Skagway couple rescues injured bald eagle

High winds this week downed a bald eagle in Skagway. A local couple looked after the bird overnight before sending it south for rehabilitation.

Steve and Kim Burnham were on their usual evening drive to watch for wildlife when they saw a bald eagle fall out of the sky.

“He clearly hurt his leg,” Steve Burnham Jr. said.

“I mean, I don’t know if it looked fractured or what but he didn’t want to put weight on it anymore.”

The Burnhams didn’t see what took the eagle down, but they speculate that the bird may have clipped a power cable while battling high winds.

The Burnhams called the police and bird rescue after they watched the eagle hunker down by a chain link fence. They were told to give the bird some time and see if it recovered overnight. But the next day, the eagle was still there, crumpled by the fence.

They called the Juneau Raptor Center’s hotline and a volunteer told them how to safely capture the bird themselves.

“So, we got a sheet. My wife and I and got some clean welding gloves and face shield and got all ready to go and scoop up the bald eagle,” he recounted.

The couple worried that if they scared the eagle it may try to escape into the street. Police Chief Ray Leggett agreed to block traffic while they scooped up the bird and deposited him in a medium sized dog kennel in the back of their car.

“I’ve never held an eagle before, but once we were up there and picking him up with his wings folded and everything like that, he seemed not as big as I would have expected. But he was still a big, heavy, strong bird and he didn’t fight us at all. And he was pretty calm,” he said.

The story could have ended with a quick drop-off at the airport, but the wind was blowing too hard for planes to fly. The Burnhams ended up keeping the eagle at their home overnight. Burnham said the eagle was the most polite house guest they’ve ever had and he made it to Juneau the next morning.

“We were able to get the bird given some fluids, he was calm enough that we were able to give him some medication as far as for pain and an antibiotic,” said Kathy Benner, Juneau Raptor Center’s manager. She said the eagle is in good condition.

“He does have a leg injury, and it appears that one of his wings is drooping, so he probably also has a wing injury,” Benner said.

Benner sent him to the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka for x-rays, further care, and rehabilitation. The facility in Sitka is better equipped than the one in Juneau–it has flight enclosures so the eagle will be able to practice flight again before it is released back into the wild.