At 40, an eagle breaks its beak and plucks out all its feathers (8 photos)
There's a legend that sends shivers down your spine. 
The Legend of the Old Eagle. By the age of forty, the mighty bird has become a helpless creature. Its feathers become too heavy to fly, its beak too long to catch prey, and its talons too large to perch on branches. Only a painful rebirth saves the poor creature from agony. The proud eagle retreats to the mountains. It smashes its beak on rocks, crushes its talons to dust, and rips out the feathers from its chest. He waits 150 days and soars into the sky, rediscovering himself like a phoenix!
A beautiful parable. But still, I wonder how true this inspiring description of brutally overcoming a midlife crisis is? Spoiler: 0%. Nothing. Not a single word of the parable corresponds to reality. 
It makes me want to cry from the implausibility!
The problem starts with the very first lines of the legend. From the bird's age. Do you know what an eagle looks like at forty? Like a pile of crumbling bones! The retirement age of this symbol of democracy is between 20 and 30, meaning he simply won't live to see the age in the parable. 
When you're trying to support a friend going through a midlife crisis.
What about the claws and beak? They probably grow throughout life, and this could become a problem. Yes, but under certain conditions. Lock the bird in a room with soft walls and feed it exclusively pureed food from a spoon. In this case, the beak and claws will really grow so long that they will become a hindrance. 
Wild eagles get their own pedicure. Absolutely free, by the way!
Their claws and beaks are made of keratin, a tissue similar to our fingernails. In the wild, the whole world is a nail file for them. A rock on which a golden eagle perches, a pine branch supporting a eagle, the bones of swallowed prey, a convenient stone seemingly designed for cleaning their beaks. Their horny sheaths grow constantly just to keep up with this constant abrasion. 
In zoos, birds of prey lead simple and sedentary lives. Therefore, their claws sometimes grow excessively. If this happens, people help trim the excess length.
The birds' plumage also doesn't become heavier over time, as it is regularly shed. Molting occurs once a year. But don't expect to find an eagle as naked as a plucked chicken in the wilderness. The entire process occurs gradually. First, some feathers fall out and grow back, then others. Losing all feathers and the ability to fly is tantamount to voluntary death. 
You can only see a naked eagle at one stage of its life—during its juvenile molt, when down is replaced by feathers. If the bird shed all its feathers at once, it would look something like this.
Here we're gradually approaching the 150-day thesis. You see, no known flying bird can survive for five months without food. Flight is extremely energy-intensive. Getting the bird off the ground requires a ton of calories. Therefore, the body of a flying bird works like a stove—if you forget to add firewood, it will cool down. 
Take-out!
To be fair, large birds of prey have a lower food requirement than, say, sparrows. Sparrows require refreshment every half hour. Large birds can survive without food for up to two weeks thanks to their fat reserves. But not longer! 
I'll definitely grow up... and then I'll smash my face and go bald.
So what are old eagles really doing? Living their best lives! A wise, experienced bird of prey has its own territory. No one dares to cross it: having chosen their domain in their youth, eagles defend their lands for decades! An elderly bird doesn't guard its boundaries alone, but together with a partner. Eagles are monogamous birds; they choose a mate once and for life. And an old bird has so many hunting techniques that starvation is definitely not a threat! So, from a biological perspective, this parable of yours is nonsense, even if it has a moral!
