Another Raptor Update

Another first for me in the world of raptor - a baby eagle rescue. A first that was shared with my new chief assistant. Bonnie joined me in a dusk search for the eagle along the Wisconsin side of the St. Croix river just north of Stillwater. It was as unproductive as the afternoon search for the same bird, which was reported to have been on the ground for about three weeks already. It was being well fed by its mother, as the fish remains spread throughout the beach would attest. The six to eight week old had become a neighborhood celebrity, monitored by at least two families, one of which reported a concern that it might have injured its wing. They sent pictures to the Raptor Center, based on which they decided the eagle should come in for an evaluation.

Baby eagles blend in to a forest background really well, especially when perched on an older tree. In the first two searches, I'm sure this eagle was watching me as I strolled back an forth down the beach, and up and down the steep hillside.  There was a lot of river activity, with kids buzzing back and forth on their jet skis, keeping the bird in hiding. The following morning, however, the landowner reported hearing it calling its mother again. When we arrived, it was perched on a long, dead stump of a tree along the water about ten feet off the ground.

As we approached, it flapped down to the ground and skipped along the beach a few feet. It did seem to favor its right wing and leg. I kept walking behind it as it kept bouncing and flapping its way down the beach and finally up the hillside. I asked Bonnie to walk around and block the eagles path if it continued further downstream as she held her camera, trying to take pictures. I chased it up the hillside, along the rails of a lift, trying to keep it off the lift lest it injure itself further. After climbing fifty feet or so up the hillside, it turned back down int he direction of Bonnie. She successfully kept it contained as I climbed back down to the upstream side and tried to maneuver it into some smaller trees. Bonnie was taking a video as it flapped right at and around her and continued down the beach. All Bonnie could do was laugh, as you can hear in this clip.

Eventually, we were able to back it into one of those trees and put it into a defensive posture, which makes it possible to relatively easily grab its legs. In the defensive posture, an eagle spreads it wings to look as large as it can (which IS large) and lifts its talons to grab at whatever approaches. That allows one to reach above the talons and grab control of the legs. Then it's important to pick up the eagle and fold its wings in, which then quiets the eagle and helps keep it from damaging those wings. You can see the last of that maneuver in this clip, which Bonnie shot once she could stop laughing.

The successful morning concluded when we brought her into the clinic, where they would take blood tests and X-rays to see what might be contributing to what seems like a thwarted development.

I'm guessing this means the Center now considers me eagle qualified, which will hopefully lead to  future rescues. Especially now that I have a qualified assistant, who makes the capture much easier by helping to distract the bird -  at least when she's not playing videographer.