JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — It took some coaxing, but eventually, a bald eagle finally left its crate. It didn't fly very far.
Maybe the eagle was stressed from the journey to the edge of Jefferson County or confused after a year of rehabilitation. Or perhaps it was wondering what it was doing back on Eagle Rock Ranch, where it was on the verge of death just one year ago.
David Gottenborg, the owner of Eagle Rock Ranch, called Colorado Parks and Wildlife a day after a ranch hand found the injured eagle. The eagle couldn't fly and barely moved when people approached it.
"If they hadn’t made that call, that eagle would never have made it. It would have died out there," said Mark Lamb, an area wildlife manager at Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW).
Lamb said a CPW team went to the ranch, picked up the eagle, and took it to Birds of Prey Foundation, a rehabilitation center for raptors in Broomfield.
“It's magnificent bird," Gottenborg said. "Just spectacular. Even when it was on the ground and after it didn't move very much."
Gottenborg said he's a conservationist at heart. The ranch hosts eco tours and he's proud of the work he's done to encourage biodiversity on his property.
"We encourage elk through here. We built some fish ladders to encourage the fish migration," Gottenborg said. "But when you see the eagle flying overhead, it kind of pulls everything together.”
The rancher wasn't sure when — or even if — he'd ever get to see this particular eagle fly overhead. So when CPW called to ask if Birds of Prey could release the now-healthy bald eagle back into the wild on his property, he didn't hesitate to say yes.
"I couldn't sleep that night. It's just exciting," Gottenborg said. "I wanted to call everybody I knew and say, 'Guess what?'"
The release was a family affair. His kids and six grandchildren were on hand to see the eagle spread its wings and fly free.
After standing and looking around at the crowd for a while, the bird took off and landed on a hill a few hundred yards away.
Birds of Prey and CPW released another eagle, too. A potential mate for the rehabilitated raptor.
The day after the release, Gottenborg said he saw the two eagles flying around his ranch. He hopes the pair stay for a while — his ranch is the perfect hunting ground for birds of prey.
"They fish the river. We leave the grass long for ‘em, so it facilitates voles and mice," Gottenborg said. "We got the whole diet here, pretty much the whole menu. We aim to please."
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