[Va-bird] VDOT sponsored hacked Bald Eagle recovered after 14 years.

From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 14:54:40 -0400

South Holston hacked Bald Eagle recovered after 14 years in wild.

An injured adult Bald Eagle was taken to the College of Veterinary Medicine at
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Saturday (Oct. 4).  It had been turned
over to the American Eagle Foundation of Pigeon Forge, by officials of
the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.  It had a very badly damaged wing.

The bird wore a US Fish & Wildlife Service bird band.  It was a bird hacked
at South Holston Lake on 29 July 1994 as part of a multi-year project which
was funded with $17,700 raised by Bristol Bird Club members and hundreds of
others in a cooperative project with the Bristol Herald Courier. And with
matching
donations from the federal government, the total came to $23,000.

Michael P. Jones, D.V.M., Associate Professor of Avian & Zoological Medicine
with UT Veterinary Medicine looked at the bird today.  The entire humerous bone
was exposed and there were other problems. Dr. Jones recommended the eagle
be euthanized, since he would have had to amputate the entire wing which is no
longer allowed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service.

At this hour, we do not know where the injured bird was discovered or who
recovered
it from the wild.

This eagle, taken to the UT Veterinary school today, was sponsored by BBC member
Bob Quillen and seven of his fellow workers from the Right of Way section of
the Virginia Department of Transportation's Bristol District Office which
oversees
12 Southwest Virginia counties.

Quillen, who was a Right of Way Agent, coordinated raising contributions of $510
from his fellow workers.   The Bristol District Office had more than 315 other
employees who donated to help adopt a second eagle.

"That absolutely made my day," said Quillen when reached by telephone at his
home Saturday evening. "It  is really wonderful to know what happened to our
bird."  He had told the VDOT newspaper when they donated the money in June
1991 that "Eagles recognize no boundaries, and neither do VDOT employees
when it comes to preserving our endangered species."

Quillen's group named their bird "Zeus" from Greek mythology.  Zeus was the king
of the gods, the ruler of the god of the sky and thunder.  His symbols are
the thunderbolt, eagle, bull and oak.

Eaglet Zeus was taken from a wild nest in Wisconsin at the age of 8.2 weeks
and flown out of the region by Northwest Airlines as a donation to the project.
It was kept in a hacking tower on a ridge above South Holston Lake from 17 June
to 29 July of 1994. It was 14.3 weeks of age when released, weighed 11.3
pounds, and stayed at the lake until it departed the area after having been last
seen 8 August 1994.

This eagle, with band number 629-39613, wore a green patagial marker with an
orange number 97 on its left wing.

The South Holston hacking project was a cooperative effort of the U.S. Forest
Service,
Tennessee Tech University and TWRA.  .

In the long run 29 birds were hacked over a three year period from the huge
hacking
towers at South Holston.  Eaglets were brought from Alaska and Wisconsin
during the period 1991-1994.

Quillen is now retired from VDOT.  A public relations officer and cameraman from
VDOT in Richmond came to South Holston Lake to interview Quillen and another
local employee in 1991.  The story with photo appeared on the front page of
VDOT's
statewide employee newspaper.  No one was concerned that this was a Tennessee
project and would be conducted in Tennessee.  The Bald Eagle is our national
symbol.

Eagles soar throughout the region.  We now have eagles nesting in Kingsport and
on the Clinch River in Hancock County.  They are  showing up in rural areas of
Southwest Virginia where they have never before been seen by birders.

Eagles have been observed every month of the year at South Holston.

We do not know how many eaglets, grandeaglets or great grandeaglets have been
among the descendants of Zeus, let alone others hacked at South Holston.

Let's go birding......

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN

[Va-bird] VDOT sponsored hacked Bald Eagle recovered after 14 years.

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