A bald eaglet rescued from Jamestown Island took off toward the area that had once been its home as it was released back into the wild Friday morning.
A large crowd gathered at Jamestown Beach Park for the eaglet’s release at 11 a.m. Friday; many onlookers were armed with cameras, tripods and cell phones to capture the event.
In a June storm, two eaglets were blown out of their nest on Jamestown Island. Teams worked to introduce the birds back into their original habitats with no success. After the attempts were unsuccessful, the eaglets were transported to the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro and admitted for care June 14. On June 17, one eaglet died.
The eaglet known as No. 13-1478, assumed to be a female by her size, continued onward.
By June 20, she was eating on her own and sustaining on a diet of chopped rat. By July 1, she was moved to a new pen with a roommate, a non-releasable bald eagle. As time went on, she continued to grow and learned to fly. In the end of June she flew 10 to 12 lengths of her enclosure on average daily.
In August, the eaglet was observed to have some flying issues: Bumping into walls and overshooting perches. She was fitted with bumpers to prevent her from further injuring her wings. Officials who released her Friday equated her injuries to those of a child with a skinned knee.
A tracking device had been fitted on the bird, but along with the bumpers, was removed Friday. The trackers are stocked with a battery that recharges over time with a solar panel. The battery inside the eaglet’s tracker was defective so the device could not charge. If the device had been working, people would have been able to track the bird’s flight online.
For more information about the Wildlife Center of Virginia and the eaglet, visit the center’s website.
