A Tale of a Wild Animal, Rehabilitation, Science,
and a Whole Lot of Work

On 05 January 2007 field ornithologist Michael Lanzone of the Powdermill Avian Research Center of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History received a phone call from a conservation officer of the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. The officer told him that a trapper trying to capture coyotes and foxes had accidentally trapped an eagle, probably a golden eagle.

The trapper properly turned the bird over to the conservation officer, whose supervisor then called Mike. Mike then called Dr. Todd Katzner, Director of Conservation Field Research at the National Aviary. After we determined that this was almost certainly a golden eagle, we decided to make the three-hour trip down to West Virginia to put a telemetry unit on the bird.

In addition to Mike and Todd, Trish Miller of Powdermill and Erin Estell of the National Aviary came along. Erin is an animal trainer at the National Aviary and is trained in avian first aid. National Aviary veterinarian Dr. Pilar Fish supplied Erin with a first aid kit, in case the bird was injured.

By mid-afternoon the entire team had arrived at the house of conservation officer Brian Nuzum, who had the bird. We quickly determined that it was, in fact, a golden eagle, almost certainly a male. However, upon catching him up, we also realized that he was nearly starved, severely dehydrated, and had been seriously injured by the leg-hold trap in which he had been caught.

Erin immediately administered first aid to the bird – subcutaneous fluids to fight dehydration and related organ damage, antibiotics against infection, and a painkiller to ease the bird’s trauma and anguish. We then loaded the bird up in a travel crate and, with the permission from the local conservation officers, drove him back to the National Aviary for rehabilitation.

The next morning our feathered friend had his first meeting with the National Aviary’s avian veterinarian, Dr. Pilar Fish. Dr. Fish immediately realized that because of the severity of the bird’s wounds, rehabilitation was going to be a long and demanding process. Over the course of the next three months, Dr. Fish led the intensive wound management and daily care that resulted in the eventual rehabilitation of this eagle. In total the eagle was suffering from the following ailments:
By the time rehabilitation was over, multiple National Aviary staff members were each spending over 10 hours per week (25 percent of our time) caring for this eagle. We also spent thousands of dollars on his rehabilitation, for food, medicine, the cage space used, and the time it took all to care for him.

There is little doubt that without the expert care provided by Dr. Fish and her staff, this eagle would not have survived his ordeal. Having completed his rehabilitation, this bird was now ready to join telemetered eagles #39 and 40, to become #41 in our study of the possible effects of wind power on migratory golden eagles in the eastern United States.

On 21 March 2007, after nearly three months of rehabilitation, Mike and Trish drove from Powdermill to Pittsburgh where, with the assistance of Erin and collaborators Daniel Ombalski and David Brandes, the eagle was outfitted with a satellite telemetry tracking unit.

Then, on 22 March 2007, together with collaborator Robert Mulvihill, they drove eagle #41 back to Scherr and released him within two miles of the spot where he was captured.

Eagle #41 received wide-spread media attention is now being followed and we are able to track his movements on an hourly basis. He is contributing not only to our understanding of how eagles move through our region but also to a better understanding of the impacts of rehabilitation on birds of prey.

Many people have asked us why, if this bird was injured and in rehab, we chose to put a valuable telemetry device on him rather than on an uninjured bird. This is a valid question because if we were studying other characteristics of this bird where his injury might be a factor, we would never telemeter him. However, in this case we are interested in learning how eagles fly along ridges in the central Appalachian region.

It is our belief that no matter what injuries our eagle once suffered, those wounds have not affected his flight. Therefore, his wounds are unlikely to impact any data we collect on the way he uses topography and weather to move on migration. In addition, tracking this bird will provide information on another poorly known topic — how rehabilitated birds fare in the wild.