"Stained Glass Bald Eagle".....An American Icon

The Bald Eagle......an American icon. Adopted as the emblem of the United States on June 20th, 1782, the Bald Eagle was chosen because of it's great strength, majestic looks and long life. It has since become the USA's symbol of strength, freedom and the pursuit of excellence. The Bald Eagle is truly a force to be reckoned with...in spirit and in nature.

Weighing in at 7 to 15 pounds with a wing span from 6' to 8' they are the largest birds in North America. Covered with brown feathers over most of their body, their tail feathers and head are white and their beak is orange however they don't show these signature colors until the age of 4 or 5. As adolescence they are molted brown and white with brown beaks.

Bald Eagles are very powerful. They use their talons to seize their prey displaying a strength of approximately 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch in each foot thus allowing them to carry away their food that could be up to half of their own body weight. Preferring to use a cruising speed of around 44 miles per hour to pick up their prey, Bald Eagles have also displayed a diving speed from 75 to 100 miles per hour. Riding the thermals in the sky they can reach altitudes of up to 10,000 feet or more.

In the wild Bald Eagles can live as long as 40 years and even longer in captivity. In the early 1700's their population was estimated at around 500,000 strong. By the 1960's their population fell to less than 500 pairs of nesting birds caused by mass shootings, pesticides on crops, destruction of habitats and much more. Taken to the brink of extinction, environmental protection laws, federal conservation efforts and private efforts have brought the Bald Eagle back to the American skies. On the "Endangered" list from 1967 - 1995 their status was moved to the "Threatened" list. Finally, on June 28th 2007 these majestic birds were delisted and once again fly the skies in increasing numbers.

Stained Glass Hummingbirds...A Glass Delight!

Beautiful weather is here...nature is waking up...and the air is full of life with the music of birds everywhere.... and if you're lucky ...you may even spy those ever so small, "Flying Jewels" as the early Spanish explorers once called them...commonly known as "Hummingbirds". What an amazing and colorful bird. These little guys hold the distinct honor of being the Western Hemisphere's second largest family of birds with approximately 343 species to their credit. That's not all......

With the fastest wing beat of any bird, hummingbirds have an average flight speed of 25-30 mph with a dive speed of up to 60 mph and a heart rate of up to 1,260 beats per minute. These little powerhouses are made up of 30% muscle with it's brain making up 4.2% of it's weight.

To maintain all that energy, hummingbirds are known to feed every 10 to 14 minutes depending on the sugar content of their food source. That means that they consume up to 2 times their body weight in food and must consume at least one time their weight in food to survive. Throughout the day a small amount of food energy is stored so when they perch at night they have just enough energy to carry them through the night without starving.

Something else unique ..... hummingbirds can move their wings in a circle allowing them to fly up, down, forwards, backwards and sideways and even hover. Hummingbirds have even been known to fly upside down for short distances when they're being attacked by another bird.

A female hummingbird will only produce one brood per season typically laying 2 white eggs smaller than a penny. It only takes 2 1/2 weeks for the eggs to hatch and they remain in the nest for up to three weeks. The life span of a hummingbird varies but typically lives up to 5 years.

Stones Icon "Jagger's Tongue" is a True Rock & Roll Artifact

There is no argument when it comes to establishing the rolling Stones as real icons to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but what about that "infamous" tongue that has helped make Mick Jagger's place in music history? Well, you'll have to let your imagination run with that one.

But as a piece of Rock and roll history, Jagger is truly one man who embodies the whole scope of that music genre. The Stones have continued to reinvent themselves through decade after decade, and Mick Jagger has obstinately refused to become a relic.

Just as Jagger's body is incredibly lithe, so are his personality and that ever popular tongue!Yet he is one who wears his legendre lightly. Famous for having said nearly forty years ago, "If I'm singing satisfaction when I'm forty, I'm going to kill myself". Yet he is not only still singing it in concerts, he continues to "rock" concertgoers through the roof, no matter what generation they're from!

Mick Jagger's "infamous" tongue can now be found as a stained glass art window hanging. This unique and universally famous signature tongue of the Rolling Stones rock and roll legend can only be found at Glass Sky Designs. For pricing and details on how you can have one of these unique pieces of Rock 'n Roll memorabilia made just for you go to http://www.glassskydesigns.com/.