March 15, 2024
Humane Society of Ocean City/Facebook
A bald eagle was rescued in Ocean City on Monday and taken to a bird rehab center in Delaware. Video shows New Jersey Fish & Wildlife officers capturing the bird, affectionately named Eddie, after he struggled to fly away on his own.
A male bald eagle that appeared to be disoriented was rescued by New Jersey wildlife officials on the northern end of Ocean City on Monday afternoon.
The eagle was spotted that morning on the 200 block of East Atlantic Boulevard, just off Waverly Beach.
"It's definitely rare to see them not flying up in the air," Phil Bellucci, executive director of the Humane Society of Ocean City, said Friday.
Humane Society staff initially went to check on the eagle around 10 a.m. When they tried to catch him, he attempted to fly away — which is usually a good sign — but he didn't venture very far. Out of caution, animal control officers decided to give the eagle some time to see if it would leave the area on its own. Their theory was that the bird of prey, affectionately named Eddie, might have collided with a window and was simply stunned. He didn't appear to have a broken wing.
"It was really windy for a couple days, and also some of the nicer houses up there have (big) windows, so it's not unusual for us to have birds that bump into them," Bellucci said. "Then they get knocked out or injured. Some actually die from that. That's what we're speculating happened."
The animal control team checked on Eddie several times before notifying New Jersey Fish & Wildlife, which determined the best course of action was to rescue the bird because it's a federally protected species.
"In the meantime, we reached out to the neighbors to say, 'Don't be concerned if you come outside and there's a big bald eagle in the backyard,'" Bellucci said. "I had never seen one that close, and it's really intimidating to see the magnitude of the beak and the talons. You could definitely tell he didn't seem right."
The Humane Society posted a video on Facebook that shows Fish & Wildlife officers using nets to corral the eagle. He was taken to Tri-State Bird Rescue in Delaware.
Thank you to members of NJ Fish and Wildlife for assisting our HSOC Animal Control in safely capturing this injured eagle(we are calling him Eddie). Such a beautiful majestic bird. With everyone working together, he will be transported to Tri State Bird Rescue in Delaware in hopes of making a full recovery and a return to the wild. Good luck Eddie! Pictures in comments🤞🦅 #nosuchthingasanordinaryday
Posted by Humane Society of Ocean City on Monday, March 11, 2024
Bellucci said he didn't have an update on Eddie's condition since he was taken to the rehab in Delaware, which couldn't immediately be reached Friday. The Humane Society is hoping for the best, but stories like this don't always have happy endings. Last month, a grey seal pup died about two weeks after it got lost and wandered up 42nd Street in Ocean City. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine tried to save the seal, but were unable to restore him to health.
"It's kind of a catch-22 a little bit," Bellucci said. "You try to think it will be a feel-good story, but in the back of your head, you know it might not turn out that way."
Bald eagle populations have recovered dramatically in the United States in recent decades after the species became severely threatened. Water pollution, illegal hunting, habitat loss and the past use of harmful pesticides like DDT depleted the population to just 417 known nesting pairs in the country in 1963. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service recorded more than 317,000 nesting pairs in 2021.
In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, conservation programs that reintroduced the species have bolstered bald eagle populations. There were 286 nests monitored by New Jersey Fish & Wildlife by the end of last year. Pennsylvania has more than 300 nesting pairs, up from just three in 1983, when the state brought in eagles from Canada to help the species recover.
Last month, a Pennsylvania state trooper rescued a bald eagle that had been struck by a car and was found injured on the side of a road about 30 miles northwest of Harrisburg.
