Somewhere in the dark rainforest of Mt. Apo, tallest mountain in the Philippines, a monkey-eating eagle, an endangered species, lurks at her nest atop a towering limestone cliff, not knowing of an accidental encounter with a human about to happen.
eastwind journals
‘True Tales’ Series – Volume 42
November 9, 2023 – Archives tr429
By Bernie V. Lopez, eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
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Author’s note. This is a dramatized story inspired by true events and circumstances.
Aska, a ten-year-old girl from the Bagobo tribe, pre-historic keepers of the rainforest, tries to shoo the mother eagle away with her slingshot, but the nest is beyond her reach. She is angry because the eagle recently killed one of their chickens. She gets her father’s 22-caliber rifle, and takes pot shots at her every day, but always misses. The eagle is too far, and will not budge, defying the ricocheting bullets echoing, standing her ground to protect her one-year-old baby eagle.
Philippine monkey-eating eagle, largest eagle in the world, most powerful bird of prey, an endangered species whose home is Mt. Apo in Mindanao, tallest mountain in the Philippines. (courtesy of edgeofexistence.org, please visit for more information.)
Later, her dad forbade her to shoot because they were running out of bullets. So, she is left just observing the eagle with her dad’s binoculars. Seeing the fierce face of the eagle at extreme close up, Aska is struck with awe and falls in love with the eagle. Every day, she watches her.
Aska notices that the eagle pushes her baby softly often. She knew the mother eagle was practicing her baby to flex his wings. After about a month of flexing, Aska is shocked when the eagle pushes her baby off the cliff. In the blink of an eye, by pure instinct, the baby eagle spreads her wings and soars. In a split second, he learns how to fly. Aska screams with delight. Baby eagles sometimes die on first flight because their wings are too weak to get them airborne, from malnutrition or weak wing muscles.
Aska steals a chicken from the family’s coop, kills it, waves it at the eagle, and shouts, “Hey, Agila, come and get it.” She places the chicken on top of a boulder. The eagle swoops down and brings it to her nest. They become instant friends.
One day, a baby wild boar strays into the clearing. The eagle swoops down and kills it. It is too heavy to bring up to the nest, so the eagle simply eats as much she can. Aska watches her close up and learns the meaning of regurgitation to feed the baby eagle from her mouth.
DAD – Stop feeding the eagle, Aska.
ASKA – But she’s hungry and has to feed her baby?
DAD – If you feed her, she stops hunting because she depends on you. You are destroying her ability to survive on her own. When you are gone, she and her baby may die.
From then on, Aska never feeds the eagle again. Once, the eagle alights on the boulder. Aska approaches slowly, guessing that she wants to be fed. The mother eagle allows Aska to pet her. Aska’s hair stands on edge as she feels the eagle’s silky plume. She whispers to her, “Wow. Your feathers are so smooth. I will call you Alpha Agila (meaning, alpha eagle). An old man later says that it is perhaps the first time in history in Mt. Apo that a wild eagle allows a human to touch and caress her. Normally, humans cannot touch wild eagles unless they grew up with them as a baby.
Ten years pass. Aska is now a nurse in New Jersey, an unwed mother living alone with her only son Johnathan. She spoils him rotten. He does not help in house chores, and refuses to mow the lawn. He stares at the ceiling the whole day.
JOHNATHAN – Mom, I’m so bored. I don’t know what to do.
ASKA – Listen, son. Are you willing to go to Venezuela as a Peace Corps volunteer?
JOHNATHAN – Anything to get out of my rut.
In a mountain village in Venezuela, Johnathan is forced to get out of his American comfort zone. His immersion is like the eagle exercising her baby every day in preparation for the big push. He learns to cook and wash his own clothes. He learns to love the poor people, who have purified his soul. His wings are now flexing.
When he returns home, the first things he does is to mow the lawn. Aska is in tears that now her baby boy is a grown man, like a baby eagle instantly soaring. Johnathan eventually becomes one of the most acclaimed surgeons in the US.
One day, he visits Mt. Apo with his mother Aska, who tells him all about Alpha Agila, the mother eagle. He watches the nest on the cliff with the same binoculars, but it is now the baby eagle when Aska was young that is the mother eagle that Johnathan sees. Like his mom, Johnathan falls in love with the eagle. He decides to stay in Mt. Apo, opening up a small clinic for the Bagobo community deep in the rainforest. He does not charge his patients. He receives fresh deer and wild boar meat and wild fruits as payments from patients, enough to get by.
Because there are no pharmacy and western medicine in the village, Johnathan is able to find and purchase a Filipino herbal medicine book through the Internet, complete with pictures. He shows the book to his patients who easily identify many of the plants which grow in Mt. Apo.
Oskar, a babaylan (Bagobo medicine man), amazed by the herbal book, partners with Johnathan to roam the entire rainforest for six months, recording the native names of medicinal plants not found in the book. They collect plants for curing asthma, varicose veins, rheumatism, ulcer, common cold and flu. They collect leaves with anti-inflammatory and anti-septic properties. The Bagobos have been using this ancient form of herbal medicine for thousands of years since the pre-Hispanic period.
One day, Johnathan sees the eagle, the daughter of Alpha Agila, at the boulder staring at him. He calls her mom Aska, who approaches and caresses the eagle. Somehow the eagle knew her through her mother. Johnathan’s hair stands on edge when he is also able to touch the eagle. They call her Bathala Agila, meaning goddess eagle.
During one intense drought, Johnathan and Aska secretly let a baby goat lose in the forest, hoping Bathala would catch her. They saw the remains of the carcass after a week. Johnathan and Aska never went back to New Jersey and lived with the endangered eagles of Mt. Apo. eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com
GO TO – SPIRITUAL CAUSES OF CANCER = https://eastwindjournals.com/2021/03/25/spiritual-causes-of-cancer-a-true-story-2/
More Inspirational Articles – eastwindjournals.com.
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1) Father Fernando Suarez – www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UP3LHBgtIc.
2) Sr. Raquel Reodica, RVM – www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAZcwNimBSg
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Author’s book. At age 26, the author (eastwind) drifted through Europe, hitchhiking 25,000 kilometers for three straight years. He wrote a book on his adventures, Wings and Wanderlust. He learned deep insights that radically changed his view of life, which he wants to share with readers looking for themselves or wanting to catch the wind. More about the book (get a copy) = https://eastwindjournals.com/2023/02/25/more-about-the-book-wings-and-wanderlust/
Author’s Credentials. Blogger – ex-Columnist (Inquirer) – Healing Ministry – ex-Professor (Ateneo University) – Documentary Producer-Director (freelance, ex-ABS-CBN, ex-TVS Tokyo) – ex-Broadcaster (Radio Veritas) – Facebook “Bernie V. Lopez Eastwind” / Pages “Eastwind Journeys and Journals” and “Mary Queen of Peace”.
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