SEQUIM — A young bald eagle that broke a shoulder while learning to fly has healed and will soar away Saturday.
“We think he was a rookie flier who had a crash-landing,” said Matthew Randazzo, Northwest Raptor & Wildlife Center spokesman.
“It looks like he was trying to learn how to fly and took a dive from the nest and broke his shoulder,” Randazzo said.
“He’s flying beautifully now.”
The wildlife rescue and rehabilitation nonprofit will free the bald eagle, who is thought to be male, at 1 p.m. at the Dungeness County Park, 554 Voice of America Road, Sequim.
“The juvenile bald eagle came in to the center last July with a fractured coracoid bone in its shoulder, banged up and very thin,” said Jaye Moore, center director.
“A lot of patient work has happened since then, and now this young eagle is healed up and can’t wait to get back to the wild.”
The bald eagle’s injury is not uncommon, Randazzo said.
“Close to 50 percent of bald eagles, when they are learning to fly, don’t make it,” he said.
“They’re starting high up, and they have one shot. When they jump from that nest, if their instincts don’t pick up immediately, they fall.”
Shot eagle healing
Another of the center’s bald eagle clients is healing, but slowly.
An eagle shot near Beaver in December remains at Greywolf Veterinary Hospital in Sequim, Randazzo said Friday.
The juvenile male nearly died when a portion of his left wing was shattered by a bullet from what appeared to be a .22-caliber rifle.
“He’s taken a longer time to heal than we expected, but his wound is almost entirely grown back over,” Randazzo said. “His bone looks like it set well.”
If all looks well in the next round of X-rays, he’ll be transferred to the raptor center for rehabilitation with the hope that, one day, the eagle will be able to fly and interact with other eagles.
“We don’t know yet if he can return to the wild,” Randazzo said.
The eagle has been under the volunteer care of Greywolf veterinarians for four months. Since February, he has lived in an 8-foot-by-8-foot wooden enclosure that has a platform, a perch and a dunking pool.
8-foot-by-8-foot enclosure
Raptor center volunteers built the enclosure for raptors undergoing treatment for illnesses or wounds at Greywolf Veterinary Hospital.
The wounded eagle was its first occupant.
The investigation into who illegally shot the bald eagle continues, Randazzo said.
Bald eagles were removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species in 2007 but remain protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, according to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A first-offense violation of the act can result in a fine of $100,000, imprisonment for one year or both. Penalties increase for additional offenses, and a second violation of the act is a felony.
The center released a healed barred owl in Port Townsend on Saturday and plans to release another barred owl into the wild at 5:30 p.m. today at 800 Lindberg Road in Port Angeles, opposite the Peninsula Golf Clubhouse.
Both were hit by cars and were rehabilitated at the center.
Although most releases of wild animals are private, the center invited the public to watch as the owls and the eagle were freed.
“It is always an inspiring scene to see a wild animal healed by human hands get a chance to return to the wild,” Randazzo said.
Tips leading to the capture of the person who shot the eagle in December can be phoned to the state Department of Fish & Wildlife, which is investigating the case, at 877-933-9847 or emailed to matthew@nwraptorcenter.com.
The raptor center continues to accept donations for the care of the eagle at www.NWRaptorCenter.com and www.Facebook.com/NorthwestRaptorCenter.
