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Rebecca Gamble took this photo of the eagle. |
By RUSTY DENNEN
Rebecca Gamble knew there was a problem with the bald eagle standing just inside the fence at the Naval Support Facility at Dahlgren.
"I drove by, then went back to my house to get my camera," said Gamble, who lives just outside the King George County base and came across the majestic bird of prey Tuesday afternoon.
With her two young children sleeping in the car, she snapped some pictures.
"It's not every day you see an eagle," she said. "It was hopping around" but couldn't fly.
Gary Wagner, a base spokesman, said yesterday that an injured eagle had been sighted several times over the past few days.
Finally, on Tuesday Dr. Thomas Wray, the natural resources and wildlife management officer, and Joan Huff, who is certified to transport injured wild animals, managed to capture it.
The eagle, an adult male, "was obviously in a weakened state. It appeared to be dehydrated. Its plumage was fine and did not look like it had been hit or beat up," Wagner said.
Huff drove the caged bird to the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro.
Her last trip to the center was in the spring, with an injured osprey. Huff is a contractor with Solutions Development Corp.
With any wild cargo, "You learn to drive steady. You keep the radio off and make sure he's under a dark cover," Huff said of the trip. "He still knew when big trucks went by. You'd hear him tumble around like he was trying to scurry to get away."
At the wildlife center, off Interstate 64, Dave McRuer, director of veterinary medicine, was waiting.
He was pleased to see that the eagle could stand when it was taken out of the carrier.
"That's a good sign. He did have his head drooped. His eyes would open and close. He was very depressed," McRuer said yesterday.
The eagle had no broken bones, wounds or cuts, but McRuer noticed pronounced redness in the bird's eyes.
"He likely got into some type of poison," McRuer said, possibly pesticides, or from eating carrion containing hunters' lead shot.
McRuer said the bird was in guarded condition. "I'm surprised he's still alive. He's extremely thin." For now, he's being treated for exposure to poison pending results of toxicology tests.
So far this year, the wildlife center has taken in 28 injured eagles, one less than last year's record of 29.
"It looks like we'll be passing that, and it comes down to habitat," McRuer said. With relentless development encroaching on their nesting and feeding areas, eagles have more interaction with people, vehicles and toxins.
In April, an injured eagle found by the side of the road in Stafford County succumbed to its injuries. The wildlife center determined it had probably been hit by a car after scavenging for a meal along the highway.
As the birds are packed into smaller open areas, more are injured in fights over territory.
The tidal Rappahannock and Potomac rivers east of Fredericksburg are prime habitats for eagles. Their numbers have been steadily increasing.
Some of that growth has been on military installations, which tend to have large areas of undeveloped land for testing and training. Wagner says there were six active nests on the base last season.
"This time of year we could have 15 to 20 eagles on the station. They are migrating, staking out territory," he said. "We have a very active bald eagle management program both here and at Indian Head," a sister station in southern Maryland. There are about 16 active nests there.
Wagner says the birds thrive despite the boom of gun testing and other military activities.
"Wildlife is very adaptive."
The King George base encompasses about 4,300 acres divided at Machodoc Creek between the main side and the Pumpkin Neck test area. Much of the wildlife is concentrated in the more remote Pumpkin Neck.
Bald eagles have made such a comeback that in June the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service removed them from the endangered species list. The birds still have several layers of protection through other statutes, though environmentalists have argued that the de-listing was premature.
Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
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Adults at 4 or 5 years develop their signature white head and tail feathers and curved yellow bill. Juveniles are a mottled brown.
Females tend to be larger than males and can weigh over 10 pounds, with a wing span of 8 feet. The birds can live up to 30 years in the wild, longer in captivity. They live and nest near coastlines, rivers, lakes, wet prairies, and coastal pine lands in North America from Alaska and Canada south into Florida and California. They prefer fish, small mammals, waterfowl, wading birds and will eat carrion. --U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |
