Young Eagle Rescued at Sea Is Recovering

A bedraggled bald eagle, recently set free on Santa Cruz Island, is recovering after being plucked from the ocean by two men returning from a diving trip around Channel Islands National Park.

The Alaska-born eagle was released last month as part of a major effort to reintroduce the species to the Channel Islands. A dozen eagles have been released on Santa Cruz Island this year, and another 12 are to be set free there annually for the next five years.

The 4-month-old female was malnourished and dehydrated when Mark Ferguson spotted it floundering eight miles off Santa Cruz Island last week.

“We saw something in the water and sea gulls were circling, so we went over to take a look,” said the 42-year-old engineer from Thousand Oaks. “It looked like it was using its wing to do a breaststroke. I could see the transmitter attached to its back.”

After some debate, Ferguson and his friend maneuvered their boat close, and Ferguson grabbed the eagle by the tail.

“I was afraid of getting scraped by its claws but it looked pretty exhausted,” Ferguson said. “We put it in the front of the boat. After 20 minutes it started to revive. It flew to the front end and turned around to face us.”

But the bird, which has a 6-foot wingspan, stayed put all the way back to shore. There, it was turned over to the Ojai Raptor Center.

“We have basically had it under 24-hour surveillance for a week,” said Patty Perry, who works at the nonprofit raptor rehabilitation and education center in Oak View. Perry said the bird looked as though it hadn’t eaten for three weeks.

The bird was fed fish and rodents, administered blood tests and given electrolytes to rehydrate it, Perry said. It has gained 2 pounds since arriving Sept. 29.

“She weighs 7 1/4 pounds, but she should weigh 11 or 12 pounds,” Perry said. “She was in very critical condition when she got here.”

The sleek black eagle seemed chipper Monday as it sat in a wood aviary at the raptor center.

Still wearing its blue wing tags, the bird opened its mouth wide and squawked noisily.

It probably will be taken to Santa Cruz in a week or so and put in a nesting box for observation and feeding, biologists say.

Despite its condition, the eagle rescued last week was lucky. A few weeks ago, another of the original 12 tried the 20-mile crossing from Santa Cruz to the mainland but dropped into the ocean and drowned less than a mile from Point Mugu. Another was tracked over the water for at least eight days and has not been located since. A third made it across the water and kept going.

Peter Sharp, biologist with the Arcada-based Institute for Wildlife Studies, the group overseeing the eagle program, said it’s common for young birds to try flying to the mainland. But thermal air currents, which help birds glide over land, are absent over the ocean, requiring the eagles to flap all the way across.

“It’s a long crossing and some don’t make it,” he said. “We had the same thing happen on Catalina. We pulled two birds dead from the water and pulled one alive from the water twice.”

One Catalina eagle took the easy route and simply hopped a boat and rode it to Long Beach.

“If we were losing 50% of our birds, that would be a concern,” Sharp said. “On Catalina we have had a 75% survival rate. We have birds that fly to British Columbia each year and come back.”

Wildlife officials say they are impressed by the rescue.

“It was pretty darn lucky because it’s a large ocean,” Sharp said. “And it was pretty brave” of Ferguson.

Perry said a bald eagle talon can squeeze at pressures approaching 3,000 pounds per square inch, which can break bones.

“It would have been easy to look at the talons and beak and say ‘Forget it,’ ” she said.

Ferguson seemed surprised to learn that the talons could do such damage. “I had no idea it could snap my wrist,” he said. “It seemed like the right thing to do, but I will admit, it was scary.”