DEERFIELD — A young bald eagle who injured its wing four months ago, got a rocky and wet re-introduction to the wild outdoors on Monday morning in Deerfield.
Tom Ricardi of the Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center in Conway has been caring for the approximately 4-year-old male after it was brought to him with a damaged wing. Ricardi remarked that he was still holding his wing at an angle but he felt it was time to find out if he could fly on his own.
Returning to the area near the Connecticut River where the raptor was found, a steady rain shouldn’t have made a big difference, except that the bird didn’t seem to want to leave the dry enclosure of the back of Ricardi’s truck, even after being told repeatedly by Ricardi that “You’re free.”
After getting an arm protecting glove to coax him out the large bird took a wrong turn and flew into a mound covered with tall grasses instead of the pepper field straight ahead of him.
Now, with a wet, scared bird in the tall grass, there was nothing else to do but go in there and pull the bird out, the whole time using years of experience in avoiding razor sharp talons and a snapping beak. The second release had the bird airborne for a few yards until landing in the field. After several small test flights bounding through the pepper field, the bird was spotted perched 20 feet up in a tree with its wings spread to dry. Asked about how many eagles he has reared from eggs or nursed back to health Ricardi replied that he has lost count over the years.
Just another rainy Monday.
