Eaglet (E8) Update!

My dear readers, if you remember my post last week about the Great Horned Owl incident…you will know that E8, Harriet’s 3 month old eaglet had been knocked from a limb by a large owl and the worst was feared as the one of the few enemies of Eagles is Horned Owls.  This was on the evening of May 7.

The other eaglet (E7) was found the next day as he managed to get back in the tree…but E8 did not appear.

Until….Friday.

The headline in our local newspaper read:

“A juvenile American bald eagle “strongly believed” to be E8 was found in critical condition near the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam on Friday, the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife said”. (CROW)

The eaglet was very thin, dehydrated and weak as one would imagine after being gone for almost a week.  No one knows if the little eaglet was always at the bottom of the nest tree or if he managed to get there from somewhere else, but it has been confirmed that it is indeed E8.

CROW officials, the same agency who tended to E8’s leg (in February, see above pic) that had become entangled in fishing line, said E8 had surgery to fix a fractured femur Saturday.

You will note that the eaglet that I refer to as “little” is just a bit bigger….but as eagles go, he is still considered little, though he has donned feathers….he is still only 3 months old.  

Also, this is the same agency who tended to Ozzie, Harriet’s mate before the dreaded encounter with Harriet’s current mate, M15.

Officials said they used a pin to hold the bone in place. E8 woke up after and is on strict cage rest.

This nest, which in the past as been an interesting “watch” by the eagle cam….has for the last few years been mostly uneventful as Ozzie and Harriet tended the nest and their hatch-lings. 

However, tragedy has been the norm for this year.

First Ozzie was injured supposedly flying into a train and was in hospital for 3 months.

Meanwhile, Harriet took on a new mate not knowing what had happened to Ozzie.

When Ozzie was returned to the wild…Harriet’s new mate attacked him and a few days later, Ozzie died.

Then one of the two eaglets became entangled in fishing line and the agency (who normally does not interfere) took the eagle from the nest, removed the fishing line and mended his leg.

And then the Great Horned Owl incident.

I just wanted to give you an update….obviously, more to come.