorable moment, some would say life-changing when you see a Golden Eagle in the wild for the first time, stunning, confident, and powerful.

The first thing you notice is their size, but their identity goes far beyond that.

There is such a grace to them, even as they move about on the ground.

And when propelled through the landscape by the slightest movement of their powerful wings, flight looks effortless for them.

They have an unmistakable aura, seemingly reflected in their golden feathers, interlaced in various sizes and underlaid by a rich tapestry of brown plumage speckled with white.

Their luxuriant feathers shield them from the elements and also serve as regal ornamentation.

Their piercing eyes hold curiosity and purpose.

Wary, yet decisive.

Many Native Peoples revered them, replicated their poise and attitude, and modeled their stunning appearance and beauty in their regalia.

It's easy to see why, even today, so many individuals become captivated by Golden Eagles and dedicate their lives to honoring and conserving them.

They represent and rule the American West, symbols of toughness, freedom, perseverance and adaptability.

Licensed wildlife rehabilitators have unique insights into some of the challenges facing Golden Eagles and other raptors in the changing West.

One of Preston's close friends, Susan Ahalt of Ironside Bird Rescue, deals with these problems every day in her difficult and often heartwrenching work with injured and sick birds.

Tough and independent, much like the birds in her care, Ahalt has poured her heart and soul into caring for eagles and other animals for more than three decades.

My name is Susan Ahalt, and I am a wild bird rehabilitator in Cody, Wyoming.

I've been doing this now for 34 years, and mostly the birds that I handle are raptors.

I am the only one in the state that is permitted for all birds and small mammals.

But mostly I get raptors.

Mostly what I get are hawks.

But lately I've been getting an awful lot of eagles.

The bad part about it is, of the eagles I'm getting, and most of mine are Golden Eagles, are almost all suffering from lead poisoning.

This is what a Golden Eagle looks like while suffering from lead poisoning.

Not at all like the responsive, fierce, and alert top predator we are accustomed to watching.

And so they get medication twice a day for five days, and then they don't get it for three, and then they get it again until we can get them down to a number that's zero.

That sometimes doesn't work.

And if it's a very high number, they will die.

My favorite thing about the golden is their attitude, their magnificent appearance, and they are absolutely beautiful to look at.

If you watch them fly, if you watch certain birds hover, if you watch certain birds just exist, they're amazing.

Absolutely amazing.

I am the cofounder and director of Sporting Lead-Free.

It's a new hunter-lead initiative.

It's really designed to raise awareness about lead in our sporting in our fishing tackle, in our hunting ammunition and the links that that has to wildlife ingestion of lead.

Lead and lead ammunition is a big issue for eagles, particularly Golden Eagles in Wyoming.

We have a very strong hunting heritage in Wyoming.

A lot of people enjoy hunting here, but we also have a pretty large population of breeding eagles, and then that doubles in the winter with the wintering eagles.

When hunting gets tough, when you have all of those eagles coming down from Alaska and Canada competing with one another, they're going to scavenge more.

And when they're scavenging, they're picking up tiny little lead fragments that are in those gut piles that the hunters are leaving behind and unknowingly getting lead poisoning that way.

So here we have a ballistics gel that we've shot with lead- based ammunition.

And what you can see, and especially on the X-rays when you're looking at it, are all of those tiny little fragments that are throughout this whole wound channel.

That bullet hits the animal and it mushrooms.

And when it mushrooms, it releases up to 165 fragments on average per gut pile.

Those little tiny fragments of lead can travel 18 inches at a right angle to the trajectory of this bullet.

So the bullet's coming through and those fragments can end up way up here.

Just a few, maybe five or six of those fragments if fully metabolized, is enough to kill an adult Golden Eagle.

And that's the issue we're trying to solve.

And the way we're going to solve that is by going to non-lead ammunition.

So as a scientist and as somebody who's been working on this for 15 years, I can tell you the science is clear: Lead ammunition causes lead poisoning and deaths of Golden Eagles.

What we're doing at Sporting Lead-Free now.

And as a hunter and somebody that really values my hunting, using non-lead ammunition is the way to go.

This can solve the problem.

There is a special place in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where sick and injured raptors like Golden Eagles get a new chance at life.

