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Article published Jun 20, 2008 Flying with the Eagles: Maryville man dedicated to birds of prey
By Iva Butler of The Daily Times Staff
John Buchanan is passionate about eagles every day. Today, the first American Eagle Day, the rest of the nation joins in his celebration of the regal birds of prey.
Sen. Lamar Alexander of Blount County authored the legislation passed by both houses of Congress designating the special day to honor the bald eagle, the national bird.
Buchanan, who lives on Cherokee Heights Drive in Maryville, is a volunteer with the American Eagle Foundation headquartered at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge. He has worked in the background with the birds of prey and vultures almost every Saturday for four years.
"All birds have distinct personalities," said Buchanan, who got involved as a volunteer after seeing federation representatives at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge.
He quoted nature preservationist and author the late John Muir as saying, "Eagles know they are eagles."
"They know they are special," Buchanan said. "They think the world revolves around them."
He used the nonreleasable bald eagle Challenger, who is featured on the American Eagle Tennessee license plates, as an example.
"Challenger has a movie star mentality. He is a relatively small bald eagle. There are two other eagles that are significantly larger than him at Dollywood, Mr. Lincoln and America, but Challenger definitely has an attitude," he said.
"When people come in the barn that are not usually there, he straightens up and poses for pictures."
Challenger is often taken to sporting events to fly in before games begin.
"He is absolutely positive everybody is there to see him," Buchanan said.
"As far as we know, Challenger is the only bird to have both his name and picture on legal tender from the U.S. Mint," he said.
In January the Mint issued three separate eagle coins, part of the sale of which benefits the foundation.
The American Eagle Foundation has released over 88 to 90 eagles in the wild, more than any other organization in the world.
Bald eagles were recently taken off the Endangered Species List.
"They are probably the best-equipped bird to be taken off the list because every state has laws to protect them," Buchanan said.
The eagles are tagged and have been traced to Florida, Lake Superior in Canada, and some head toward Alaska eventually after released in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, he said.
Soon seven eagles will be released from the hacking tower located on Douglas Lake at Dandridge, which will be a large release at one time, Buchanan said.
Included among these will be triplet birds hatched at the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary aviary.
"It is very rare for three chicks to survive."
Dollywood just built a new facility for the foundation, which conducts the bird shows at the theme park. They also have a bird hospital, rehabilitation area, enclosed flight center and barn. Some of the show birds and those used for educational purposes at schools and other places now live in the new facility and others are still in the barn.
"The thing most wonderful to me is when we fly the eagles back and forth in the barn," Buchanan said. "When an eagle lands on your glove, it's a powerful experience and a little bit dangerous. You have to always remember they are wild. Birds of prey are absolutely fascinating birds that everyone should know about. You can tell a lot about the health of an eco-system by the predators. They're at the forefront (when adverse effects are first felt, such as with DTD)," he said.
The foundation not only rehabilitates, raises and releases eagles and does education outreach about bald eagles, but also does the same for other birds of prey and vultures.
These include golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, great horned, screech, barn and barred owls, kestrels and vultures.
Really big bird
The foundation has an Indian condor, which is the largest flying bird in the world.
"She has an extremely sweet disposition. She is probably the only bird there who considers us as food. She weighs 22 pounds and has a 11-foot wingspan. She is very smart and very dangerous. In the wild, females can grow to 50 pounds, so she is petite," Buchanan said.
"I love dealing with birds. As much as I love dealing with eagles, I think my favorites are the red-tailed hawks. They have a tremendous sense of who they are and have great personalities," he said.
One of his favorites is a geriatric hawk named Satch, who is 27.
"I always take a few minutes to go outside with him and just sit and be quiet while he has a bite to eat," he said.
Buchanan said he has great respect for the foundation employees.
"The people who work at the foundation are wonderful, dedicated and really passionate about what they do. I've come to really love them," he said.
He advises everybody to find something they are passionate about and volunteer in that field -- if they are not lucky enough to have a job they are passionate about.