Today at 8am i got a wildlife call.
Good thing i*d been awake since 6am & had had coffee already.
A man was calling to say that a young Eagle was floundering around in his yard & seemed to be hiding in the Salal.
Another youngster was in a tree overhead.
i told him i would call MARS & get back to him.
The man who answered the phone at MARS said young Eagles are kind of clumsy, so to watch & wait & Reg would call me once he got in.
When i called the man back, he said the young Eagle had disappeared.
i said, Eagles are really good at hiding, could he be in the Salal?
So he went to look.
He called me back.
*You*re right! Eagles really ARE good hiders! The Eagle had gone right into the Salal & was hiding in there!*
Keep watching & call me back, i said.
Then he called back to say a neighbour had seen wings flapping & the young Eagle was gone.
i asked him to check the Salal again, just in case.
He said he went out there with a kayak paddle & kind of rattled the Salal but the Eagle was no longer hiding in there.
Well, maybe he flew away & all was fine then!
i went back to my coffee & posting Osprey fotos.
Brrrrrrrring!
My phone was ringing again.
i figured the man was calling me back.
But this time it was a woman!
She had a wildlife concern.
A young Eagle had just flown into her yard & was making his way into the Salal, but was now up against the fence & she felt sorry for him.
She has watched Eagles before, but this seemed like strange behaviour to her.
i told her about the report i had just gotten & the man who had reported.
Her neighbour!
So the youngster had just flown to one of the properties near the original sighting.
i told her this wasn*t sounding good, but that i was waiting for advice from the people at MARS who knew way more than i do.
i told her i would call her back.
Then i called the original caller back & filled him in.
He knew which neighbours i was talking about.
Okay, gulping coffee now, getting hyper, i*d better eat my oats & start to get ready.
i was greatly relieved when Reg called, & i breathlessly told him the story.
He said to go take a look, see what i thought, i had seen enough Eagles to know if this one was okay.
But he thought this sounded like a capture was needed.
Okay, now i*m out the door.
i got to the place & pulled over then got out & prepared my capture gear - Kennel/carrier open & handy at the back door of the van, capture gloves for me & a spare pair for a helper, the big Fish net (darn, i still need to reline it with soft cotton material), my big brown capture towel, goggles.
Then i went trucking in there.
The people quietly showed me where the youngster was, i was surprised how close we were able to go to him!
He was lying down on his belly, like a baby does in the Nest, his wings a bit open & relaxed, looking at us.
He was in a shallow ditch, up next to a wooden fence.
i took some fotos to document.
Then i asked if anyone wanted to help.
Two men did.
i gave one my spare set of welder gloves & the big net.
The other got a big towel.
i told them i would go in for the capture, using my towel, & that they were to try to block the youngster from escaping, using the towel & net to distract him.
i wondered if i would be able to just go in there & grab him, but he got up & started heading away along the fence line.
One of the men came around in front of him & walked towards him.
i chased him along the fence line til he found a hole & went under!
Arrgh!
NOW where*d he go?
The three of us went running around the fence into the next yard.
There he was!
& he was heading towards a woodpile.
i told the men, let*s corner him up against the woodpile.
& this worked.
The woodpile stopped him & he opened up his wings wide.
i put the towel over his head & he calmed.
i was able to find the right leg easily, but had a bit of trouble with the left.
Got it.
He had his wings open so i asked the guys to try to tuck the wings in against his body so that i could hold them with my arms which were holding the youngster*s legs.
i think we got one wing tucked & maybe the other was just hanging down.
We had him!
We hurried back to the waiting kennel & they held the door open so that i could pop him in head first & take back my capture towel as he went through, tail last.
i latched the kennel!
He was in!
Wow, what a relief.
MARS had given me two fleece blankets & wren had left little clips to hold them to the carrier without the blankets being able to blow off.
i covered the kennel to make the youngster feel safe & dark & we put him in the shade.
i then called MARS to let them know we had him & would be getting him in to them.
Then i made phone calls.
The two people i called didn*t answer, so i left messages.
Dawn had offered to pick this youngster up at Buckley Bay, THANK YOU Dawn! ♥ what a relief, so i just had to figure out a way to get him to Buckley Bay.
i put away all my capture gear then asked one of the men to help me lift the kennel back into the van.
The Eaglet weighed nothing.
While we were loading, the original caller came by & saw that we had succeeded.
Then the neighbour of Nest #20 pulled over to have a chat.
Turns out he has decided there were actually TWO Eaglets in his Nest this year!
He had been thinking one all along!
i had been hearing two distinct Eaglet calls from Periwinkle, but figured maybe it was one from Nest #20 & another from Nest #21.
But maybe this is the second Eaglet from Nest #20!
Well, no one has called back, so i am off to the Hornby ferry.
i will try my luck with the lineup there.
It is a busy holiday weekend, hopefully there is someone in the lineup who will take him to Dawn at Buckley Bay.
It was a lovely pokey drive across the Island, there was a great feeling of relief.
i got to the ferry lineup & it was short, as the ferry had just pulled away, heading to Denman.
So i parked the van in the shade & went to stare in the windows of all the cars left in the lineup.
A lot of the cars were full of people & stuff.
What i wanted was a truck with an open bed.
Well, there was one in the lineup.
i found the owner & pleaded with them.
i think they think i am pulling their leg for a good bit.
But he agrees to take the kennel!
We wait til the ferry is almost here then transfer the kennel into the back of his truck, sliding it up against the cab.
There is a tire on a rim which he pushed against the kennel to keep it in place.
Thanks to wren*s clips, the two fleece blankets would stay in place & not blow around.
We called Dawn & i let them talk to each other to set up their meeting.
The ferry was loading!
Eaglet is on the way to MARS.
