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Ed Clark, president and co-founder of The Wildlife Center of Virginia, prepares a fledgling bald eagle for release into the wild.
Ed Clark, president and co-founder of The Wildlife Center of Virginia, releases a 6-month-old fledgling bald eagle yesterday. |
By MELISSA NIX
he orphan had drawn a crowd. Around 50 people gathered at the Land's End Wildlife Management Area in King George yesterday afternoon to watch a preteen bald eagle take flight.
The group of well-wishers stood by as Ed Clark, president of the Wildlife Center of Virginia, removed the striking bird from his truck. He was a handsome little fella--black eyes and beak, soft brown plumage, majestic tail feathers.
Clark held the 6-month-old bald eagle in his arms for a few minutes before he pushed it up and it flew away.
A success story, he said.
Among the well-wishers were Westmoreland residents Ruth and Gary Daiger. The Daigers found the juvenile eagle in their yard three months ago. Ironically, they had just returned from an afternoon of "counting eagles" on the Rappahannock River.
The bird in their yard looked malnourished. He couldn't fly, Ruth Daiger said.
The Daigers called wildlife rehabilitator Diana O'Connor, whose name they had seen in a Free Lance-Star article. She instructed them to catch the bird with blankets and arranged for it to be transported to the Wildlife Center of Virginia. The center serves as a teaching and research hospital for wildlife and conservation medicine.
Over the next few months, the baby bald eagle fattened up on fish and rodents. The center's dedicated staff of rehabilitators teased him into spreading his wings in their 200-foot long eagle flight cage. He finally learned how to fly.
"Those birds have flight in their genes," said Clark, who founded the center 24 years ago. The bird was one of 2,300 animals cared for at the clinic last year.
Clark said the fledgling had likely "left the nest on his own steam, but couldn't fly yet."
All birds learn to fly on the ground, he explained. Their parents tease them with food to get them to jump, hop, spread their wings. The bald eagle was old enough for flight lessons, but had landed too close to the Daiger's house.
"Perhaps the parents weren't willing to come so close to the house" to feed and teach their fledgling, Clark said.
The 6-pound bird had grown into his 6-foot wing span as of yesterday's release, but it will be another 4 years before his dark coloring gives way to the characteristic white feathered head and tail and yellow eyes. That's nature's way of camouflaging him until he's fully mature, Clark said. Bald eagles can live up to 30 years in the wild, he added.
He described yesterday's release as a "good news/bad news situation."
"The release of a young eagle is a good news story," Clark said. "Thirty years ago, we had 40 nesting [bald eagle] pairs in Virginia. This year there are over 400. The good news is that when we decide to protect something and dedicate the resources to do it, we can succeed."
The bad news is that the eagles' habitat is shrinking because of a population boom along Virginia's coastline, especially the Northern Neck, he said.
The juvenile bald eagle was released in a good neighborhood--a swath of protected habitat. He found a buddy--another juvenile bald eagle--just minutes after he flew away from Clark.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, which manages the 430-acre refuge, claims the area hosts the densest bald eagle breeding population in the continental U.S.
Clark hopes the buddy mentors his new friend and teaches him how to steal fish, he said, laughing.
"That's the teenage bald eagle equivalent of boosting hub caps."
To reach MELISSA NIX:
Email: mnix@freelancestar.com
For more information on the Wildlife Center of Virginia: wildlifecenter.org |
