Latest news with #CarolHolmgren
CBS News
26-06-2025
- General
- CBS News
Bald eagles at U.S. Steel's Irvin Plant unharmed after eating fish with hook attached to it
There was quite a scare in the bald eagle nest at U.S. Steel's Irvin Plant in West Mifflin when fishing tackle ended up in a meal for the majestic birds. The moment was captured on one of PixCam's live webcam, and a local wildlife rehabilitator is highlighting how harmful and even deadly fishing gear can be for birds. Bald eagle nest scare On Tuesday morning, Irvin the eagle brought a fish with a fishing line and a hook attached to it to the nest. Irvin and fledgling eagle Ocho began to eat the fish. "My heart was in my throat when I saw that there was fishing line and all of that in the meal that he was delivering, and holy cow, bless his heart for getting that away from Ocho. And at one point, Ocho even had some line he was starting to swallow," said Carol Holmgren, executive director and wildlife rehabilitator at the Tamarack Wildlife Center. Holmgren said it's a big sigh of relief that a disaster was averted. However, this isn't the first time this has happened to U.S. Steel eagles in West Mifflin. Last year, Lucky the eaglet got tangled in a fishing line, and Claire freed the little one from the line. And in 2023, eaglet Hop pulled out a huge hook from a fish. Both incidents were captured on camera. Holmgren has seen the dangers up close. She said fishing tackle can cause entanglement or swallowing injuries. "A year ago, we treated a loon, a common loon, that on X-ray had ingested a fishing hook and that was caught in her digestive tract, and the line was still coming out her throat. Fortunately, we could have surgery, and she successfully came through surgery and was released," she said. Some birds aren't so lucky. "We did have a heartbreaker about 10 years ago that actually was with an eaglet, a little bird that had not even hatched out of the nest," Holmgren said. "X-rays showed that he had that hook caught in his digestive tract. We did arrange for surgery, but unfortunately, the damage was just too great." Holmgren wants this recent scare for Irvin and Ocho to be a learning experience for anglers. "If you personally have line that's gotten entangled on shore, or fishing hooks and lures and things, clean it up. And if you've got some time to clean up something that somebody else has left, boy, that makes a difference," she said. She also urges fishing enthusiasts to be mindful of the tackle they use. "Avoid things that are containing lead, either lead sinkers or fishing tackle, can really help, because we do also see lead poisoning in some of our fish-eating birds," said Holmgren.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
We're owl in this together: Electric company helps renest healed birds
When Tamarack Wildlife Center (TWC) got not one but two calls about owlets falling out of nests and injuring themselves within the span of a couple of weeks, it hatched a plan to rehabilitate and renest the youngsters. Great Horned Owls have the earliest hatching period, but the early bird doesn't always get the worm — sometimes, it gets a fracture. The first owl was admitted in early March after falling from its nest in Cambridge Springs and fracturing its wing. Although the cause is unknown, TWC said the severe storms might have played a part. The second owl was admitted in early April and was a week younger than the first. It fell from its nest in Kennerdell and also fractured a wing. The two owlets were housed together for company and wore matching wing splints until it was time to re-enter the wild, about 6 weeks later. 'It's not unusual for us to treat orphaned or injured young wildlife,' said Carol Holmgren, TWC executive director and licensed wildlife rehabilitator. 'It's less common for us to be able to treat a young animal with an injury such as a fracture and help it get healthy in time to be able to reunite it with its family because there's a specific window of time during which we can reunite.' Only one other time in Holmgren's 20 years at TWC has she been able to rehabilitate a bird with a fracture and reunite it with family, and that was a bald eagle chick. Fortunately for TWC staff, Great Horned Owls spend the longest period with their parents of any owl species. However, young animals often learn by observing and imitating their caregivers, so it's important for them to be around their species. 'The other thing that made both of these renestings possible is both of the parents remained in parenting mode,' Holmgren said. The property owner of the Cambridge Springs nest confirmed that there was still another chick in the nest, so the birds were still in parenting mode. Great Horned Owls will tend to any young in their vicinity, so placing both owlets with the one's family would not be an issue. The owlets endured about four weeks of physical therapy and splinting to ensure their bones were strong and full range of motion had returned, then it was time to go home. 'We wanted to erect a nest basket,' Holmgren explained. 'The age that we were returning these owls is one they would benefit from being able to rest in a nest and very shortly, they'd be ready to branch out.' 'Branching,' Holmgren explained, is when a bird hops out of the nest to perch and flap its wings for a while before returning to the nest for a nap. Given the typography of the tree, though, TWC needed a little help. A little bird told the Northwestern Rural Electric Cooperative (NREC), and they willingly joined the project with their bucket truck. On a warm day, Gary Lilly and Camden Mattocks of NREC secured an artificial nest basket in the Cambridge Springs tree. 'Partnering with NREC made me very excited and grateful,' Holmgren said. 'We can do greater good when we work together than by ourselves.' TWC does not receive state or federal funding, so it relies on community partners to lend a hand. The birds were returned to the family at 5 and 6 weeks old and will now be a family of three owlets, which is common for the Great Horned Owl species. By 9 weeks, the owlets are expected to be following their parents around and flying.
