Injured bald eagle reunited with family in dramatic Mattituck rescue — and even Braun’s pitched in

A male bald eagle was reunited with his family Thursday night after an only-on-the-North-Fork rescue involving police, firefighters, wildlife experts — and fresh flounder from a local seafood store.

The federally protected bird was spotted in Mattituck around 9 a.m., unable to fly despite flapping its wings, according to Southold Town Police.

“Somebody driving by saw it in the front yard of a house and called us in,” said Sgt. Christopher Salmon, who arrived at the scene with Officer Darren Hinderliter. “It looked like it had some issues with one of its wings because it would try to fly and only get a few feet before it needed to land.”

Mr. Hinderliter agreed.

“When I approached him, he kind of just hopped down and flapped his wings a couple of times and flew a short distance,” he told The Suffolk Times. “We realized, all right, he’s definitely injured.”

Sgt. Salmon and and Mr. Hinderliter had never rescued a bald eagle before, so the region’s wildlife community quickly sprang into action.

Jennifer Murray of Turtleback Conservation Center was nearby monitoring shorebirds with Heidi Lopez, and they arrived for the capture. Ms. Murray consulted with Janine Bendicksen, director of wildlife at Sweetbriar Nature Center, who approved bringing the eagle to the Smithtown facility after seeing video from the scene.

Corraling the injured raptor came with some difficulty, as it kept hopping into brambles and from yard to yard. The eagle rescue team had to close in while avoiding its razor-sharp talons.

“The main concern is that the talons don’t grab hold of you because they can do some pretty good damage pretty quickly,” Mr. Hinderliter said. “They’re the size of my hand! It was a good team effort on getting this bird captured without further injuring it.”

Ms. Murray, Ms. Lopez and the two officers spent about 20 minutes closing in on the eagle before covering its head with a blanket and gently tucking its wings underneath it. They crafted a makeshift crate out of a plastic bin and a car floor mat and met up with Jim MacDougall of Wading River in the parking lot of the Cooperage Inn in Baiting Hollow. He drove it roughly 40 miles to Sweetbriar’s Smithtown facility, which has a large aviary.

With the eagle out of their hands — literally — for the time being, the police officers carried on, and the wildlife experts shifted their focus to his nest. They knew who this bird was; many locals do.

They also knew that a mate and two eaglets were nearby waiting for him to return with food for them. Taking him away for care left the rest of the family without a meal.

Ms. Bendicksen suggested that Ms. Murray feed them each a dead rat as a stop-gap measure. When Ms. Murray checked her pockets and found she was fresh out of dead rats, she quipped, “How about fish? We have lots of fish out here.”

A quick call to Braun Seafood Co. in Cutchogue landed a donation of six fillets of flounder, eyes and spines still intact.

“I didn’t even tell them the whole story; they just agreed,” Ms. Murray said.

Chief Robert Haas of the Mattituck Fire Department was the next call. He and department members used a ladder truck to reach the nest and serve the eaglets the fillets.

“We put the fish up there; they didn’t really go for it,” Chief Haas said. “The mother wasn’t in the nest when we did it.”

Ms. Bendicksen surmised the bird may have crashed, leaving him disoriented and possibly concussed. Ms. Murray told The Suffolk Times there were reports of five osprey in the area around the eagle.

“This could be the result of a dispute over territory or food,” she said.

By the time the eagle arrived at the center, he was bright, alert and strong, according to officials. After initially running in the flight cage, which caused worry, he began flying.

“Now, knowing that he had babies, and a mate back at the nest, he really needed to get back home and take care of his family,” Ms. Bendicksen said.

That job fell to Ms. Murray’s husband, Daniel, who drove back to Mattituck with the recovering bird in a borrowed cage. He arrived just before sunset in a light drizzle.

When the rescuers opened the cage door, there wasn’t the dramatic flight to freedom they had expected. The eagle hopped out but still seemed unable to fly before tentatively taking off.

The bird soon landed on the crossbar of a nearby lacrosse goal, where it stayed.

Chief Haas and department member Jamie Sledge gently approached the eagle, step by step, to help urge it into flight — and it took off, landing at the top of a nearby evergreen.

“That was the best thing I’ve ever done!” Ms. Sledge exulted.

Ms. Murray used a birder’s spotting scope to continue observing the eagle. She noticed it preening — which she said was a good sign, as it had lost a flying feather earlier in the brambles.

Mr. Hinderliter said he’d been posted nearby the nest since early in the year and promised to continue to keep an eye on it. The nest’s exact location is being withheld to protect the birds from harassment.

Ms. Murray said the day’s effort was a reminder of how protective residents have become of the eagles.

“We all know about this nest, have been watching it from a safe distance, and so we showed up as a community when it needed help,” she said.