"Master of the Sky"

Minden Pictures/Alamy

This is the story of the journey of a Golden eagle.  A 20 year physical and eternal spiritual journey.

Where in life she roamed the wild Idaho landscape, she continues her journey as Master of the Sky, where she flies higher and sees further than any other bird.

The eagle is a major social and religious symbol in Native American culture.  Golden eagles are revered by tribes across the nation, strong associated with native cultures of the Great Plains and Western mountains.  The feathers of Bald and Golden eagles are treasured possessions. 

These are not just ancient customs and rituals, they remain part of Native American culture today.  Native American students are often given an eagle feather when the graduate from high school and warriors (soldiers) are awarded eagle feathers when they return from Iraq or Afghanistan. 

Eagles are also endangered and under severe stress due to human activity.  Their numbers are dwindling, which impacts the availability to Native American tribes of feathers and even whole birds for religious and social ceremonial events.  To accommodate the tribes' need for these critical artifacts and protect eagles in the wild, the National Eagle Repository was established in the 1970s  by the U.S. Fish  and Wildlife Services.