“When she turns to look at you, and her eyes fix on your position, it feels as though you are suddenly thrust under a spotlight, captured in the intensity of her gaze.”
The first time I saw her at the World Center for Birds of Prey, it gave me chills from head to toe. She was massive, the largest eagle I had ever seen. Osa’s feathers swayed atop her crest as she cocked her head to look at the faint image of myself behind the glass.
The docent approached me remarking “Amazing, isn’t she?”
I agreed and responded, “it’s almost hard to believe she is real.”
I asked him her name and he could only give me a tag number as he explained that they try to not develop an attachment to the birds. I noticed something troubling and I asked him why her right wing was held quite a bit lower than her left. He said it had been broken when the tree she was nesting in somewhere in Central America was felled during deforestation of the rain forest. He indicated that he thought her chicks had perished but that they were able to rescue her and rehabilitate her for the breeding program. She was brought to Boise by The Peregrine Fund along with 17 other Harpys to help in the efforts to try to save the entire species from extinction. Osa’s mate suddenly rose from the floor near the wall where he had been roosting just out of sight. He flew up onto the branch next to her and again it took my breath away. He was so regal, so proud and so gorgeous.
The story of what we as humans are doing to our planet hit home in a way in hadn’t ever before as I stood there looking at these magnificent creatures. I was stunned by Osa’s story and disturbed that Harpy numbers continue to fall even to this day. After months of working on her etching, I still had trouble thinking of her only as a number. I was reading an article about the Harpy’s struggles on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica (where the Harpies were barely holding on) and I thought, that is it! I will name her Osa, and it seemed to really fit her. Osa was the most amazing creature I think I’d ever seen. She was the inspiration to start something, anything to help TPF, the organization leading the charge to help species on the brink of extinction.
Art With Impact Gallery was created to find a way to help. All sales of all of our prints go directly to The Peregrine Fund after our basic expenses are met. We are now a conglomerate of artists all donating prints of original works to help the cause. Your purchase of any Art With Impact Gallery print will help Harpy’s like Osa and all the raptors under the watchful eye of The Peregrine Fund. We hope you can help us help them or donate directly to TPF. Every little bit helps.