This is PATCH, an adult female Golden Eagle, and you'll notice that her left eye is closed. That dark spot on the bottom is NOT her eyeball, it's just some feathers. She was apparently hit by a vehicle near the Wapiti school west of Cody. Luckily Gretchen was going out for a run and spotted her alongside the road.
When I picked her up she had a droopy right wing too but today that seems to be okay. I couldn't feel anything broken in it so perhaps it was just bruised. She goes in to see Dr. Blessing today to find out if there is any damage to her eye altho I couldn't see any when I got her eyelids apart.
The very sad thing is that if this bird does have a nest with a chick or two then we've lost them. Because at this time of the year they are still mostly downy and require feeding by a parent. In the sexist raptor world, the male brings the food but the female tears it into small pieces and hands them to the babies. Without her there he will fill the nest with prey but the babies will probably starve to death by the time I get this awesome mom back home.
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