There comes a time in someone's life when he stretches his wings and leaves his natural habitat to explore the world.
It's about to happen again.
Two bald eaglets made a few practice flaps Friday as they got ready to depart their parents' man-made perch near the southeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake.
The youngsters aren't quite ready to fly away, but the time is coming soon, according to Bob Walters, biologist with the Utah Department of Transportation's Division of Wildlife Resources.
"My guess is June 13 is the magic day," he said from a spot just about a football field away from the nest.
Walters said nesting time is about 88 days, and these eaglets are about 70 days old.
The nest sits atop a telephone pole erected with a fork on top that "looks like it had gone through a garbage disposal," said UDOT spokesman Tom Hudachko.
Despite its mrangled appearance, the perch has proven it can serve as the eagle family's home.
The happy parents have been raising eagles (the total now is 19) in almost the same location for the past eight years.
According to UDOT, a windstorm in the summer of 2001 blew down a dead cottonwood tree that served as the eagles' former home.
In October the same year, Walters said, the structure was installed in the same location, and the original nest was placed on top in hopes that the bald eagles would accept it. They are one of only four known nesting pairs in Utah.
Except for winter, when Utah may be a getaway for about 1,200 bald eagles fleeing even colder climes, the state tends not to be a prime breeding ground because of its aridity, Walters said. But he ascribed the birds' ability to withstand Utah winters to their hardiness.
"They can sit out in negative 10, negative 20 degrees," he said. "As long as they're fed, they'll make it. I would challenge you (to) sit on that structure for 35 days, night and day, and still figure out something to eat."
The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Services categorizes the bald eagle as "threatened" in the lower 48 states.
Twenty-three other animals, including the desert tortoise, Utah prairie dog and Lahontan cutthroat trout, and 24 plants, including the maguire daisy, autumn buttercup and San Rafael cactus, are listed as either threatened or endangered in Utah. The department's online list is located at endangered.fws.gov/wildlife.html.
E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com