An eagle story worth sharing

My chase partner, David Drufke, and his wife, Kristen, were out looking for owls today when when stumbled into a much bigger story:

Written by Kristen:

Today David and I headed out for a quick hike to see if we could find a pair of owls we've heard live out by Lake Harriet. With temperatures hanging right around 10* we piled on the layers and headed out for a walk through the Lake Harriet Bird Sanctuary. About a quarter of a mile in we saw an eagle high up on a tree. After a closer look, we realized that the eagle didn't seem normal. We walked right up to the tree it was on, which a healthy eagle would never let you do. We noticed that it was sitting funny with it's head down and eyes shut.



We stood and watched it for a while and listen as it made sad quite noises. We decided to continue a little more in search of the owls and would call and report the sick eagle as soon as we got back to the car. However, about a half an hour later we head a bunch of crows all screaming and making loud noises. I said to David, "do you know how horrible it would be if we went back to the eagle and found that the crows had attacked the eagle?!" We continue on back towards the eagle and as we got closer we noticed that all the crows were in deed screaming at the sick eagle. All of a sudden the eagle fell from the tree and landed, nose first, in the snow! We ran over to see if it was still moving and breathing. David lifted it's head up out of the snow and we adjusted his wings so they were in more of a normal position. We decided the only thing to do was to pick it up and bring back to the car and call the Raptor Center.



We hiked the quarter mile back to the car while David was holding a live bald eagle in his arms like a baby! It was so unbelievable! When we get to the car, I immediately realize that the passenger side window had been smashed in! I looked at David and say, "where's the tripod??" I know that sounds like a funny thing to say but we have a camera tripod in our car that costs about $1400 and so that was the first thing I thought of. (photographers think in terms of camera gear. lol) Once I realized the tripod was still in the the back of the car I then noticed then my purse was gone. The stupid person smashed in our window and left a $1400 tripod, another tripod, a brand new Droid phone, cash in the center console, and other things but took my purse. The best thing in my purse was a $20 Arbys gift card, a Starbucks gift card, and a Caribou gift card, all equaling about $50. Haha. Sorry buddy, but I don't carry cash in my purse.



Anyway, back to the eagle. We called the Raptor Center at the U of M St. Paul and said that we had a sick eagle in our car. They said to bring it over and they would take care of it. We drove from Minneapolis to St. Paul with an eagle in our back seat and a missing window!



David brought the eagle in and right away they started working at trying to being up it's temperature. The eagle's temperature was 10* colder then it should be. They said that they were going to try and help him and gave us a phone number to call to get updates on his condition. I just hope he lives and they are able to help him get healthy. I named him Harry since I think it's a boy and we found him at Lake Harriet.



It was a very cold drive back to Lakeville with no window:(



I never thought I would get to hold an eagle in my arms! Can you believe that those huge birds only weigh about 8-10lbs? While we were walking back to the car I asked David if it was heavy, he said, "no, it weighs about as much as kitty." The eagle even left something behind for us, a bunch of little eagle fathers in the back seat where he was laying. What an unreal experience that I will never forget