An injured bald eagle got a little help from a concerned resident and Longmont Animal Control last week.
The eagle was spotted Sept. 12 swimming near Union Reservoir by a resident who called Animal Control out of concern for the bird, since they don’t normally swim.
“(The caller said) it wasn’t diving for food, it just fell out of the air and started to swim over to the reeds. That’s when (they) called,” said Leslie Boyette, the Animal Control officer who responded to the call. “The eagle appeared on the shoreline where we were and walked herself back on the shore. When I got my net out to try and catch it, she walked back into the reeds, trying to get away. As I was following her over to the reeds, she got stuck, and that’s how we were able to get her.”
The eagle was transported to the Birds of Prey Foundation in Broomfield, a nonprofit that has been around for close to 40 years and provides specialized around-the-clock care to injured raptors and other native bird species.
“She had no visible broken bones or anything like that. When (Birds of Prey) gets bigger birds, they auto test them for lead poisoning … the test came back for high levels of lead,” Boyette said, adding that there are many possible ways the eagle could have been poisoned.
“It could have been from something she ate. The fish can sometimes have leftover fish hooks in them, she could have eaten maybe another animal that maybe had pellets in it from a bird short gun and that is how she got the lead in her system, (Birds of Prey) say that that kind of stuff is fairly common,” she said.
Boyette added there are ways to treat lead poisoning in large birds of prey, and the eagle is in recovery in the ICU at the Broomfield facility.
This is the second bald eagle that has been captured in the Longmont area, according to Boyette, and the first one she has recovered.
“I have been in Longmont for 5½ years, and it's the second bald eagle that has been picked up here. (We) pick up lots of hawks but luckily it's very rare that we need to capture eagles,” she said.
Robin Ericson, communications and marketing manager for Longmont Public Safety, said after the eage recovers, she likely will be returned to the same area she was found. The exact location where the bird was found is not being disclosed in an effort to protect her when she is returned to the wild.
While no longer an endangered species, bald eagles are protected by multiple federal laws, including the Eagle Act, which prohibits anyone from taking, possessing or transporting an eagle without a permit, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,.
If community members find a bird in distress — raptor or not — Boyette encourages them to call Animal Control at 303-651-8500. “Someone answers 24 hours a day,” she said.
They also can call the Birds of Prey Foundation at 303-460-0674.
Other injured animals can be taken to Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. The center relies on people to transport animals to its facility, but they are asked to call 303-823-8455 before doing so.
