Back home and healed

By Linda Fields
MILFORD — Bill Streeter was delighted that he could take off the jesses — the leather straps used in falconry — that he had put on the 37 American bald eagle in his care since 2004.

If this male eagle couldn’t be rehabilitated and returned to the wild, the Delaware Valley Raptor Center (DVRC) founded by Streeter and his wife, Stephanie, would likely have another bird to be used in educational programs for the public. But the story ends on the best chapter: the one that sets number 37 free.

The release took place on Oct. 30 in the place this injured eagle was found: at the edge of the Willowemoc in the southern Catskills region near Livingston Manor, N.Y.

“Release went perfectly," said Streeter. “The eagle flew upstream, and later I drove up the road to a bridge which crossed the stream, looked to my left and saw him sitting in a tree with two immature bald eagles. I could tell it was him because we banded him and he was missing a couple of tail feathers that was apparent when he flew off.”

The patient had been at the Raptor Center since July 18. In what was likely an automobile strike, a bone in the eagle's wing had been fractured in three places.

“He was pretty mobile and in adult plumage, which makes him at least five years old," recalled Streeter.

He explained that because the fractures were clean breaks and had healed well, no surgery was needed, and there was no threat of infection. “The wing needed to be wrapped," he said. “And every week for about five weeks, we had to unwrap the wing to be flexed.”

Then another eight or nine weeks of care and feeding until it was apparent he was ready to go home.

Wildlife biologist Kathy Michelle, who helped rescue and bring the eagle to Streeter for rehabilitation, was there to help with the banding and release.

“It felt great," Michelle said. "It was a nice release. We got him back to where he came from.”