"One small step for an adult eagle, one giant leap for
a small eaglet."
Eagle Log, 1995
Sunday, June 18, 5:30 pm
A call comes to the Center: a baby Bald Eagle has been found at
the foot of a tree on Whidbey Island. Took the ferry to Clinton.
Looking completely puzzled at being at the bottom of the tree instead
of at the top was one small eaglet nestled in some Oregon Grape
foliage. Gathered him up. His left foot seemed slightly sprained.
Monday , June 19, 9:30 am
Contacted Washington Department of Wildlife. Asked permission to
return eaglet to nest. Permission not granted. Department considered
sending eaglet to Woodland Park Zoo to be raised.
Wednesday, June 21, 11 am
Contacted Michael of Olympic Wildlife Rehab about the eagle and
not being able to return it to its nest. Said he would contact someone
he knew who could successfully put birds back in nests.
Thursday, June 22, 3:30 pm
Received call from Tim Brown suggesting I contact Jeff Haas of
US Fish and Wildlife and tell him the eaglet's story. I did.
Friday, June 23
8 am: Things getting interesting. Call from Ruth Milner of the
Washington Department of Wildlife; they had reconsidered and reluctantly
gave permission for Center to try return eaglet to nest. Contacted
Tim Brown; will meet at Mukilteo ferry at 1 pm. Time is critical.
2:30 pm: Tim is perched 90 feet up a tree. He seems as comfortable
there as the rest of us are on the ground. Passing thought: maybe
he is part eagle. Tim yells down: "Nest destroyed; I'll rebuild
it. I need two 8 foot 2x4's." Jim and Cristy Johnson, whose
property we are on, had been saving some straight-grain lumber for
years. Tim hauls the lumber up the tree and completely rebuilds
nest. Another passing thought: 10 years from now someone is going
to look up there and say, "Wow, how did those eagles get those
up there?" With lots of time spent looking straight up, another
thought goes through my mind: Classes for all juvenile eagles should
be conducted on nest building (proper tree selection, appropriate
branches, and effective weaving techniques), since first nests are
not always successfully built (this poorly built nest, their first,
was the culmination of two years' work!).
5 pm: Jim is down and ready to put eaglet in nest. Eaglet is not
cooperating. Tied him inside a sheet; sheet torn to shreds by claws.
A gym bag is found in back of car; stuff eaglet inside bag and zip
shut. Problem solved. Jim climbs tree and lowers rope; rope tied
through handles of bag and eaglet begins his 90-foot ascent.
6:30 pm: The waiting begins.
Saturday, June 24
9:30 am: Call from the Johnson's saying that at 5:30 am, greeting
calls were heard. Four hours later, one adult was seen sitting in
the perch tree and the other flying over the water, apparently fishing.
3:30 pm: The call comes in: Mom is at the nest and has been observed
feeding baby.
SUCCESS!
In the Center's credit, this has been the first time an eagle nest
has been completely rebuilt by man and a baby successfully returned
after being gone from the area for 5 days. Because it was a precedent,
the eaglet story made front-page news in Everett's The Herald, on
Tuesday, June 27. This may be a first step in reevaluating downed
eaglets and causes us to take a hard look at those babies being
raised in captivity. Whenever a wild creature, especially birds,
are raised in captivity, the risk of imprinting becomes very real.
We do have a baby Bald Eagle that came to us from The Raptor's
Roost Rehabilitation Center located in Bellingham. This eaglet is
at present in a nest box in our large eagle flight. Hopefully, it
is imprinting on our white-headed eagles. We will give you an update
on his story as it continues to unfold.
;)