A drugged bald eagle that nearly died after crashing into a power line near Stumptown on Sept. 17 may be set free soon near where it was found.
The encouraging rehabilitation of the male mature bald eagle follows the electrocution deaths of a pair of bald eagles last week in Bart Township.
On Sept. 17, a motorist driving on Monterey Road saw a bald eagle with its wing outstretched in a field. He stopped and watched as the obviously ailing bird hit a power line and fell to the ground.
The man called police, who contacted the Pennsylvania Game Commission. A wildlife conservation officer managed to catch the raptor in a fishing hoop net.
That game warden, Dennis Warfel, transported the injured eagle to Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, a licensed bird rehabilitation center in Newark, Del.
There, the eagle deteriorated rapidly, suffering seizures, displaying an inability to sit on a perch and losing coordination of its muscles and eyes.
"Not good," clinic director and veterinarian Dr. Sallie Welte said three weeks after treatment at the center.
Meanwhile, tests showed the eagle was suffering from mild lead poisoning and, mostly, ingestion of a barbiturate.
The barbiturate compound found is commonly used for euthanizing animals in Canada but is outlawed in the United States.
"It's a mystery how he got it," Welte said Wednesday. "A lot of these birds, you don't know where they came from. They come from great distances."
It's speculative, but possible the eagle scavenged the carcass of an animal that had been euthanized.
Treatment and recovery has taken a turn for the better, Welte said. The eagle is living in an outside cage, feeding itself and hopping to and from perches.
It can fly and, after a recent molt, flight feathers came in properly. Lesions in one eye that had earlier compromised its vision — a crucial faculty for a bird of prey — have cleared.
In fact, it progressed so well that on Sunday center staff examined the eagle so it can be cleared for release into the wild.
Unfortunately, when placed on the ground, the eagle walked in a circle twice, an abnormal behavior.
"He still doesn't have his full coordination," Welte said. "He may be repatterning his brain. We just want to give him time to work through any problem he might have."
The eagle will be re-evaluated weekly. "We anticipate full release," Welte said.
Bald eagles have been seen in increasing numbers recently in Lancaster County. As many as 150 bald eagles were viewed at once recently at the base of the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River below the Lancaster County line in Maryland.
Migrating eagles hang around the dam each winter to dine on dead or stunned fish coming through the dam.
The annual count of migrating birds of prey at the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Berks County concluded this week with 212 bald eagles seen, an above-average number.
The bald eagle, once an endangered species, is now listed as recovered in the lower 48 states by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.