SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - With enormous wing spans, bald eagles know better than to fly too closely -- except in battle. But when raptors circle in thermal air, their flight paths cross every 360 degrees.

The phenomenon has been captured in craft by Rosemont quilter Hilary Pollock, an assistant kindergarten teacher who donated her creation to her Orangevale school.

“Our school has the eagle as its mascot,” Hilary explains. “Every year we have an ‘eagle chase’ jogathon, to raise funds. Everyone gets a raffle ticket for participating. This year I decided to donate a quilt for a prize. Online I found a photo of the eagles whose nest is near our school. It seemed just right. Our school likes to put virtues -- like resilience and perseverance -- in context for children. The eagle, who has come back from near-extinction, sure does that. The photographer gave me permission to portray her image and I found eight different fabrics to repeat the colors and textures in the photo.”

The artist also incorporated the school song in panels surrounding her creation’s central panel.

Captured in zig-zag stitches, the lyrics begin:

Golden Valley gleams from sunlight
“Dewdrops fill the field so bright.
Seasons change and hearts awaken
Summer, Spring, and Winter, Fall…” 

Hilary’s classes venture outdoors in all seasons. She helps instruct four to six year-olds at Golden Valley River School, where a Waldorf-style curriculum involves children greatly with nature. Kindergarteners take regular hikes along river bluffs where a pair of the rare American River raptors have visited for nearly five years.  The kids even provided the names Peekaboo and Poppy for the couple’s 2017 babies. A year later, they came up with Byrd and Rainbow for the second pair of eaglets. By some self-fulfilling prophesy, the school’s emblem – and its fundraiser name – had been chosen many years before the first eagles appeared in its neighborhood.

Hilary titled her prize quilt "Chasing Eagles - Soaring High". A teacher colleague was the delighted winner. “Eagles are special to our school,” explains the crafter. “They’re not just a national emblem, they’re also super-inspiring and they lend themselves well to art. They inspire us to fly high – to achieve heights in life. Our children are able to see eagles nearly every day so they don’t realize what a big deal it is to have them locally. But they’re still in awe every time they see the birds soaring overhead.”