Mrs Jean Keene, othewise known as the Eagle Lady
July 2020: I am in the process of moving my web site from an independent site to one hosted by SquareSpace. I have gotten tired of all the changes with WordPress, the templates, the hacking and other costs associated with maintaining it. Squarespace does not handle the transition from a WordPress site to their site easily and I am finding it the best just o individually move each post. It will be some work, but I believe in the end it will be the best……..
That being said, I think I will have to start with the oldest first to keep them in the order they were originally posted. I have one older, but I will start with this article about Jean Keene, aka The Eagle Lady. She was and always will be a special lady that gave so much to her bald eagles….
My wife gave me the obituary article for the passing of Ms Jean Keene on January 13, 2009. She was otherwise known as the Eagle Lady of Homer, Alaska and the world will miss her.
She was a testament to how one person dedicated to a cause can affect the survival of a species, touch millions of people, impact a community and leave a lasting impression on all those who came in contact with her. For those not aware of who she was, essentially, she was a single person who managed and lived in a trailer park in the middle of the Homer Spit on Kachemak Bay. Beginning in 1970, she started acquiring free leftover fish parts from the canneries nearby and and helped sustain the resident Bald Eagles during the winter months. She continued this practice up until her death. Earlier in her life when she had more strength and there was a larger availability of food source, she would perform this task twice a day, but later in life, she only feed them at 10:30 am and had to resort to buying the fish parts she used.
I made my first trip to Homer Alaska in early March, 1999 as part of a Photo Safari organized by Moose Peterson. What I experienced was short of amazing. On any given day about 100 to 500 bald eagles would show up at her place flying in from all parts of the Kenai Peninsula. My second trip was three years later and already she was slowing down and finding it harder to acquire food for her eagles. To her, the eagles came first. While she was feeding them people were not allowed outside of their cars and those photographers lucky enough to be asked into her compound had to remain where they were in their specific spots. Those unlucky enough to not abide by her rules were treated to some fish parts originally intended for her eagles.
She became widely know in the nature photography community and through her life she has attracted virtually every known professional wildlife photographer to her spot. In all that time she never asked anything for herself. I had often estimated that greater than 1/2 of all the bald eagle images taken during the years she was alive wither in print or on the web were shot at her place. Her humble place became the major source of captivating images of bald eagles through which people everywhere increased their enjoyment and understanding of these magnificent birds.
Of course Ms Keene also came under criticism from purists in the environmental community for her practice. They claimed that she was degrading a noble bird to that of a scavenger (actually, what it is) and promoting the survival of the less fit. However, I then lived in the State of Washington, a government which has realized that it needs to intervene and provide winter feeding sources for Rocky Mountain Sheep and Roosevelt Elk for them to survive. Ms Keene's actions were more farsighted and practical than those of Washington State. Starting in 1967 the bald eagle was listed as an endangered species, but through the work of a lot of people like Ms Keene, the bald eagle experienced a significant comeback and was removed from the endangered list in2007.
As far Homer Alaska. I probably would never have gone there if it had not been for Ms Keene. As it is, I discovered how great a place it is. It would be interesting to know how many individuals and groups like me made treks to Homer during the winter, an off tourist time, to see and photograph the eagles at Jean Keene’s place. I am sure she helped provide good tourist dollars for the area.
Ms Keene and her persistent spirit will be missed. There are fewer individuals with her gumption, kindness, dedication and simplicity in our world these days. I hope I get a chance to visit Home again some winter in memory to her and her eagles. Her eagles will miss her as will all of us who came into contact with her.
Rest well.
Earl