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January 14, 2005 Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner An injured bald eagle rests in a flight cage at Wings of Wonder in Empire. The eagle is scheduled to be released on Sunday.
Injured eagle ready to spread wingsIt will be released into wild SundayByRecord-Eagle staff writer  Photo courtesy of the Department of Natural Resources The injured eagle sits in the snow just prior to its capture in December. Mike Monks, out muzzleloader hunting on Dec. 13, followed them into the woods, where he saw something that startled him - a bald eagle perched on a branch near the ground a few steps away. "It gives you a lot of respect for how big they really are, when you see one on ground level like that," said Monks, of South Boardman. "I've done a lot of hunting and fishing, and I would have to say that's probably one of my most memorable experiences out in the woods." The eagle was injured and could not fly. Since that day it has lived near Empire and has been rehabilitated by Wings of Wonder, an Empire-based nonprofit that specializes in raptor rehabilitation. Sunday, Wings of Wonder director Rebecca Lessard plans to release the bird into the wild close to the spot where Monks found it, near Supply Road and the Boardman River. This is the first eagle Lessard and Wings of Wonder rehabilitated to be released back into the wild. She estimates the injured female eagle to be between 6 and 12 years old. Until late 2003 the group didn't have a cage big enough for the final stages of eagle rehabilitation, so eagles were transferred to the University of Minnesota Raptor Center. A Rotary Charities grant made it possible to build housing for a bird as large as a bald eagle and not run into trouble with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lessard said. The eagle's temporary home is a flight cage that is 100 feet long, 16 feet wide and 13 feet tall - enough space for the eagle to spread its wings and fly. "She is a force to reckon with, she is feeling really good, she's strong and she wants out," Lessard said. Monks sensed the bird's power, even though it was injured. He said he followed the eagle for 20 or 30 yards as it limped along, its right wing dragging, and it jumped four or five feet at a time. "I probably got within 20 yards of it, but I could see how far it could jump," Monks said. "I didn't want to get that close." The eagle made a hissing sound, as if to convey its anger, Monks said. "I knew something had to be done because the snow was deep and other predators like coyotes could maybe get on it and take it," Monks said. Monks went home and tried to reach a Department of Natural Resources officer. The local office was closed, but through state police in Kalkaska he reached DNR officials in Lansing, who had a conservation officer contact him. That evening Monks and DNR officer Diane Drogowski found the bird in the same spot Monks left it. Drogowski and Monks distracted the bird as another man twice tried to cover it with a blanket. On the third try, the blanket covered the eagle and Drogowski dove at it and put the bird in a box, Monks said. "I wouldn't have done that," Monks said. "When you see the talons on one of those. ... They're so long and so curved, they're like a hook, if they ever grabbed ahold of you, I don't know how you could get them out." Later that night the bird was dropped off with Lessard. Lessard at first suspected the eagle had been hit by a vehicle, but after more discussion with Monks, she now believes the eagle flew into a guide wire from a radio tower, because one was located near where the bird was found and because the eagle suffered just one isolated injury. For the past month, the eagle, which has a wingspan of around 7 feet and weighs about 12 pounds, has subsisted on rats, rabbit heads and quail, courtesy of Wings of Wonder while its injured wing, or wrist, healed. But the lavish eagle accommodations and steady diet have not made the bird feel at home. It's healthy and ready to hunt, Lessard said. "She's frustrated," said Lessard. "I think she knows she can't get out, but she's frustrated."
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