Flies buzz around an open wound on the injured bald eagle found yesterday morning near eastern Stafford's Accokeek Creek. mwm

Kent Knowles (left), chief rehabilitator for the Raptor Conservancy, and volunteer Paul Balun prepare to transport the eagle for emergency care in Falls Church. mwm

This injured American bald eagle turned up in a yard along Accokeek Creek in eastern Stafford County and was rescued yesterday morning by a team from the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia. The bird's chance of survival is questionable. mwm

Injured eagle found in Stafford yard is rescued by Northern Virginia raptor group

By RUSTY DENNEN

Date published: 9/14/2004

Wearing elbow-length leather gloves and clutching a long-handled net, Kent Knowles slowly made his way up to the big, brown-and-white bird perched on a log in a yard overlooking Accokeek Creek in Stafford County.

Knowles, chief rehabilitator with the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia, and volunteer Paul Balun got to within two feet of the bald eagle, which stared intently at them but made no attempt to fly. Knowles quickly scooped the bird into the net and--avoiding two sets of sharp talons and a fish-tearing beak--carried it over to a waiting plastic transport box.

"Do you think he's OK?" asked Patricia Kurpiel, whose home overlooks the creek, and whose yard the injured eagle had chosen for refuge yesterday morning.

Knowles shook his head. "No."

Gently untangling the bird from the net, he examined the wings and paused at a gash along one leg.

"There are no fractures. There are definitely wounds here," Knowles said. "And there are flies all over. That doesn't look good. Holy smoke."

After a moment, Kurpiel asked quietly, "Can he be saved?"

Knowles shrugged. "I really can't tell you right now. It's extremely weak."

The avian drama began Sunday on the scenic creek, a tributary of the Potomac River to the west of Marlborough Point.

The bird first was spotted sitting in an open boathouse next door owned by Kurpiel's sister, Jane Gallagher. Gallagher's husband, John, saw it and told Kurpiel, who found the eagle sitting on the shore next to her dock yesterday morning.

She called the conservancy, and as she was waiting for rescuers to arrive, the eagle managed to hop up the shoreline to the bank just below her deck. "He opened his wings, and it looked like his beak was hurt."

Kurpiel added, "We see eagles here maybe once a month. We don't see them that often, but when you do, it's a thrill."

She knew there was something terribly wrong with this eagle, and hoped rescuers would arrive before it was too late.

"I rounded up all the cats and the neighbors' dogs" so the bird would not be further traumatized. Kurpiel had called the raptor conservancy two years ago for help when a hawk crashed into her window.

Date published: 9/14/2004