National Eagle Center draws crowd at library

Local kids got close enough to a bald eagle to feel the wind from its feathers last week.

Jared Lueck of the National Eagle Center visited Kenyon Public Library Thursday afternoon, introducing eagle ambassador Latsch to an adoring crowd. The program was sponsored by SELCO and the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment.

Measuring 6 feet from wingtip to wingtip, Latsch is an eight year old bald eagle who’s been with the center since 2016. He was found near Winona with an injured eye, leaving him without depth perception.

The bird proved to be a bit hit. According to Youth Services Librarian Dawn Brossard, the program drew an audience of 140.

“We draw in some big crowds around here,” she said.

Brossard expressed her passion for science education, one of her specialties at the library. Through hosting varied programming, she hopes to make the library “the place to go” for kids in Kenyon. She noted that people often think of the library as a good place to bring preschoolers, but she’s working to expand their offerings to appeal to a wider range of kids.

“I want to start to bring in those older groups. Get everybody in here so everybody loves the library as much as I do,” she said.

Based in Wabasha, the NEC has housed eagle ambassadors like Latsch since 2000. Lueck told the kids that the center’s very first eagle ambassador Harriet can still be seen gracing Minnesota’s “Support Our Troops” license plate. Harriet died at 35, much older than the average eagle lives in the wild.

The NEC currently houses four eagle ambassadors.

Using a color-coded measuring stick, Lueck showed the kids how their own wingspans measured up to those of various birds, ranging from a ruby-throated hummingbird to a bald eagle. Most kids in the group matched up to common loons and turkeys.

Lueck wowed kids with an array of eye-opening eagle facts, like that a bald eagle can see a white-tailed deer from five miles away, or an ant from 100 feet in the air. While their eyes are fixed in their skulls, they can rotate their heads nearly 270 degrees thanks to having twice as many neck bones as humans. Despite their much smaller body size, their eyes are the same size as human eyes.

He shocked parents in the audience by noting that if human children grew at the same rate as eagle chicks, they’d mature from newborn to 12 years old in six weeks.

Lueck also told kids that bald eagles are capable of defecating over the side of their nest from six feet away, putting much of the audience within Latsch’s range.

“My front row, welcome to the National Eagle Center splash zone. I will do my best to keep the tail pointed in a responsible direction, but I make no guarantees. You chose to sit up front,” he said.

While the bird did indeed relieve itself on the carpet once freed from its crate, much to the audience’s delight, the kids themselves were spared.

Right before introducing the kids to Latsch, Lueck showed off the bird’s preferred lunch — bite-sized morsels of rat, provoking a mixture of interest and disgust. Lueck called the grisly snack Latsch’s “paycheck,” something he receives each time he meets an audience.

While admiring the bird, kids peppered Lueck with questions. One asked him what the NEC does with the feathers its eagles shed, and he explained that the feathers are collected and sent to the National Eagle Repository in Colorado, which issues ceremonial permits for their use in Native American cultural and religious ceremonies.

Attendee Amanda Ellingson said Thursday’s program was the second she’s experienced from the NEC, and she enjoyed the refresher. Curious about zoology in general, she said it was especially interesting to learn about the bald eagle due to its status as a national symbol.