A bald eagle near Sandstone Visitors Center, New River Gorge
Last Sunday morning Whitey, a male bald eagle and part of a pair of bald eagles nesting in the New River Gorge, was hit by an Amtrak train.
Wendy and Ron Perrone of the Three Rivers Avian Center in Summers County joined other birders in looking for the dead or injured bird. They waited at the nest Monday and Tuesday, and scoured the dense area between the river and the tracks near where he was hit.
Finally, on Wednesday, the bald eagle was spotted near his nest—all OK and back to flying and all the other things bald eagles do like defending his territory. According to a Charleston Gazette article about the recovering eagle, the Perrones think that he may have suffered a concussion and rested in some brush for days after he collided with the train.
Two eggs were spotted on the nest he shares with the female of the pair, who is nicknamed Streaky.
Three cheers for Whitey, back home safe and sound!
To read more about the bald eagle pair that nest along the New River, go to summer 2011’s Rest Day Tick List.
Photograph by David Hypes
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