When I went through my photos of the golden eagle last week, I had a couple I discarded right away because the sun seemed to be hitting the eyes in a strange way. It wasn't until I went back later that I discovered the amazing truth - the photos show the rarely seen (at least for me!) "third eyelid" of the giant bird!
People have one way of closing our eyes - we lower our top eyelids. Raptors have three options - they lower the top lid, they raise the lower lid or they close the "third eyelid" - the nictitating membrane - from the side like a curtain. This eyelid is transparent and can be used to cut down on glare or to keep the eye moist or even to protect the eyes when the bird is diving. Plus it has the cool effect of making them look like an avian creature from a zombie movie!
I am so thrilled I was able to capture this rare look at an amazing feature!
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