A bald eagle chick has welcomed an “adoptive brother” into her nest after the little chick’s nest fell, injuring the bird and separating him from his parents.
On May 22, the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota reached out to eagle expert Lori Naumann, to say they'd found a 3-week-old bald eagle in a fallen nest with no parents in sight. Ms. Naumann, who works in marketing and promotions for the Minnesota Nongame Wildlife Program, agreed to help relocate the chick.
“I had been already scheduled to go to Voyageurs National Park and help them band some chicks ... so I responded and said, ‘Well, you know, I could take it up north with me if you can wait a few weeks,’” Ms. Naumann told The Epoch Times. It was the perfect solution since the chick needed treatment for a broken wing, an injury sustained during the fall.
Three weeks later, on the morning of June 15, Ms. Naumann drove to pick up the 6-week-old youngster, who was placed in a soft-sided crate covered with a sheet to help keep him calm.
She drove for five hours with the chick in her vehicle, which was reported to be in good condition.
“I kept my car quiet, no music or anything on the way up there,” she said. “He was rather docile; they’re not aggressive at that age at all.
“[The Raptor Center] had left some food in the crate for it, not sure whether or not he would eat,” she said. “But I stopped once on my way up there, and it had eaten and pooped, which is good.”
By the time Ms. Naumann arrived at Voyageurs in the afternoon, the chick was “a little dehydrated,” but quickly perked up after drinking water. A trio comprising Ms. Naumann, researcher Dr. Bill Bowerman, and eagle biologist Dr. Michael Wierda brought an older female chick down from her nest to draw blood, before returning both chicks to the nest together.
“This process is called ‘hacking,’” said Ms. Naumann, who was initially concerned for the male chick, since female bald eagles are one-third larger than their male counterparts. As it turned out, she had nothing to worry about.
“They sort of ignored each other,” Ms. Naumann told The Epoch Times. “Then, the photographer went to the site the next day and determined that they were both still in the nest.”
At the time of writing, he didn’t notice them feeding and was waiting for an updated report of their progress. However, Ms. Naumann is certain that they will soon leave the nest and learn how to fly.
Introducing the orphaned chick to his new home took around an hour, Ms. Naumann said. Dr. Wierda was responsible for climbing the tree and handling the birds, while Dr. Bowerman and an apprentice Eagle Scout drew blood from the larger chick to check for waterborne contaminants, which will contribute to Dr. Bowerman’s research on environmental change affecting bald eagle populations.
The bald eagle parents will take care of both chicks until after fledging, Ms. Naumann said, since they “probably realize” but “don’t care” that the second chick is not their own. “These chicks are self-feeding already,” she said, “so the parents will bring prey to the nest, and the chick is already grabbing it and feeding itself.”
Both banded for ongoing monitoring, the larger chick and her adoptive brother will live together in their nest until “branching,” when they‘ll take their first tentative steps onto the branches of their tree to exercise their wings. Once confident, they’ll try flying for the first time, but will return to the nest for a week or two until their parents teach them how to hunt, soar, and defend themselves.
“By the time fall comes, they kick them out of the area because that is the parents’ territory,” Ms. Naumann said. “They won’t tolerate the chicks there once they are self-sufficient.”
Ms. Naumann’s favorite part of the successful relocation was handling the chicks on the ground.
“They’re such majestic creatures ... to be actually holding them and handling them is really a privilege,” she said, recalling a highlight moment: “When we took the chick out of the soft-sided case from my vehicle, I was holding it, and it looked up at the sky [and] at all the greenery that it hadn’t seen for three weeks. It was like, ‘I’m home!’”
Ms. Naumann, who works closely with the world-renowned Raptor Center issuing permits for the rescue and rehabilitation of sick and injured bald eagles across the state of Minnesota, is grateful for the teamwork that saw the baby bald eagle saved.
“It’s so good to have so many different partners working together ... the whole camaraderie and everyone has fun doing it. It’s a blessing,” she said, “it’s a lot of fun, and I feel very fortunate.”
