  | Over 35 years ago, Kent Durden was on the East Coast, on a lecture tour for The Audubon Society, when he called home to check on his father and mother. His father, Ed, told him that Lady had left that day. After sixteen years, the golden eagle that was such a large part of the family had left on her daily flight and Ed knew she wasn't coming back. That night, Kent sat down in the large house that Audubon had provided for him and started to write about the remarkable story that he had been a part of for the last sixteen years. Little did they know through all the years that Ed and Kent were filming and training Lady that the real story they were documenting was the curious and deep relationship between Lady and Ed Durden. |
The book that Kent started that night was Gifts of an Eagle. It was published by Simon and Schuster in 1972. It spent eight weeks on the NY Times best sellers list. Two books and a film followed. The film, Gifts of an Eagle, told the story of Lady all in original footage taken by Kent and Ed.
During the last 25 years, while building houses in California's Gold Country, Kent Durden took the time to still show his film and tell the story of Lady. The book and film are still available here. Sadly, Kent is no longer here with us. He passed away in March of 2007.
I am his daughter, Kristine, and I created the website 2 years before he died. I wanted people to be able to find information about Lady, Ed and Kent on the web. Since then I have received a number of emails from many people who were strongly affected by my father's book. I am always happy to hear from you and I appreciate you passing on the story to your family and friends.
I met Lady when I was young. I witnessed much of the story and have seen the film many times and yet I still find myself overwhelmed with the tender images and amazing story of that big bird and my grandfather.
Kristine Durden
