06-13-19

 A couple of days ago a lady called Wild and Free and said that an immature Bald Eagle had fallen out of the nest.  She wondered if it could be picked up and checked out and then maybe it could be put back in the nest.  It was brought to the Garrison Animal Hospital where it was given a thorough examination and determined to be fine.  It had most likely accidentally stepped up on the side of the nest and lost its footing.  Mike's Tree Service has helped us in the past with similar situations and they were good enough to help again.  The bird was loaded into a car and was on its way back home.  When Maureen arrived at the site she brought the eagle out of the car and let everyone get a good look at it.  Look at those talons!

There were a pair of young eagles in the nest originally and the other one was still there.  It kept an eye on what was happening.

 This is the tree where the nest is located.  As you can see it's a very tall tree and the nest is at the top.  The truck was moved into position and Austin climbed into the bucket on the end of the arm, took the eagle from Maureen, and started raising the bucket toward the nest.  It's hard to see but the bucket is at the end of the arm, moving toward the top of the tree.

Here's a shot of the bucket moving up.

When he had the bucket as close to the nest as possible he climbed out and started climbing the tree.  He had a rope tied to the carrier with the eagle in it which was still in the bucket.  You can see the bottom of the nest just above his head.

The young eagle still in the nest watched him as he got closer and closer.

When Austin got close enough that he could reach over the edge of the nest he hoisted up the container with the eagle in it and turned it upside down over the nest.  On the left side you can see the wing feathers of the eagle as it came out of the container.

And there they are, back together in their nest again.  It won't be long before the parents will be bringing them fresh fish for supper.

Austin lowered the bucket, climbed out of it, and got out of his protective gear after a risky job well done!  He looks a little tired, doesn't he?

On the way back to the car we passed this fish head.  That's a really big head so the fish must have been really big also.  Everyone that looked at it thought it was a Northern.  Me too.  Do you suppose it's the remainder of an eagle's fish dinner?

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