All in the line of duty

People ask me all the time if I like being a reporter. My answer is always, 'sometimes,' and that's true. When I'm knocking on doors in a neighborhood literally begging people to share their opinion on a referendum or sitting through a long school board meeting listening to people bicker over the same points, I generally don't. But every once in a while there's a gem of a story where you get to do something neat or see something special that makes it all worthwhile. Today was one of those.
I got to hold a 5-week-old bald eagle. My photographer and I tagged along with a group from the Audubon society and National Park Service as they tested and put bands on baby eagles living in nests up and down the Mississippi River. I got picked because I'm fairly competent in a canoe, and we had to canoe out to an island in the Mississippi. With a canoe full of gear and 4 people, it was a tippy ride with a current and I knew I'd break my perfect canoeing record of never tipping over. I did haven't to paddle--surprisingly enough, we had two volunteers who were our chaperones to do that. But we didn't tip over. I'm still suprised.


When we got to the island, the parents were just sitting on trees watching us. When we got close enough to the nest, they just flew around and yammered at us.



Dan, the tree climbing man, was really interesting. He grew up on the big island of Hawaii and has travelled all around the world climbing trees. He's climbed just about everything. In his off time, he runs a cat rescue service in Seattle.

Anyway, Dan has a crossbow that has a fishing reel attached. He shoots a plastic arrow over a good limb near the nest and then threads a rope over it. The team's main rule is 'don't rush the climber,' and given the distance, I can understand why. An eagle's nest is huge and most of the time there's only one eaglet in there. Today, they found four in one nest!

Dan puts the baby in a bag along with whatever else is in the nest and comes to the ground. Once there, the team takes a blood sample, weighs it, takes measurements like the footpad and wingspan, and pulls out a few breast feathers to test. Since eagles are at the top of the food chain, they are a good barometer for contaminants that could be harmful to people. Many eagles live in the Twin Cities, and I found it interesting they test higher for lead and mercury than eagles living elsewhere. And ironically enough, they are producing more young than eagles living in more remote places. Hm.

In this nest, there was also remains of a gray squirrel and a female mallard. One ranger told me they found remains of a deer in one, which is pretty unusual. After all the testing, they even let a few of us hold the eaglet--since we were such a small group. It was like holding a big chicken--and I've caught chickens several times.

Then, Dan the climbing man put the eaglet back up in the nest and we packed up our gear and made our way back across the river. Days like this I'm thankful I get to be a reporter and experience something few people ever do.