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Home > Learn About Raptors > Information about Raptors > Bald Eagle > Eagle Track: Released Clinic Eagles Migration Data and Case Histories > Case X-260
Case X-260
Eagle Case Stories
Case X-260
The Eagle With The Strange Growth
Transmitter 20227
Migration Data
General Information
Species: Bald Eagle
Date Admitted: 7/19/97
Recovered From: Leech Lake
State: Minnesota
Sex: Male
 A
mature male bald eagle was found on Leech Lake Reservation near Bemidji,
Minn., in early July 1997. The eagle had several puncture wounds on his left
hip and right shoulder and breast, injuries that might have been the result
of a territorial dispute with another eagle or an encounter with a prey animal
that put up a very strong fight! The outermost toe on the right foot was
missing its talon but that was a much older and completely healed injury.
He was anemic and dehydrated but showed no signs of lead poisoning (an all
too common problem for eagles). But the problem that most concerned clinic
staff showed up on X-rays: a very large, dense area in the eagle's abdomen.
What it could be? It was too big and misshapen to be an egg. An intestinal
obstruction? Possibly, but the bird seemed to be eating well and passing
normal waste. The clinic conducted a variety of tests to determine the nature
of the mass, including a barium study. For this test, the eagle was tube-fed
liquid barium and a series of X-rays was taken as the barium passed through
his digestive tract. But the nature of the mass still could not be determined.
Even Dr. Pat Redig, our director and a veterinarian with 25 years of experience
in raptor medicine, was stumped. He decided to perform exploratory surgery.
 Dr.
Redig discovered that the mass was located in the eagle's small intestine--and
was something he had never seen in any of the 10,000
birds that have been treated at The Raptor Center: an irregularly shaped,
rocklike chunk of "mineralized ingesta"!  Even though it was as hard as concrete,
larger than a golf ball, and lodged in the eagle's small intestine, food
had somehow managed to make its way around the mass for who knows how many
weeks! In a surgical procedure performed on July 23, 1997, the section of
the intestine that contained the mass was removed and the ends sewn back
together. The eagle recovered well from surgery, gained some needed weight,
and was then housed in an indoor flight room with two other eagles. This
eagle showed good potential for release but needed a lot of exercise to regain
his strength.
Outdoor flight exercises began in earnest on October 17, 1997
- the flight crew noting in clinic records that he "started with hops and
some flapping - by the end he got off the ground and flew 30-40 ft. several
times." While he broke a few feathers and bruised his feet while getting
back into flying shape, this eagle continued to improve. On January 23, 1998,
the flight crew wrote that this bird was "able to get out of deep snow" and
its "mechanics looked good". Excellent signs! After almost 5 1/2 months of
steadily gaining altitude and distance, improving turns, and building up
endurance through flight exercise, it was time for release.
 On
March 3, 1997, Raptor Center staff fitted this eagle with a 95 gram satellite
telemetry unit. After anesthetizing the eagle in our clinic, transmitter
20277 was affixed to the bird in a "backpack" type of configuration using
nylon/Teflon straps which will eventually decompose and fall away if the
eagle is not live trapped and refitted with a new transmitter before this
ones battery fails. The satellite transmitter has enough battery power to
last for approximately 24 months.
 The
eagle (seen with a leather hood over its eyes in some photos to keep
it calm) was then transported for release at Fort Snelling
State Park in the Twin Cities at the confluence of the Minnesota
and Mississippi Rivers.  The person who had the honor of actually
releasing
the bird was Tom Arendt, a toxicology technician of the University
of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine.
This area is a good
fishing and resting spot for eagles on their way to nesting grounds
in northern
Minnesota, so releasing him here should provide the eagle with some
well deserved acclimatization time before heading north to prepare
for a successful nesting season.
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