Beaver Island eagle recovered

February 29th, 2020.  Beaver Island

It’s not unusual to see bald eagles in Beaver Island harbors.  It’s not unusual to see Becca Foli or Andrew Alvesteffer out taking photographs.

What was unique about this morning was a bald eagle flying directly at Andrew!  When Becca joined him, the eagle had landed nearby and wasn’t moving. 
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​Becca said, “Andrew went to sunrise at Gull Harbor and spotted this injured eagle on the ice. He had crawled into...

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...the woods by the time I got there. We took lots of pictures, it looked like his wing was injured. We went to the hardware store to let the Wildlife Club know, KK called Nicole Olson, Deputy sheriff.
Nicole monitored the bird for 45 minutes and when it had not moved,  called for help and eventually reached Rebecca Lessard from Wings of Wonder,  an avian rescue facility.

  With instructions from Rebecca of WOW,  Nick Olsen, Levi Connor and Brian Bousquet assisted Deputy Olson in capturing and securing the eagle for transport to the airport.  Another special transport chauffeur, took the boxed eagle by car to WoW in Empire, Michigan. 

Paul Welke said,  “Today was an aviation first for me, it was the first time I have ever transported a live eagle, thank you to deputy Nicole Olson for bringing to the airport, to Doug our ground crew guy for his assistance removing it from the plane, and especially to Shannon Roberts and husband Troy for driving it to WoW. 

At press time,  Lessard said the eagle was robust, flying, eating and perching well.

Lessard added,  she is fairly certain the bird is a male,  but a very calm one and perhaps does not have a mate or nest back home.  Lessard added that the boy was very gentle and nurturing and currently serving as a role model for a young female eagle.

With travel restrictions in place, and considering eagle nesting habits , no date for return has been set. Wings of Wonder is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raptor education, rehabilitation and research.

​Please visit the website WingsofWonder.org to lend your support or learn more.  A big round of applause to  Wings of Wonder,  donations are always welcome!

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