It seems that most of the birds I've been getting are coming from way south. That meant when I got a call late yestereday afternoon from the WG&F in Lander about yet another downed bird I knew it also meant another long drive to Thermopolis.
This time it is a six month old female Golden Eagle. JEMMIMA was found in the middle of a highway apparently the victim of a collision. She was very calm and let the gentleman who found her gather her up and make a run to the G&F office. They kept her overnight and this morning I made that drive, again...
By the time she had spent the night in a crate she was back to being a large wild bird and not happy with being held captive. I got her here, weighed her (10 1/2 pounds) and washed her tail and wing tips. She is now in my new mews so I can make sure nothing is wrong.
There doesn't appear to be anything broken but shortly after being put in the mew she vomited something. I have no idea what it is but it looks like clay, the kind a potter would use (hence the name, a Beatrix Potter character). It is a complete mystery as to what it is and why she would have ingested it. She is in excellent shape and proved, in a very painful way, just how alert she is. When I went in to pick up the "stuff" she was about four feet away. As I bent over she jumped at me and grabbed my right hand with her left foot. Luckily for me she immediately let go but the wound is in the middle of my hand and quite frankly, hurts like #%@*&#.
She'll go into the eagle flight barn as soon as I think she's ready for that. Then it's a matter of releasing her back to the wild as she obviously knows all about hunting.
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