Fly, Lincoln, Fly

From ten-hour car rides to dogs interrupting his training sessions, Lincoln is ready for it all.Lincoln, a bald eagle, flies from upper level of Lincoln Financial Field on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Philadelphia. The practice session was preparation for a flight during the national anthem before the Philadelphia Eagles NFL game against the Washington Commanders. The eagle’s home is at the American Eagle Foundation in Kodak, TN. Four handlers escort Lincoln on the 602 mile journey north for about 30 seconds of patriotic glory.

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David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

by Ariel SimpsonPublished Dec. 8, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET

There comes a time when an eagle needs to sit down and really reflect on his career. Was it as fulfilling as he hoped it would be? Could he continue a little longer? Or is it time to hang it up and enjoy retirement? No, we’re not talking about former Eagles center Jason Kelce. We’re talking about a different national treasure: the bald eagle.

After 25 years of traveling coast-to-coast, Challenger, the first bald eagle in U.S. history trained to fly in major sports stadiums and arenas, made his last free-flight appearance in 2018 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Now, with Challenger off enjoying retirement, it’s time for another bird ready to step in — or in this case fly in — and embrace that next-bird-up mentality. Enter Lincoln, the 27-year-old bald eagle that has accepted the challenge and everything that comes with it, from 10-hour car rides to dogs interrupting his training sessions.

Flying — or driving — like an eagle

In November, Lincoln soared over the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field before an important divisional matchup between the Eagles and the Washington Commanders on prime-time television. The lights were at their brightest and the pressure was on Lincoln.

But before he made his appearance in front of tens of thousands of Philly fans, Lincoln needed to get from Kodak, Tenn., where the American Eagle Foundation is based, to the stadium with which he shares a name.

So, how does a bald eagle travel from one place to another? It’s not as easy as you’d think, considering they can fly. In this case, not only is Lincoln unable to use his own wings, he can’t use giant metal ones either. Bald eagles were previously able to fly, but new FAA regulations put a stop to that for now. Instead, Lincoln traveled for 10½ hours in a specialized crate in the back of a van.

But once he arrives, he sleeps in style.

“We all take turns driving up and then once we get to a hotel he has his very own perch setup, then we’ll put a tarp out in the hotel room on the ground,” said Katelyn Jennings, operations manager of the American Eagle Foundation. “We’ll give him some enrichment and he gets to sit out on the perch for the night. He’s just got a little leash-like thing that goes on him just to make sure he stays close by his perch. He gets plenty of room to stretch his wings just like us after a car ride.”

Lincoln doesn’t get his own hotel room — but he does have his own space with a special kennel designed with darker lighting so he can decompress and get away from the limelight.

Once at Lincoln Financial Field, Lincoln did a quick practice flight and was soon ready for the real deal. Of course, he nailed it — or is it taloned it?

Flying free in stadiums … and backyards

Similar to any professional football player, the transition from playing on the peewee level to the National Football League is no easy task. It takes hard work and heart. Both of which Lincoln has in spades.

Before Challenger retired, Lincoln was already working as his understudy, which was needed whenever Challenger was in a molting phase — when a bird is losing some of its feathers and regrowing new ones. He completed several different free-flight appearances before taking over full-time.

Lincoln focused mainly on indoor events throughout his career, and his first free-flight event was for Music Mansion in 2001. Now, he enters his first NFL season, flying in bigger outdoor spaces. To prepare for the season, Lincoln, despite 20-plus years of event experience, had to take baby steps to ensure he was ready for the big time.

“We started out by doing level flights at our headquarters facility,” Jennings said. “Then we moved to another football field nearby, and then we went to Carson-Newman University and we did their home opener game. That was still a pretty small scale. And then we’re about an hour from the home of the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. They were very gracious to let us fly in their empty stadium.”

But training Lincoln was not without hiccups. Once, during one of his free-flying training sessions, Lincoln was picked up by the wind, making a quick detour into the backyard of a nearby home with three big dogs. As one of the dogs ran toward Lincoln, instead of running away, he stood his ground and puffed up his chest to the dog twice his size.

Surprisingly enough, this wasn’t Lincoln’s first altercation with another animal.

“We had a couple of situations that we encountered during training,” Jennings said. “We learned that Lincoln does not mind dogs or osprey, which is another type of bird of prey. At our Carson-Newman game, they have an osprey nest near the field and the osprey would dive down to try and get him. And he says this is my territory and not yours and he just kind of looked at them like, ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’ and continued to fly onto the trainer.”

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Sporting events aren’t the only occasions hoping to have an eagle in attendance. The American Eagle Foundation has held eagle appearances at many different locations, including veteran events, libraries, and even weddings.

“The biggest request we’re getting right now is weddings,” Jennings said. “The past few weddings we have done, they’ve done the first look. So they wanted to surprise the bride or the groom with an eagle.”

Next-bird-up mentality

The American Eagle Foundation focuses on three main mission pillars — conservation, education, and protection — and serves them in different ways, though rehabilitation, field trips, tours, and, of course, free-flight displays at sporting events and more. Challenger’s appearances were used to educate people about the importance of protecting his species.

“One of the biggest things about eagles is that it is our national symbol,” said Jennings. “And so many people don’t know it was on the endangered species list for a long time. Even though they were removed from that list in 2007, it’s still something we need to be cognitive of and we are the biggest threat to our bald eagles.”

After educating people for 25 years, Challenger is enjoying retirement. But how do you know when a bald eagle is ready to retire? It’s not like they can tell you themselves.

According to Jennings, they have a quality of life scale with all of the birds to ensure they’re doing what’s best for the bird. Some causes for retirement include arthritis or — in Challenger’s case — cataracts.

“In general, if they are healthy and thriving, then we would continue on with programming because that’s like a form of enrichment,” Jennings said. “And in return, it’s just making sure that they’re mentally stimulated as well as physically stimulated just to make sure they’re getting the best that they can.”

And what does retirement look like for Challenger? Well, that’s easy. It’s similar to any other retirement. A time to relax — unless you’re Kelce.

“With Challenger, he typically will hang out at our headquarters facilities,” Jennings said. “Sometimes he does do gloved [non-flight] appearances, but for the most part he gets to hang out at our headquarters location and just relax and get fed as much fish, rat, and quail as he would like and do just enough exercise to keep him healthy and be adored by many, many people.”

Challenger recovered from cataract surgery in June 2024 and is off resting his wings — while also indulging in the finest rats Tennessee has to offer — while his former understudy has embraced the spotlight of his new starring role.

Lincoln won’t be on hand for Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers, but he’ll be back at Lincoln Financial Field on Dec. 29 for the Eagles’ matchup against the Dallas Cowboys.