A mighty, majestic bird, who was badly injured back in May, is once again flying free.
The bird was found over the Memorial Day weekend near Syracuse, Nebraska by local fishermen. The bird was severely injured, suffering with a burn to his head that caused a large, exposed scab. The bird would eventually undergo plastic surgery to repair the burned area by taking a skin graft from his leg and placing over the skull.
Betsy Finch with the Fontenelle Forest Raptor Recovery said the bird was very timid and weak when they first started working with him, but has now made an incredible recovery. "He has gotten very feisty, really ready to go way before we thought he would be. He's flying very strongly."
Finch says the wound on the bird's head isn't completely done healing, but enough to be released back to the wild to finish the healing process. "I'm confident he'll do fine. This type of an injury will heal just fine in the wild, actually probably better."
The bird was released back to the wild by none other than Chip Davis, the founder of Mannheim Steamroller, who is a nature enthusiast. "Nature has really soft place in my heart. I also live on a 150 acre farm just north of Omaha, and so I'm out in nature everyday, it's just a part of the whole thing. When I was asked to be a part of this I was just real thrilled to be able to do it." Davis has been working as a nature conservationist since the 1980's and has released two rehabilitated hawks on his farm in the past.
The eagle has been tagged, so if anything were to happen to him in the future, they will be able to know it is him. Besides the tag on his leg, he'll also be easily recognizable by the black feathers that will crown his normally white head.
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