"Nothing in the world prepares you for an eagle leaping to your arm. Her head cocks sideways, her eyes sharpen, then she half-leaps, half-flies to my outstretched arm. She curls talons around the heavy leather glove and lowers her beak to worry the thumb. My arm and hand belong to her. This is what she does best: owns things. For eight years, this eagle owned me."

With these words, Brenda Cox begins the account of her remarkable relationship with Ichabod, a female bald eagle. Cox meets Ichabod for the first time when the ten-week-old bird, blown from her nest, is brought to stay at the wildlife rehabilitation centre where Cox is a supervisor. Cox has been drawn to raptors since she was a child, and she watches Ichabod with fascination. One day, crab-walking into Ichabod's cage to deliver a dead quail for dinner, Cox hears a noise behind her and turns to find herself "looking into eyes that could see a fish from a mile in the sky." Ichabod's eyes are bright and curious and the colour of brown sugar-and Cox is hooked.

Conversations with an Eagle captures an unusual relationship with passion and imagination. Cox's story is full of lore about the bald eagle, North America's most dramatic raptor. Many of us have admired eagles as they soar high overhead, their wingspans regularly stretching seven feet or more. But few people come within breathing distance of these magnificent birds. In its depiction of how two very different creatures managed to form an enduring bond, this book is the next best thing to being there yourself.

Brenda Cox studied biology and geography at Simon Fraser University, where she spent eight years as a supervisor at a wildlife sanctuary. Brenda Cox currently lives in Surrey, British Columbia.

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