A bald eagle is recovering after a man found it unable to fly outside his Mulberry home.
“I am looking at a bald eagle right now that is upset and cannot fly away from me,” the man told a 911 dispatcher. “This eagle is in distress.”
Once Polk County deputies were called to the scene, they contacted Nancy Murrah, president of the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay.
“He texted me with a picture of the bald eagle thinking that I would respond which I did,” said Murrah.
An injured bald eagle always gets her attention.
Shortly after that call, Murrah said her volunteers went to the scene and corralled the bald eagle.
“What we do is try to get people to head them off and then the person who actually is going to do the rescue has the net and gloves and was able to then net the bird,” she explained.
Murrah said the eagle is a “sub-adult bald eagle,” and is likely turning five years old this year.
A scan shows the eagle has a fractured ulna on its right wing, which could have been caused by a territorial bald eagle or a collision with a car, building or tree.
Breeding season for bald eagles runs from Oct. 1 to May 15.
“We rescue eagles every single week. We’ve rescued the same amount of eagles this season that we usually rescue in three years,” said Murrah.
Murrah pointed to the reduction of habitat due to development.
“Polk County is one of the big areas where we rescue. We have a great relationship with the sheriff’s department and animal control. They have a high population of bald eagles. They’re also one of the most developing counties in North America,” said Murrah.
Tuesday morning, the injured eagle arrived at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland, where its wing has been wrapped up and will rest and recover.
“They’re very dangerous when you see them in the clinical setting. Those talons and beaks are no joke. So we take all types of precautions to keep our birds safe, to keep our staff safe,” said Katie Warner, director of the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey.
Warner said her center has not seen an increase in injured eagles, though this time of year it is common to see injured babies.
Both Murrah and Warner say they expect the injured eagle to be released back into the wild in a few weeks.