# A Sad Night



## JetSkiBrian (Jun 1, 2009)

My wife and I heard a some load explosions and the power went out at our house a couple hours ago. We looked in the directions of the noise and saw some smoke coming from a power pole close to our front yard. We were devastated to see that one of the Juvenile Bald Eagles in the nest off of our front yard apparently had tried to take one of its first flights. It made the mistake of landing on the pole and getting electrocuted. We called Virginia Power and told them what happened. Joe of Virginia Power was here in thirty minutes and was real good about getting the Eagle down and the power back up. He called his office and reported in the Eagle death and was instructed to bag and ice the eagle down so that it could be studied.
The adults eagles were clearly distressed and flying over and back to the nest. Luckily I could see that there was still two eaglets in the nest. The last two pictures are ones I took of the Juvenile from last year. Hopefully no more of them will get near the power lines!


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## westernny (Feb 18, 2006)

Thats sad to see.


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## Boo (Aug 1, 2008)




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## eaglesfanguy (May 1, 2003)

Ouch.... looks like it blew right through his wing to the ground. Poor fellow.


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## sgtcupps (Sep 28, 2009)

man thats rough...


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## lil red jeep (Aug 17, 2007)

Why couldn't that have been a piping plover, or better yet an NPS worker rescueing a piping plover!?


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## OBX Jay (Sep 3, 2007)

That looks like an inviting place for a bird to land. Why doesn't this happen every time a bird lands there? Or on similar power poles? I'm no power pole expert (as you may have guessed).


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## sudshunter (Jan 20, 2008)

that sux...


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## JetSkiBrian (Jun 1, 2009)

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully the other two will make it.


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## landlocked (Jun 10, 2001)

Sad but unique pictures. I have a transformer in my yard and know that boom well from squirrels getting zapped. I commented to the repair dude that he did his job quick. He mentioned he does it 5 or 6 times a day.


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## Aaron T (May 9, 2000)

lil red jeep said:


> Why couldn't that have been a piping plover, or better yet an NPS worker rescueing a piping plover!?


if it had been on Hatteras Island, the NPS would have shut down all power to the island and sued the power company.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

That is truly sad to see.


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## Tom Powers (Aug 2, 2001)

What a bummer.. . . 

Since you have a known nesting site near their wires, they should be able to put some remediation measures on the local high voltage wires to protect eagles. You should write letters to Dominion Power and maybe ask Gordon to make a call the area (or state) manager and ask if anything can be done to protect them from the same fate. 

There are known protection techniques that can help.

Tom

PS If you are successful (or not) you should let folks know.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

ChesBay Jay said:


> That looks like an inviting place for a bird to land. Why doesn't this happen every time a bird lands there? Or on similar power poles? I'm no power pole expert (as you may have guessed).


A young eagle testing his wings out probably touched more than just the hot wire. Long as he stays only on the hot wire and touches nothing but the hot wire, he's OK. Flapping around, he may have touched the hot wire and something else.


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## Banus (Apr 21, 2004)

Bummer


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## cducer (May 7, 2010)

unfortunatley it happens more than you may know..... Its only gonna get worse as the bird people interfere with the population and the numbers keep going up( not just eagles). Just look at the news and see how many birds have collided with aircraft lately !!!!!


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