Bald eagle soars after its release into wild after rehabilitation
Four months after suffering a shattered femur, a bald eagle took flight over Horseshoe Lake, released into the wild on June 26 by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
“As an agency, we strive to conserve and protect all of the state’s wildlife, but participating in something like this ahead of the Fourth of July is something special,” said Kyle McCarty, a raptor biologist with Game and Fish.
The bird was found injured at a Queen Creek dairy farm in February. Xrays taken at Liberty Wildlife showed the lower part of the bird’s leg was a “shattered mess,” according to a release from Arizona Game and Fish. The bird would have died without treatment, officials said.
To repair the damage, the bird underwent a 45-minute surgery to place a metal rod and screws in its leg.
The eagle was handled by Game and Fish Department officials previously, in 2016, when they placed numbered bands around its leg while it was nesting along the Verde River. The bird was apparently healthy in the winter before it was found with a broken leg, and officials do not know how its leg was broken.
“It was a pretty severe break and took longer to heal than we had expected, but with time and great care from our medical team, including volunteer veterinarian Stephanie Lamb, the leg was repaired and he’s able to grasp well with it,” Liberty Wildlife biologist Laura Hackett said in a statement.
The bird is the 105th eagle Liberty Wildlife has helped and returned to the wild in 38 years, according to Hackett.
“This eagle now has another shot at survival and in a couple of years, when it becomes of breeding age, it may go on to bolster Arizona’s growing bald eagle population. For us, every eagle counts,” McCarty said.
In 1978, the bird was listed as endangered, and only 11 pairs were counted within the state. On Aug. 9, 2007, the bird was removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species after the population saw significant growth, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
Today, officials estimate there are 75 adult breeding pairs of eagles in the state.
Breeding areas expanded statewide last year, with a record of 87 eagles hatching and 70 surviving until their first flight, according to Game and Fish.
2019’s hatching results will be available in the fall.
Before release, officials strapped a GPS transmitter on the eagle’s back on June 24 to track its movements. They placed a hood over its head and eye and booties on its talons to calm the bird while Lamb steadied the bird.
“The use of a GPS transmitter presents a special opportunity because many younger birds do not survive past their first year,” McCarty said in a prepared statement.
“A 3-year-old-bird will potentially be able to tell us a lot about which areas are important for pre-breeding eagles. We’ll also be afforded the chance to learn about their breeding habitat should the bird and transmitter survive another year or two.”
After being released at Horseshoe Lake north of Phoenix, the bird first flew 22 miles north, according to the tracker, and then flew south June 30 along the Verde River, where it returned to the Bartlett Lake area. This is where officials said the eagle hatched and took it’s first flight.
For more information about the Arizona Game and Fish Department does, visit azgfd.gov. To learn about Liberty Wildlife, visit libertywildlife.org.
To support the mission to conserve and protect Arizona’s wildlife, you can sign up for a Conservation Membership package by visiting azwildlifehero.com.
“This eagle now has another shot at survival and in a couple of years, when it becomes of breeding age, it may go on to bolster Arizona’s growing bald eagle population. For us, every eagle counts.” Kyle McCarty Raptor biologist, Arizona Game and Fish