This gorgeous adult female golden was found on the ground in Wyoming.

She was unable to fly and brought to the Teton Raptor Center.

During a full exam, she was found to be thin for her size, but she had no fractures or other injuries, somewhat of a mystery for the Raptor Center staff.

An avian ophthalmologist noted denser than normal lenses in her eyes, which could be due to her age.

Her feathers, especially her flight feathers, were in terrible condition.

It can take five years for a Golden Eagle to molt and regrow a full set of wing feathers as it takes a lot of energy to grow new feathers.

It's possible that this bird couldn't hunt well enough to gain the calories needed to molt.

The compassionate and dedicated Raptor Center staff never gave up on her.

They took blood to look for lead poisoning, a costly and technical process, but instead found only indications of kidney disease, also often associated with advanced age.

Under their care, this beautiful eagle rapidly gained weight.

Now she is nearly 15 pounds.

Her kidney issues resolved and she molted out most of her damaged feathers.

Still, she can only fly a few feet at a time so she can't be released back into the wild.

This monarch of the sky may know that her time in the wild is up, but with her surprisingly calm demeanor and accepting way of being handled by humans, she will make an inspiring ambassador for her species as an education bird, where she will surely touch many more lives.

I remember seeing my first eagle soaring in the sky.

I just thought, wow, what is this incredibly huge bird that's so beautiful and majestic?

And I remember the first time that I saw one up close.

It was an injured bird in a rehabilitation center.

I was just smitten by them.

They are a true symbol of the west, an icon of what this place means.

I'm Kristin Combs with Wyoming Wildlife Advocates.

We advocate for large carnivores and really elevating the science around coexistence between people and wildlife and Wyoming.

We have a lot of initiatives to try and educate visitors and residents about how to live alongside wildlife and make sure we are not harming animals with our activities.

A lot of people enjoy the West and appreciate the West for these large, big, open landscapes, but those are in danger of disappearing.

And when we think about the Golden Eagle and species like grizzly bears, they need these large, open landscapes to survive, and without them, we see those animals disappear.

Ranches and other private lands are essential for keeping our wildlife populations healthy and migration corridors open, and for providing habitat for nesting songbirds and raptors like Golden Eagles.

There are incredible things happening in all the Northern Rocky Mountain States.

Small changes, like replacing the bottom strand of a barbed- wire fence with a smooth strand, can prevent animals that squeeze under fences like elk and pronghorn from being entangled.

When power companies add protections like extra space between electrical wires, insulation, or baffles, they can help prevent the deaths of Golden Eagles, hawks, and many other birds.

Dr. Preston's work with Golden Eagles is integral and key to understanding the species, understanding how we can survive with them, and making sure that they are surviving into the future.

The sagebrush steppe is one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world.

It's the iconic landscape you see in Western movies.

Because it is easy to access, relatively flat, not high in the mountains, it has been the area of settlement, agriculture, recreation, sprawl, and energy development.

So it has become really imperiled.

There's just a fraction left in the whole western North America of what used to be.

Sagebrush-steppe landscapes are being further impacted by changing weather patterns.

Most of Wyoming is in the midst of a long, dry period.

It's especially apparent here in the Bighorn Basin.

Historically, the Basin is greenest in May and early June, gradually curing and turning brown and gray in July and August.

As we survey our study area from the air, we are struck by the shortening of the green season we've seen in recent years.

I'm not sure if it is a new, normal setting in, but it is certain that adequate winter snowpack and spring/summer rains are critical to sustaining this rugged yet fragile landscape and its inhabitants.

I'm Destin Harrell, a wildlife biologist with the Bureau of Land Management.

A lot of my work focuses on the complex, fragile, beautiful sagebrush steppe.

Where sagebrush steppe is disturbed by development or overgrazing, it leaves openings for invasive plants like cheatgrass to move in.

Cheatgrass spreads rapidly in these disturbed areas and dries out earlier than the native vegetation, fueling and lengthening the fire season.

Cheatgrass doesn't meet the needs of most wildlife.

It doesn't stay green long enough to provide food in the summer and fall, and it doesn't provide the right cover or nesting habitat.

There are ways to manage sagebrush to make it healthier and less susceptible to invasive species.

