Eagle Feathers

My husband found a bald eagle feather in our front yard!

When he showed me what he had found, I recalled sitting on a mountain top while visiting a high school friend in Cripple Creek, Colorado. My friend and I sat there watching two eagles lazily circling in the sky. He told me he hoped I would find an eagle feather up there, because his wife, a native American, had told him if you found an eagle feather it was fortunate and that you were blessed.

So, you can imagine our excitement when he found an eagle feather right here in our own front yard!  I immediately recognized it as a bald eagle feather when he showed it to me. It was beautiful and in perfect condition. I told him that native Americans view finding an eagle feather as a sign of great fortune and that he was blessed to find it.

I decided to do a little research on the computer to see if there were any other indications that finding an eagle feather was indeed a sign of fortune, when I discovered something I did not know existed. The Eagle Feather Law.

It is against the law to possess even one eagle feather and that you can get a
$25,000 fine and even spend time in prison just for having one feather in your
possession!

The native American tribes consider eagle feathers to be sacred and use them in their religious ceremonies. In order to get the feathers themselves, they must apply to the National Eagle Repository and prove their heritage in a recognized tribe to obtain and eventually possess an eagle feather.

So after discovering this bit of information, we talked it over and decided not to keep it. We carefully carried it out back into our woods, and reluctantly placed it on our special rock. Then we held hands and said a little prayer over it, took a photo and walked away.

So, what does the law say you should you do if you find an eagle feather?

"Take only photos, leave only footprints".

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