Bald eagle impales wing on branch near nest — then Colorado arborist comes to the rescue

Wildlife officials and an arborist rescued a young bald eagle whose wing was impaled by a tree branch in Colorado.

The eagle’s condition after it was rescued and sent to a rehabilitation program was “questionable,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife said on Twitter.

Officials from the agency received help from the Berthoud Fire Protection District to rescue the injured animal, 9 News reported. The eagle, named “Eddie” by fire officials, appeared to be young but weighed 20 pounds and had a wingspan of about 6 feet, fire officials said in a Facebook post.

In an Instagram post, Andy Harem, an arborist with Highline Tree Care, recounted his experience helping retrieve Eddie. He said officials reached out to him June 18 and asked if he could attempt an aerial rescue of the “enthusiastic 3 month old fledgling eagle.”

Harem said he was “honored and a little intimidated” to perform the rescue and that the branch that impaled Eddie’s wing was on the far edge of the “impressive nest” his parents had built.

“The parent eagles did a great job of building an enormous nest at the very top of this western cottonwood,” Harem wrote. “Not the easiest AR I’ve ever performed but definitely the most unique and challenging.”

Harem told 9 News that his employer gave him “a backpack of towels” and told him to wrap the bird in them to avoid getting injured.

“The other part that was really worrying me was the parents,” Harem told the outlet. “They flew away when we got to the base of the tree, but they were circling the whole time and kind of swooping in real low and going over it and landing in another tree.”

Despite his worries, he managed to retrieve the bird from the tree without getting scratched by his “impressive talons,” Harem wrote on Instagram.

He added that Eddie is being treated at the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program in Fort Collins.

The facility cares for 300 raptors, or birds of prey, every year. About 78% of treatable cases are returned to the wild afterward, the center said on its website.

Berthoud is about 45 miles north of Denver.

This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Bald eagle impales wing on branch near nest — then Colorado arborist comes to the rescue."