For example, we mowed and burned this area in 2004.

We mow first so we can have an initial response of these native perennial grasses.

Mowing is not as intense to the landscape as fire might be.

So, we get these nice intermediate stages of grasses.

Then as the land recovers, the native seed can respond in a more vigorous way after prescribed burning.

Cottontails, jackrabbits, and other animals that Golden Eagles depend on need healthy sagebrush- steppe habitat.

In unhealthy habitat, animals that are adapted to this unique ecosystem decline or even disappear.

This sends shockwaves up the food chain to Golden Eagles and other predators.

And here, we were able to mow and burn in this pasture because it's in a long-term, good grazing rotation, allowing for long-term sustainability of the landscape and the range health and condition.

So you can see amongst all this healthy bunchgrass and healthy sagebrush, are sign of livestock.

With long-term, good grazing rotation and careful management of sagebrush, we can have sustainable rangelands and healthy wildlife habitat.

The Golden Eagle has always been one of my favorite birds in the world.

And I've observed them a lot of places.

Watched them in Northern Scandinavia, I've watched them migrating down the ridges in the East, where they're very uncommon.

But my peak experience with Golden Eagles was here in the Bighorn Basin.

I've had the privilege of being out here with Dr. Charles Preston, observing as he carries on his long-term study of Golden Eagles.

And the reason we're in the shade here is to keep the heat down.

We're here early in the morning because we want to avoid the heat of the day.

That would just add stress to the bird.

So it's really important.

Our priority is to treat the bird well, make sure that when we release him is completely unharmed.

And in fact, if anything, he's had a little exercise this morning.

I think this bird is about 10 weeks old, maybe a little older.

Don't know if it's a male or a female yet, but our measurements may tell us.

Preston has been studying this eagle population really intensively for years.

The dedication that they bring to this study and the amount of energy they put in... this is really hard work.

But they are turning up information about Golden Eagles that no one knew before.

People ask about the threats to this species.

It's now considered a species of greatest conservation need across much of the West.

The west, these wide-open landscapes, are changing drastically and rapidly in some cases.

And there are many threats to the Golden Eagle.

Together with a changing climate, the overarching threat is the expansion of the human footprint.

This is such amazing country.

The Bighorn Basin is this beautiful... wild... it seems almost barren at first, but you look around, there's so much life.

As I made my way through the rocks and sagebrush, I thought about the transcendent intersection of ancient ways and modern science that I was lucky to be a part of on this trip.

I left with a feeling of reverence for this place and its inhabitants.

This is a sacred spiritual landscape that we're on right now.

And my ancestors came here many generations ago.

When they came here, they had the name Bíiluke.

The ones on our side.

But when they arrived in this country their name became Apsáalooke: children of the large-beaked bird.

We are the children of the Golden Eagle, and that this bird has blessed us and continues to bless us through so many different ways.

And we're thankful for it.

We're thankful for this relationship.

Dr. Preston often speaks about an inner calm when he's banding eagles.

Both for him and for the bird.

Maybe the heartbeat of the Golden Eagle is what echoes throughout not only the Bighorn Basin, but in our hearts as well, and is what drives someone like Dr. Charles Preston in his work and life.

It wasn't until I had witnessed the connection between these eagles and Dr. Preston that I fully realized the amount of care, compassion, and affinity he has with these birds and the hold they have on his own life.

The Golden Eagles are witness to a change that people have not been able to really see in their lifetimes.

The Golden Eagles are still here.

Even though the buffalo have gone.

Even though the elk and the deer have largely left.

Even though the teepees are no longer here.

The ceremonies are still here.

The eagles are still here.

The medicine is still on this ground and in this air.

And this is the ceremonial way of life that remains.

The legacy is here for all of us to celebrate and enjoy.

Let's protect it.

Let's keep it here forever.

I remember my first field season studying raptors in the Arkansas Ozarks more than 45 years ago.

And I'll certainly remember my last field season here in the American West.

I have been a witness to a changing West for a long time now.

In this often under-appreciated sagebrush ecosystem that I've come to love.

Studying this powerful raptor that I've learned to admire.

I can't help thinking that the fates of the place and the bird are intimately linked.