Two baby bald eagles in nest topple into river. Rescuers in canoe make the save
At just 7 weeks old, two bald eagle chicks couldn’t fly to safety when their nest tree started to fall down.
Still inside, they landed in a Missouri river, but the water posed a threat to their nest. The sticks, grass and dirt that safely secured the eagles’ home was slowly disintegrating in the water.
That’s when Ray Settle, the owner of the adjacent Bonne Terre property, found the duo and called the World Bird Sanctuary hoping they could help the two eaglets, the sanctuary said in an April 28 news release.
“At their current stage of muscle development, it is uncertain if they would have been able to make the swim to shore or would have just ended up drowning,” the sanctuary’s rehabilitation director Kira Klebe said in the news release.
Due to the eagles’ location in the water, rescuers needed a boat or canoe to help them make the rescue. Settle had a canoe and lent it so the crew could closely and safely approach the eaglets.
When they got close, one eagle tried to swim away, the sanctuary said, but they were able to rescue both chicks.
Rescuers carefully put the baby eagles in the bottom of the canoe and took them to shore before a nearly hour and a half drive to the sanctuary in St. Louis.
They were given X-rays and a medical exam, but both eaglets were unscathed, according to the sanctuary. However, they lost their nest — meaning they will need a new home.
The young eagles are going to be placed with a surrogate bald eagle at the World Bird Sanctuary to grow up until they can safely live on their own, the sanctuary said. The two are not yet mobile but are starting to stand on their own.
The two will be housed in one of the sanctuary’s largest flights, with limited human contact, so they can build muscle as they become more mobile, the sanctuary said.
Bonne Terre is about a 60-mile drive southwest from St. Louis.
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 5:09 PM with the headline "Two baby bald eagles in nest topple into river. Rescuers in canoe make the save."
