The moment I stepped out of the shower, I knew something was up. I could hear both my doorbell and my phone ringing, with a few new message dings immediately following, just for good measure. There must be a whale on our beach. I have the best neighbors. We all try to share those kinds of moments with each other.
So I ran downstairs, dripping water onto the wood floor all along the way. It was my good buddy and neighbor, Rich Yates. What he said next was something I never expected.
“Sorry to bother you, but there’s a bald eagle on my FJ Cruiser.”
Right away, I knew this bird. Just the night before, I was at the park late, making last minute defenses for the skimmers against certain coyote slaughter, when another neighbor started blowing up my phone with pictures of a young, two-year old bald eagle hopping roofs around my neighborhood. While exciting, it’s not completely unusual for our neighborhood, but one photo in particular caught my attention. A little concerned, I shared it with Kathy Clark late that night.
And at sunrise, I heard some aggressive crows, so ran outside, certain the eagle must still be in the neighborhood. But they were just sitting on the telephone wires, barking down at the boulevard. I assumed they were just claiming another dead rabbit in the roadway. I now realize they were barking at the bald eagle sitting on Rich’s FJ!
So I made a quick call to Kathy and Ben, and it was clear that traffic was a big issue here. That FJ was parked about 30 feet from the busy summer Boulevard. Bikers, walkers, joggers, and kids of all ages were walking by in a constant flow. So the police were called in to manage the traffic, and Stafford Animal control came to trap the eagle before it harmed itself or others in the roadway.
The response was nearly instantaneous. Ben blocked the driveway with his truck, an officer slowed traffic to one lane, and Walt & Kelly from animal control readied the nets. Everything was going so smoothly.
And then the garbage truck showed up! We had been watching it nervously all morning as it slowly crept its way towards us, like a slow moving storm in the distance, hoping for the best. Unfortunately, it arrived at the lane next to the eagle right as everything was ready to go. There was some pleading and some arguing, but trash won. And I get it. It’s a critical service on a super tight schedule and they were totally unprepared for this delay. They had to keep moving. There was no timeline for how long it might take to trap this eagle.
So, blame it on bad timing, or bum luck, but the eagle was spooked and jumped to the roof. Walt made a valiant effort to net it, but just missed, and the eagle soared across the road to a high rooftop.
In these situations, it’s best not to push too hard. Stressing the eagle won’t trap it any faster, and will more likely force it to do something irreversible; like fly straight into traffic, or flee the area completely before it’s ready. Sometimes all you can do is wait a few days for a sick or wounded eagle to become so weak it can no longer fly.
So everyone just relaxed, and reset. I ran back home and answered some NestStory emails, because I had a perfect view of the eagle on a neighbor’s roof from my computer. When it finally flew again about an hour later, I ran downstairs.
We followed the eagle around the neighborhood until it finally perched itself on another car, in another driveway. Admittedly, not nearly as cool as Rich’s FJ. In the downtime, Walt & Kelly had run out to the bait store to get a huge bunker for the eagle under the vet’s advice, hoping the bait might lure it closer.
It worked. It was a happy/sad moment as the eagle was easily netted, but only because it was starving so badly, it didn’t care about anything other than that bunker.
It took a village, but now our village eagle is off to a neighboring village to see the great Don Bonica of Toms River Avian Care for rehab. Fingers crossed it is something treatable that has made this bird so weak that it’s best option to rest was Rich’s FJ Cruiser. It’s a great car for sure, but not for a young eagle.
I once had an abandoned baby pigeon on my porch and didn’t know what to do with it. I called Stafford Animal Control, who kindly came and took it off my hands. Later, a friend said, “you gave it to animal control?! I’m sorry to break it to you, but they probably threw your baby pigeon out the window as they drove over the bridge!”
I told Walt and Kelly that story as we packed up the eagle into their van. They laughed, heartily.
It was a sad morning, and a happy morning. Sad to see this beautiful beast in poor health, but happy to see so many wonderful people keeping an eye on this bird, coming out to help, offering access to their property, and genuinely concerned (and fascinated!) Most of all, thanks to the expertise and skilled care of Kathy, Ben, Walt, Kelly, Don, and the PD.
Say something kind