Bald eagle continues to soar on in history

Last month marked the 29th year since Jacksonville High School made a permanent home for America’s national bird – and gained another footnote in Illinois history.

“At that time we were the only school in Illinois to have a bald eagle,” retired JHS teacher Sara Brown said.

Brown was an important part of JHS getting the bird, a feat that had her going above and beyond her normal duties as a teacher.

Brown and her husband, Harlow, were the ones who found the deceased bird in rural Morgan County.

“We lived outside Murrayville and it was a lovely fall day ... my husband came to get me to show me something,” Brown said. “Walking to the spot, it looked like it was a plastic bag that was caught. ‘Take a closer look,’ [Harlow] said. That’s when I realized it was a bald eagle.”

The Browns were stunned by their find but had a decision to make – leave the bird and let nature take its course or take it home and report the find to someone, whoever that someone might be?

They decided to take it home and put it in a freezer to keep it out of harms way, particularly other animals searching for food.

On the advice of a science-teacher friend, the Browns called the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which sent someone within hours, Brown said.

“It was like the movies when you see black [Chevrolet] Tahoes pull up and people in uniforms with guns get out,” said Tyler Brown, the Browns’ son and a 1996 JHS graduate. “It was an impressionable moment for someone that age.”

Within minutes, the agents were scouring the area for signs of wrong-doing, counting the feathers on the bird and looking for other feathers within the vicinity – all while trying to determine the bird’s cause of death.

The agents’ search was to no avail and, with no definitive answers, the agents departed, taking the bald eagle with it.

“The bird went on its merry way for an autopsy,” Sara Brown said.

It wasn’t until months later that they found out the bird died of lead poisoning, the result of eating a fish – a main source of food for bald eagles – that had itself swallowed a lead weight.

It soon became a mission for the Browns to make the deceased bird be a permanent part of Morgan County.

“How do we keep this in the area?” Sara Brown said of her thoughts years ago.

According to federal law, American Indians have the first right of refusal to take dead bald eagles.

For many Native Americans, the eagle is a sacred creature and there is a strong cultural tradition required for religious and cultural purposes.

But there were no claims for the bird and the plan to have the eagle brought to Morgan County started to take flight after two or three years of applying to have the bird sent to Jacksonville.

“They [IDNR] called us to say that no one had claimed the bird, but they also told us they lost the bird,” Tyler Brown said.

Within months, the department called back to notify the Browns that the eagle had been found and was the Browns to keep – with strict stipulations.

It had to be placed in a locked, shatter-proof glass case; have limited public viewing; and not be moved.

That still didn’t ensure the bird’s immediate arrival at JHS. Money to install the case had to be raised and the bird had to be taken to a taxidermist.

“The bird was in bad shape,” Sarah Brown said.

Christine Musser of Feather Perfect Taxidermy of Loami, which since has closed, mounted the bald eagle.

“She had to use some chicken feathers in the white part of the eagle’s head,” Sara Brown said.

Several other teachers and staff – aided by financial donations from the JHS Classes of 1992, 1993 and 1986 – banded together to make the display what it is today. The JHS science club, student government, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and cross-country team also helped with donations.

Seeing the eagle become a part of JHS and the Jacksonville community was a triumph for Sara Brown and her family, she said.

“Every morning I would put my key in the lock [to her office at JHS], look down the hall and tip my head,” she said. “It lived in Morgan County, it expired in Morgan County and it lives on in Morgan County,” she said.

It wasn’t until months later that they found out the bird died of lead poisoning, the result of eating a fish – a main source of food for bald eagles that had itself swallowed a lead weight.

Jacksonville Journal-Courier