YouTube video shows fisherman Don Dunbar's bald eagle rescue
Sports fisherman gave the exhausted juvenile eagle a lift to shore
A Vancouver Island fisherman gave a very tired looking bald eagle a lift to shore, after finding the exhausted bird floundering in the ocean near Nanoose Bay recently.
In the video posted on YouTube, the exhausted juvenile eagle appears to swim toward the sport fishing boat before being helped aboard by fisherman Don Dunbar.
Once aboard, the bird was taken to shore, but it remained too exhausted to fly.
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So it was passed on to the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Delta, which reports the malnourished animal ate a whole quail upon arrival at its facility.
Bald eagles commonly hunt for salmon and other fish by flying low across the water and attempting to snatch them near the surface.
But, unlike ospreys, if an eagle falls in or is pulled in by a heavy fish, it may struggle to take off from the water, and it is not uncommon for eagles to swim to shore using their wings, since they lack webbed feet for paddling.
